It's not your fault

This time of year is one of joy and relief for school types. We are all joyed to be entering summer with it's fun and sun but relieved that we made it through another year and hopefully met all of our goals. There is also a small feeling of sadness for the kids who have failed and will be retained or have to go through summer school to get by.

That's actually not completely accurate. In my building teachers fight to the last day to get kids through. Even if they are not trying themselves. Recently I have had many conversations with teachers still worried about kids that have stopped attending or stopped trying all together. These people continue to fight forces that they can't possibly control because they care. 

It's hard to say to a teacher, "You've done all you can, you gotta let this one go" and expect them to let it go. It's like the ER doctor on any TV show that just won't stop fighting to revive a patient.  Good teachers know that there is not a finish line in education. Even if you keep a kid from failure they still have to survive the summer so you can get them through one more time.  I am very blessed to have teachers that fight an uphill battle and come right back and do it again every day and every year.

Guess what?  It's not your fault. Many of the reasons that our kids fail is way out of the school's control but feel accountable for them. We do a lot for them but ultimately at the end of the day they go home to somebody else if they go home at all. That person or persons may not be as dedicated as you and you can't help that. Some families work hard but still can't provide for our kids. Some kids know how to work their parents and know they can't get one passed you.  I know how many times you give up your lunch to work with struggling students. I know how many times you have chased them out of the building to give them the homework they are too cool to take home.  Guess what? It's not your fault. 

The fact that a teacher will take responsibility for a student's failure is what makes teachers so special. Teachers know what our kids face and stand tall with them and will shoulder their worlds if that's what it takes to help them be successful. I will admit that I miss the impact I had as a teacher though I try really hard to.  I don't always get that special feeing with administrative work but having a dedicated and relentless staff is the next best thing. 

Multiple Points of Entry

It seems all to often that when the struggles of our society come to a boiling point, we are forced to pick a side. I'm sure there is some cultural conditioning that has taken place throughout the course of our history but it is now time to recognize that there are multiple points of entry to every American problem. 

Take our governor for example. Let's be real and just say politicians. Illinois has a crippling debt problem that is hurting our middle class. While they play with numbers, real people get hurt. We are told the only way to fix the problem is to cut cut and cut. The other side just doesn't respond because they have a majority in the General Assembly. The reality is that we have to cut AND raise revenue. If your household was in this type of disarray this is what you would do. There are reasonable cuts that need to be made but there are taxes and fees that can be raised that have a minimal impact on people but a big payoff for the state. We have to do both. 

Take the events of Ferguson and Baltimore. One side says we have to fix crooked cops and other say we need to address crime in those communities. Well guess what, we have to take on both. Instead of looking for a magic bullet we have to work for it if we want meaningful change. Everyone wants peace and justice but who is really willing to work hard to make it happen. 

That's what it takes in our schools. The debate for what's best for kids rages on. Do we assess them to death or teach them to death?  Is it more important to teach social skills and grit, or do we teach more rigorous content?  I think you know where I stand in that. You have to do it all. There is research to support every way of doing it but yet schools still feel like that have to emphasize one over the others. 

Folks, meaningful change to the most important aspects of our lives cannot be solved with a single solution. It's not like taking a pill and then you are cured. With the medication you doctor usually tells you what kind of lifestyle change to make get optimal results. What changes are we willing to make?

New State Superintendent

Well I guess we should have all seen this coming.  Back in December at the Alliance Leadership Summit, Gov. Rauner was scheduled to speak.  Why not, this was a chance to speak to 600 school administrators on the eve of his budget address.  This group of people are community leaders and he would have the wonderful opportunity of reaching people who need answers in this time of financial uncertainty.  What happens instead is that he sent a staffer that had been on the job for two hours to speak to us.  I really just chalked that up to being new in town and the demand for his time being rather large but his next move confirmed my fear that he is not serious about the quality of education in Illinois.

