Good Tired

John Lewis used to say that you have to get into "good trouble" if you are trying to make a difference.  He often used this phrase when talking about being arrested during the civil rights movement.  I have used a parallel phrase lately that in no way compares to the gravity of the civil rights movement, but heroes like him have inspired me to be relentless given the current pandemic condition of schools.  

I often say you have to be a "good tired" when it comes to these difficult times for our school families.  Work too hard and care too much.  This is how you can be a good tired.  Like a carpenter that ends the day scanning his work with pride and wondering how to make it better, we have to embrace working hard for our kids and teachers.  I know many that have written this school year off as a bust and in a lot of ways, I can't disagree.  We have run into our share of roadblocks.  But instead of being beat down about what you can't do, be beat down by how much you are doing.  I don't mean work yourself to death. We have to take care of ourselves, but work that you feel good about like a great visit to the gym.

My school has went in and out of remote learning more than once this year.  It is hard on everyone, but is necessary due to the conditions we are in.  Yes this is frustrating and yes it can be depressing.  Like it or not, your school family is looking to you as a leader to minimize the negative impact that the pandemic has had.  We do not have the luxury of sitting back and throwing our hands up.

If I could speak to other admins that might be lost or struggling, I would say don't stop even if in-person learning does.  We have to be models of persistence and resiliency with our students.  Probably most importantly, we have to remind our community that we are still the guiding institution that they need us to be.  We have lots of annual events that we may have to do virtually, but we won't skip them.  When we do, it feels less like school and more like a pandemic.

I won't lie.  I do feel like I am working way to hard.  I'm often wiped out when I get home and I didn't even do a 15 hour day with a ballgame in it.  I'm tired, but I am satisfied with my effort for kids teachers and families.  That's a good tired.  There is a lot of good tired going around.  I love scrolling through Twitter to see all the ways leaders are keeping everyone connected when it is so difficult to do so.  Finding ways to help kids know that their school cares about them is a lot of work so thank you for doing it.  Leaders and teachers, be proud to be a good tired.

You Are More Than Enough

I basically haven't left my school building in six months.  I got pretty used to missing the little things about being an in empty building pretty quick.  Now that we have returned to school first in an all remote format and then to a hybrid model, I have been able to gradually reconnect with my students and teachers.  We attend half days four days a week and then all students are remote on Fridays.  Students have the option to do a full remote model and about 20% of our kids do so.  We are not back to "normal", but we are happy to experience school again and get to do meaningful work.  

As we have come back and progressed on, we are facing a lot of realities that subconsciously we knew would be here.  Like most schools we have trouble keeping up with students who are not attending.  We have a large number of low-income and IEP students that are choosing to be full remote and failing multiple classes.  We have met many challenges and rose to face new ones.  Connectivity and device access was a challenge met.  Preparing a building for the safe return of students and staff was a challenge met.  Learning how to teach remotely and the skills that accompany that is a challenge that was met.  What we weren't ready for was the heartache of not being able to reach and teach all of our students.

In casual discussion with my teachers and others from neighboring towns, I see a pattern.  Teachers are over wearing masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing.  That was the easy part.  Great teachers are worried about helping every child.  Right now we have many students struggling.  Students are failing classes, reaching out for counselors, and in some cases in charge of caring for their younger siblings so their parents can work.  Some students are completely unreachable without outside help.  Because students are hurting, our teachers are also hurting.

I have talked to more than one teacher that feels that they are not enough right now.  They feel that they are failing kids in a situation beyond their control.  They are spending longer than usual hours to reach out only to spin their wheels.  Teachers, I have news for you.  You are enough.

In fact, you are more than enough.  You may not get to see your students everyday for full days.  But the interactions you get to have are huge to those kids.  You may not think they are listening to your instruction in science or reading, but they are happy you are there to give it.  You are so incredibly important to them.

March on teachers and for today, put aside all those measurements that make you feel icky.  I don't care what AimsWeb or iReady says about the performance of your kids.  Those kids have you and you are more than enough.  Hamish told us to be relentless.  Rita told us that every kid needs a champion. Keep being those things and hold your head high.  One day this will be over and we will see this experiences as something that made us stronger.  Your kids will see you as someone that gave them back a sense of normal when nothing else was.  You are more than enough.

Know Justice Know Peace

There's no doubt you have seen posters that say "No Justice No Peace" on them during recent protests over instances of police brutality and social injustice.  The statement is true not only now, but througout history.  When the powers that be stop serving the people or stop being fair, the people rise up.  This has been proven over time across the globe including in this country.

Source: Associated Press

The latest chapter of racial injustice is the conclusion of the heartbreaking story of Breonna Taylor.  This tradegy caught my eye and interest more than the others.  We had the opportuntiy to watch George Floyd's murder on television and the court of public opinion was in full effect.  The evidence was before our eyes.  We knew what justice would or should look like for that situation.  In the case of Breonna Taylor, we didn't get to see it unfold.  We only heard the story through the eyes of the police department after a no knock warrant went wrong.

I'm an educated man, but this is the first time I had heard of a no knock warrant.  I immediately applied my 4th amendment skills and condemned the practice.  Then I decided to learn more about them and why they are used.  I still condemn the practice, but I did do the work.  No knock warrants are used when police need to enter a premisies unannounced to prevent the destruction of or tampering with of evidence.  These are primarily used in cases of drug crimes.  They became common when we ramped up the war on drugs in the 80's.  They have generally been supported by case law, but with reservations.

So a no knock warrant led to the unfortunate events that took the life of Breonna Taylor.  The warrant was issued because detectives convinced a judge that this residence was trafficking drugs.  This is based on USPS packages leaving the apartment and being delivered to a known drug house two months earlier.  I have a lot of problems with this.  The speculation that drugs were being mailed to this apartment was old by the time a warrant was obtained.  Instead of intercepting packages and trying to search those either by warrant or probable cause, we employed a tactic that is dangerous to both the residents and the police officers.  Kenneth Walker shot one time at officers fearing that the home had been broken into.  This is an expected fight or flight response.  Then, officers fired into the home killing Breonna Taylor as she laid in her bed.  No drugs were found.

The mayor and city council quickly banned no knock warrants in Louisville calling it "Breonna's Law".  This came a month after her mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.  That suit was settled for $12 million and week later we learned that no charges would be filed against the officers in connection with her death.  It reminded me of the OJ trial.  He didn't kill those people, but he would be responsible for their deaths in civil court.  The same backward logic applied here aserting that the city acknowledged wrong doing by settling the suit, but refuses to hold the officers accountable for actually killing her.

In this case, the no knock warrant denied Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor of basic justice.  In it's simplist terms, justice means fairness.  When investigators could not crack the case, they sought a sketchy warrant that not only endangered the lives of the residents, but the lives of the officers as well.  The result is heartache and a reminder that our war on drugs disproportionately affects poor people and people of color.  Show me a white collar crime suspect that has been served a no knock warrant.  There are very few, because white collar crime warrants are highly scrutinized by the courts, where in drug cases they are handed out quite easily.  If you need more on how dangerous they are, Houston banned them last year after two were killed and officers were injured serving a no knock warrant.  The evidence was there before Breonna Taylor.  The New York Times did an investigative piece that found that 81 people and 13 officers had died during these kinds of raids between 2010 and 2016.

So the statement is true.  When there is no justice, there will be no peace.  I chose to change this from an ultimatum to what should be a statement of American values.  When you know justice, you will know peace.  If we continue to target groups disproportionately with unfair practice, we do not know justice and we will not realize peace.  Yes we need to catch and punish the evil doers.  But we have to do that within the bounds of fair practice and when we percieve our governments to be oppresive, we will rise up.  Those are not my words, but the words of Thomas Jefferson in 1776.  Know justice so we can know peace.

A Patriotic Education

Recently, President Trump announced that he would fund a commission to promote patriotic education in schools.  I thought we were already doing that, but what do I know.  I've also been told we don't say "under God" in the pledge anymore but we totally do.  I closer look past the headline reveals something more troubling about the speech he gave to announce this.  He considers the teaching of history around race to be 'toxic propaganda' and was critical of the 1619 Project.  This award winning initiative teaches the consequences of slavery and the about the contributions of black Americans.  When it came to confederate monument removal, president Trump told Fox News “We should learn from the history, And if you don’t understand your history, you will go back to it again.”  I think we can see that those that accuse others of erasing history are really just wanting you to learn about the parts they like.

It wasn't long ago that I took a stab at commentary about what our kids should be taught.  Now, I think it is worth breaking down the concept of a patriotic education.  Oxford dictionary's definition of patriotic is "having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one's country."  That doesn't sound so bad.  The definition of education is very broad depending on who is speaking on the subject.  Is it a science or an art?  Or both?  Is it about the systematic delivery of knowledge or the opening of a mind?  This doesn't murky the water, it shows how beautiful the concept of teaching is and why I think it is the best profession in the world.