 

On April 15th, the state board went through the difficult process of choosing Dr. Tony Smith to replace Dr. Chris Koch as the state superintendent of schools.  Difficult because the word on the street is that he was the only candidate.  Dr. Smith has never taught in a classroom.  In fact, the Oakland School District in which he last had a leadership position waived the required administrative certificate requirement for him to be hired there.  However, he did serve on the governor’s Chicago Public Education Fund's board and his transition team.  He has also been described as a stanch charter school supporter, union opponent and a poor fiscal manager.  Links below will also provide more negative aspects of his tenure in California.  One ISBE member was quoted as saying this is a poor move for the state board.

I support Vision 20/20 and public schools.  This was a purely political move that does not serve the best interests of the school districts of Illinois or their students.  If Gov. Rauner makes this move as his first big move for education, I think it is safe to say we are in for a huge storm.  To weather this storm we will need advocacy and support from school district leaders, parents, teachers and anybody that believes in common sense.  To borrow a line from my favorite fake president Andrew Shepard, “We have serious problems and need serious people to fix them.”  We need no other good reason now to grow the Vision 20/20 movement and make a stand for public schools.

 

http://www.isbe.net/news/2015/apr15.htm

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-state-board-of-education-superintendent-met-20150415-story.html#page=1

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_22963622/oakland-unified-chief-tony-smith-resigns-be-family

Lead with your Values

If you live in an underground bunker, you probably have not yet heard about the religious liberty law passed by the Indiana legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Pence.  Essentially, a business could refuse service to any person that practices a lifestyle that is contrary to the business owner’s religious beliefs.  Gov. Pence stood by the enacting of this law despite its controversy and did all the press appearances affirming that this is what the people of Indiana wanted.  A short time later he asked law makers to revise the bill for “clarification” purposes.  The fact is that Indiana did not want this.  The law began to urge business leaders to take action but more importantly it did not match the values of the people in the state or across the nation.

This is a problem with elected leaders.  In their pursuit to secure voting blocks, they drive an agenda to that group of people while they ignore the common good and the values of the whole.  This story line is more common in politics than anywhere else.  It’s a shame that a person that is fortunate enough to get elected by the public does not use that gift to represent the whole.  People in my profession don’t always have much choice in the matter.  School administrators work with what they have and rarely have the ability, or gift, to directly reshape the community that they serve.  Many times radical changes to a school building are met with sharp opposition.

I learned very early on from very wise people that you have to lead with your values.  I work in a school district that is nearly 70% free and reduced lunch population.  This has been a positive for my leadership style.  I work well with the disadvantaged youth because I was a disadvantaged youth.  Leading with my values is easy because I’m just like many of them.  A vast majority of educators come from middle class backgrounds and they find it difficult to have a clear vision of how these kids are raised and how they can best reach them.  Some dismiss the effort all together.

As a former poor kid working with poor kids I have gathered my leadership values into a short list of my everyday practices.  Maybe it will help some lead the kids they serve.

1       Relationships matter!  The teachers I responded for as a kid were those that treated me like I was just like them.  No better, no worse.  We were there for the same purpose, not a power struggle.

2       Give second chances.  You will get burned on this one occasionally but it reinforces your relationships with kids.  You have to show that you are willing to invest in them.

3       Punish with logic and kindness.  When assigning a consequence for a negative action they have to know how much responsibility is theirs given the situation and how they could have prevented the predicament they were in.  Always be sure to tell them what they did right and praise them for it.  Poor kids often only live for moments and never see down the road.  This is a teachable moment.

4       Smile.  Everyone likes to see this.

5       If you know something about a kid, share it with your teachers.  This will help them make better connections with at-risk kids.

I know this is not some big fancy research driven set of guidelines but it has worked for me.  These are values I have either grown up with or learned working with kids.  As it turns out, it’s relevant for all of my students not just the at-risk ones.  Imagine that, something that works for everyone and not just a few.  Maybe our elected leaders should look at their own values and discover how they can serve all of their constituents.  

Take Back the Schoolhouse

We have come a long way since the one room schoolhouses of the old days.  Society has changed, kids have changed, and learning has changed.  It is a given that these types of schools could not be effective public schools these days.  There are, however, some old charms that we could use in the present.  The old schoolhouse was a centerpiece of the community.  It had the sole purpose of producing members of that community in order to help it thrive.  Students were not grouped by age so older students could bring along younger students adding more to the community concept of the school.  People were accountable and responsible for the others in the school.  Let’s not forget that the teacher was respected and looked up to.  Not constantly questioned and belittled.  That’s a whole different kind of conversation though.

The schoolhouse is becoming more of a business than a place of community and learning.  Many of the “reforms” coming our way seek to reduce our kids and teachers to numbers.  They also would like to call school failures in hopes of creating an environment of school choice and a push for more charter schools.  Folks don’t be fooled, this is a business venture.  The schoolhouse is becoming an easy market for the “reformers” and our kids could become the next privatized cash cow.

Our biggest loss in the new “development” of schools is our sense of community when it comes to our schools.  In each locale schools face different challenges and use creative problem solving to serve their communities.  The trouble is we are now so focused on test scores, mandates and changes in teaching/curriculum that we forget how to be a school and we run the risk of being called a failure.  This will hurt our kids and communities.

A few months ago I was turned on to a new initiative called Illinois Vision 20/20.  This is a legislative initiative that seeks to, in my words, take back the schoolhouse.  It is purely a vehicle to influence change in the Illinois legislature to fulfill the promise of public schools once again.  Over time we have let changes happen to us rather than sit at the table and help design what changes can help make our schools and communities better.  One word of note: Vision 20/20 is about kids and their schools.  Nothing in their platform seeks to benefit the adults that work in schools except for the prospect of a better place for them to find their student’s fullest potential.

This week I was proud to participate in the Alliance Leadership Summit in Springfield.  Over 600 administrators, board members and parents converged on the capital to begin the process of change.  We learned about potential policy, changes in learning, and how state budgets have been constructed.  At the conclusion of Governor Rauner’s budget address we moved towards the capital and visited our legislator’s offices and promoted the four pillars of Vision 20/20.  This was truly an empowering experience to know that instead of sending a couple of lobbyists to speak, we sent 600.

This is how we will get the old school house back, in the General Assembly.  In a lot of ways this is how we were put in the situation we are in.  New laws that restrict schools to serve kids have pushed us in a direction we can no longer go.  If you would like to learn more about Vision 20/20, follow the link below and even sign the petition.  Over 300 school districts in Illinois have signed on and the Illinois PTA and their 100,000 members have endorsed the plan as well.  Let’s take the schoolhouse back.

http://illinoisvision2020.org/

Why isn't God in Schools?

I get to see images like this on Facebook all the time.  What’s worse are the ill-informed people that like or comment about how schools are terrible because we don’t allow prayer or God in our public schools.  Another one of my favorites is that we don’t say the pledge because the word ”God” is in it.  The reality is that these folks just don’t know what goes on in schools.  I have on occasion commented back on these images and posts to inform them that it is required by law to allow a moment of silence each day and the pledge must be recited each day.  In my building we do this every day.

I rarely will let readers into my personal religious beliefs because I am a very secular Christian.  That doesn't mean I am a Christian of convenience, it means that I try to live the gospel by example in the world we live in and do nothing to throw my faith into other’s faces.  Just this once I am going to break from my comfort zone to challenge those who think God is not in schools.

Let’s look only at my school because that’s all I know.  Every day I have several tables of students who pray before lunch.  Hand in hand, macho boys praying.  During the month of December our students raised over $1000 for charitable causes in our community.  Several students give up their lunch time to help our intellectually disabled students eat and do PE.  Every Tuesday dozens of kids meet with a youth minister for First Priority, a faith based club that meets at recess time for worship.  All of these activities are Godly and many students take part.  They are not forced to, they willingly participate because they are strong in their faith.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Psalms 145:18)  These kids understand this.  Even at school, beyond church walls they call on him.  They are not afraid of the stigma, not afraid of being made fun of.  They take God with them when they leave home. 