I recently made a visit to a social studies class.  Their question of the day was "Should you be able to fly a confederate flag?  Why or why not?"  I might get different reactions to this.  One might be that you should not be talking politics in your classroom.  Those people might be missing the point.  When the teacher walked them through this discussion, the emphasis was not on whether or not it was right or wrong to fly a confederate flag or what political affiliation they leaned towards.  They are junior high kids and probably only subscribe to what their parents are talking about at home.  The emphasis was on the "Why or why not?"  Folks, this is patriotic education.

To answer the second part of the question is to show that you have some prerequisite knowledge of our laws, values and customs.  That you can make an informed decision based what you have learned.  This is the essence of patriotism.  If you love and are devoted to our country, you will learn about all of it.  Even the good, bad and ugly.  This this the only way we can improve our democracy.  So let me fix what President Trump was trying to say, Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.  All history is worth learning.

Some day, Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be just a multiple choice question on a test and the answer most likely will be that she was just a Supreme Court justice.  We are doing a disservice to her and our country when this happens.  Tell her story long after she is gone.  She was a champion for gender equality and the perfect example of a life spent serving others for a greater good.  This is also a patriotic education.  To make more people like her.

The long and short of it is that we can't improve our nation if we don't know who we are.  We are a nation of immigrants.  Human slavery existed here.  Not all people had the right to vote at some point in time.  Things are different now.  Not because we chose to omit pieces of history or to re-frame it in a way we like, but because we accepted our mistakes and refused to repeat them.  That is the true goal of a patriotic education.  I hope the 1776 Commission created by president Trump finds educators who feel the same way.

Service to Others

Its easy to find the bad stuff.  We know it is true.  You don't have to scroll or look far to find conflict, struggle and negativity.  It's actually a little bit of work to find something that I believe to be essential to life.  Service to others is essential.  In the midst of all that is frustrating, I was recently given a few reminders of what that looks like in its best forms.

My first reminder was on the golf course in Anna.  My daughter plays for West Frankfort and one of the girls in the group she played with seemed familiar.  She was very polite and my daughter had a connection with her.  It soon dawned on me that it was Marlee Smith.  I hope you remember her story.  She strived to continue her athletic career despite battling Leukemia.  At that time last year she was in the thick of her struggle.  Not only did she compete, she had the best spirit about her.  I was happy my daughter met a special person.  Not long after that she was noticed for her work to provide Christmas gifts to children with cancer.  Fast forward to this trip to the golf course at Anna and she was still competing.  She still had a great attitude and she was so physically healthy, that I did not recognize her at first.  Like I said, I was happy my kid met a special person and got to play with a heck of a golfer.

I've known Mike Tyson for a long time.  Not the boxer by the way.  I would say that we have talked quite a few hours about softball over the years, but I was taken by surprise to learn his story recently.  To kick of National Recovery Month he shared his personal story of struggle and his road to helping others.  He has started a non-profit called Take Action Today to help others struggling with recovery from their destructive vices.  I am proud to know this man.  He is a great example of how purpose can be found from pain.  I can't wait to see what is down the road for him in this journey. 

While scanning through Disney Plus looking for something new, I stumbled across a show called Marvel's Hero Project.  I watched the episode about Jahkil.  An eleven year old boy that felt moved to help the homeless in Chicago.  He started out making "Blessing Bags" to hand out full of essential items like socks and toiletries.  His initial goal was small by comparison to where he ended up.  Last year he handed out 12,000 Blessing Bags.  His non-profit, Project I Am, has made him a local hero.  This did not go unnoticed and soon he was being Tweeted by Barack Obama and court side at NBA games.  The premise of the show to find these special kids and honor them with their very own comic book drawn and written by Marvel artists.  A very cool acknowledgement for any kid.

It's okay to be inspired by stories of service.  We should all surround ourselves with people that are servants.  If you can't find one, be one.  Service to others is the rent we pay for our place on Earth (Ali's words, not mine).  It is the best remedy for all the bad stuff thrown at us and you just might be motivated to find a way to serve on your own.

Failing Our Most Important Standardized Test

In the education world we are subject to determining our school’s worth based on standardized tests.  If you do poorly on these assessments, you are often designated as a poorly performing school and mandated to improve.  When you do well, we often complain that the school had an unfair advantage.  Maybe they are funded better or the families in the district are better educated.  Either way, we are all expected to teach the standards and pass the tests.

While looking for a working example of our country's response to the current challenges of our nation, I realize that our country is approaching failing the most important test yet.  I'm not talking about our world rankings, which leave much to be desired.  I am talking about what is taught that is not being demonstrated as we face some of the most difficult days in my lifetime.

There was a time that social studies was actually on the state tests.  They are not now.  We have de-emphasized social studies, the arts and vocational subjects in favor of math, reading, and science.  Us social studies teachers felt a little slighted.  If you get bored and want to see what courses and topics are mandated in Illinois, you find out they are almost all related to social studies.  So this old dog decided to explore my learning standards and see what it is that our people have not learned based on public tension during the pandemic.

Not to insult, but I am a junior high principal so I am looking at middle school civics standards.  These are the least complex in the strand to show you how elementary our basic knowledge of being a good citizen is.  Some of our notable failures are bulleted underneath each standard.

SS.CV.1.6-8.LC:  Identify roles played by citizens (examples: voters, jurors, taxpayers, military, protesters and office holders)

• We cannot distinguish between protesters and looters.
• We do not know or realize that protesting is free speech.

SS.CV.4.6-8.LC:  Explain the connection between interests and perspectives, civic virtues, and democratic principles when addressing issues in government and society.

• We cannot value mail in voting and in person voting equally as a democratic necessity.
• We dismiss the connection between race and many instances of police brutality.

SS.CV.6.6-8.LC:  Determine whether specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) resolve the problems they were meant to address. 

• Refusal to wear masks and follow COVID-19 safety protocols.
• We see safety restrictions as an infringement upon our freedoms and not a solution to a problem.

Lets be fair.  We are not all failing at this.  This is what happens to schools with standardized tests.  You may have many that do well, but you are all in the same boat at the end of the day.  The whole school gets the label whether it is good or bad.  So how do we improve upon this if we have de-emphasized social studies and civics on our fancy state tests?

The social studies standards in Illinois have made a change for the better in recent years.  They place a priority on participatory citizenship within the content.  I was impressed by this when I first read them, but disappointed in how many of my social studies colleagues had not seen them.  In many cases, they were not noticed until a teacher had to write a formal lesson plan for an evaluation.

If we want to prevent failing the most important standardized test, which is democracy, we have to promote and actively embrace civics as a core piece of the school curriculum.  We have done so with legislation, but in practice we still cling to boosting math and reading scores as a way off of those ugly lists connected to standardized tests.  Another way to do this is to partner with organizations like Generation Citizen to provide an action civics education.  Better yet, get your high school involved with YMCA Youth and Government to practice democracy at the state level.  Either way, you need to teach civics by doing.  

If the past six months have taught us anything, it is that we need to produce citizens that can critically think and independently make decisions regarding our current situation and whatever challenges they face in the future.  Once again schools are tasked with making things right.  Embrace the task folks.

Rita Told Us to be a Champion for Kids

If you are a school administrator right now, you know we are up against a lot. Schools are facing a huge challenge re-opening and to make things tougher, the target seems to always be moving.  The state mandates one thing, our families want something else and we know we don't have the spaces or resources to do everything by the book.  This is a stressful time to be in this business.  It hurts my heart when I hear so many colleagues feeling lost amid the chaos of the situation.

My fellow admins, we are the best possible people to handle this. With just over a month before school is set to start, now is not the time to get frustrated or complain. Get it out of your system quickly because our kids, staff and families need us.

Remember, Rita told us to be a champion for kids.  It is a heavy load to carry, but we all believe this to be our role in our student's lives.  Otherwise, we would be doing something less impactful.

The Greatest told us what a champion is. Now is the time to dig deep and draw on those special qualities that make you a leader of kids and communities.  The state and other outside factors may set up roadblocks, but stick to the vision you possess for your students and schools.  These struggles will define you as leaders so it is time to take control.

We have to be champions if we want to have a successful re-opening. Don’t spin your wheels on the things you can't control. Do the best you can with what you have to keep your school families safe.  They need your leadership, your talent, your resourcefulness, and your calm.  Control the narrative for your school and show your families that you have the steering wheel.

As for me, I know I am communicating.  I am learning.  I am researching.  I am guiding my team by urging them to only use the language of solutions and not the language of defeat.  We will do our best to create structures, procedures and an environment that keep our kids safe and follow the guidelines to the fullest extent possible.  We will be champions for our kids and not victims of a tough situation.