My friends the question should not be why isn’t there God in schools, it should be why God doesn't go to school with our kids?  “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14).  I have a number of kids that cuss and disobey at school but then come and tell me on Monday how great church was.  This is prime example of how kids are not taking God with them everywhere they go.  As a school administrator I can’t tell them how to worship or who to worship and so on.  That must be done in the home.  If people want God in schools, they must teach their children how to take him with them when they walk out of the house.  They will not be alone and they will not be told that they cannot do so.  The United States Supreme Court has protected a student's right to worship but as a matter of separation of church and state, the school cannot lead them in worship.  It is is simple as that.  Parents: encourage your kids to take God to school.  Don't blame the school for this task not being done.

Who Teaches Kids How to Behave?

Like any other red-blooded American, when I feel personally challenged I take it to Facebook.  Actually I don’t but I was particularly challenged this week by one of my parents and I did ask the philosophical question that was burning in my mind.  Should schools be teaching students to have a sense of social justice and fairness or should be just let them handle problems how they handle it?  This is not really a huge dilemma.  This question is always being asked when it comes to content.  Should we teach skills or should we provide opportunities for student to learn through experience?  With behavior this is a little touchier as the result can lead to consequences and broken hearts. 

I appreciated the comments my Facebook friends left in regards to the question.  One could not take a side on the issue, “whose idea of social justice are we talking about?” he asked.  That’s a fair question considering that parenting values and cultural norms can be different from place to place.  A couple favored the old days of paddling.  While I love telling my old paddling stories to my students, it is to no avail.  We can reminisce all we want but in Illinois, corporal punishment is against the school code.  The other distinction to be made is that my small sample of commenters are your typical middle class, well adjusted, good parenting adults.  There is no representation from the other family structures that I work with and they are the majority believe it or not.  There are more blended families and single parent families than ever before.  That’s not a bad thing but the ideology will generally be different than my commenters.

I guess the question evolves into who is the catalyst for change in how we teach children to behave?  Is it the institution of school or home?  I mentioned paddling but that is going by the wayside.  There are only 19 states that still allow paddling and Mississippi leads the way with the number of students “hit”.  Did eliminating paddling cause the poor behavior that we complain about?  The current debate is whether or not it is actual discipline or child abuse.  With more than half the states not allowing child abuse, I mean corporal punishment, it seem as if the people of that persuasion are winning that battle with their legislators.

What about out of school suspensions?  There is an attack on those too.  Research is showing that using out of school suspensions 1) target minority students, 2) increase poor student behaviors, 3) lead to low academic achievement and 4) make them feel unwelcome at school.  No link to follow below.  Google it and you will find the evidence.  You might find information on the new Illinois law that requires schools to track the minority students suspended to ensure they are not disproportionately suspending minority students.  So it seems that there is a disconnect between what families and schools believe is effective behavior modification for kids.

I have decided to put my money on teaching the behaviors we need to see out of our kids.  Not my favorite ones but those that will translate into successful adult lives.  While society is disagreeing, there are still kids to teach and a huge responsibility for schools to make them successful. Haven’t you seen the nation’s test scores compared to other nations?  We suck at doing school(Insert sarcasm).  A sound approach to school and peers will make them good students and people.  Schools now have to balance social skills and content while everyone else dukes it out over what is right and wrong with schools.  So the next time I’m told that I’m creating a school of tattle tails and sissies, I will say yes I am.  I believe in conflict resolution before fighting and not the other way around.  If you punch out your boss every time you are mad, you will be unemployed.  If you can’t read, write or do any math you might still be unemployed.  They are related skills and must be taught in schools.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934191.html