Friday News Roundup…

It’s Friday! Time for the news roundup!

‘We Beg You. Do Something’: Principals Who Lived Through Shootings Plead for Action (EdWeek)

“Current and former principals who experienced shootings in their school have issued a plea to lawmakers at all levels of government to “Do something. Do anything” to keep “our educators and our kids from being murdered at school.”

“Their plea…does not call for specific measures such as restrictions on guns. It reads more like a cry of anguish and desperation as the nation continues to reel from the May 24 massacre that killed 19 4^th graders and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.”

“We are members of a club that no one wants to join,” they wrote. “Yet, our membership keeps growing.”

I remember the days when I would sit with Texas legislators and listen to them talk about how important schools, teachers, and students were to them and to the future of Texas. But, with most legislators, there was something more important to them than schools, teachers, and students – guns.

Until our elected officials begin to understand that there must be limits to the types of guns allowed in normal society, it will be hard to convince me that politicians believe what they always say: “Safety above all else, and kids are our future.”

What Happened When France Sent Low-Income Kids to Wealthy Schools (Reasons to be Cheerful)

David Byrne, long-time lead singer of Talking Heads, started the “Reasons to be Cheerful” website a few years ago. This is an article from a recent newsletter.

“In 2004, Maxence Arcy moved with his family to Bellfontaine, a poor suburb of the French city of Toulouse. Limited by what he could afford, the father of six bought a place on a sprawling housing estate in the neighborhood which had catchment schools with the worst educational record in the region.”

“’At the time, there were only Mahgrebians and Africans living on the estate and going to these schools,’ says Arcy, who originally migrated from Morocco in search of work in 1984. ‘It was a kind of segregation in the 21^st century.’”

“But in January 2017, local authorities closed those schools in France’s fourth biggest city and instead bussed the 1,140 affected pupils to high-achieving facilities in the prosperous downtown in an attempt to write a new chapter of educational quality.”

Bussing these disadvantaged students to top-notch public schools has led to higher grades, lower drop-out rates and a call for more integration.

America could take note of this French success. We keep bad schools open too long, and we keep sending our poorest kids to these schools and continue to ask those families to keep silent while we work to improve them.

Essex [Vermont] Teacher Brings Lessons from Mount Everest Trek to Teach About Culture, Chasing Goals (Burlington Free Press)

“The breathtaking vistas, challenging her body and communing with folks a world away was only part of what made Essex physical education teacher Kelly McClintock’s trip to Mount Everest so special.”

“Sharing her experience afterward with her health class brought the best part, she said. ‘See my Nepalese students’ eyes light up.’”

“McClintock uses her travels – from summiting Kilimanjaro to setting up girls sports programs in Ghana and Zambia or creating a basketball program for a nomadic tribe in Tanzania – as an opportunity to teach her students in Vermont about other cultures, living a healthy lifestyle, continuing to grow as a person and following one’s dreams.”

As I was reading this article, I wondered what school curriculum might look like if Kelly McClintock was in charge. I’m sure there would be time spent on improving reading, writing, and problem-solving skills, but learning about other cultures, committing to a healthy lifestyle, growing as a person, and following your dreams would also be included.

There’s not enough time spent in schools these days on the things that make us human, mainly because “hard curriculum” has stolen all the learning time away.

Des Moines Superintendent Tom Ahart to Leave This Week, Matt Smith to Take Over Schools (The Des Moines Register)

“Des Moines Public Schools’ Associate Superintendent Matt Smith will begin his role as interim superintendent a month ahead of schedule. Smith, who accepted the position of interim superintendent in April, will take over for outgoing Superintendent Tom Ahart…”

“’I think where my mind is right now is making sure that we get all of our leaders and all of our teachers, and our staff operating around the same goal around the same mission and vision…on what we’re here to do for children and for families,’ Smith said [recently].”

I’ve done some work with the Des Moines Public Schools in the past. Smith’s hope to get teachers and staff operating around the same goal and around the same mission and vision will be difficult to achieve. Des Moines’ school leadership represents much of what is wrong with public schools today – too much politics and business, and not enough focus on teaching and learning.

Texas Officials: Teacher Didn’t Leave Door Propped Open Before Massacre (The Washington Post)

“Four days after saying that the gunman who massacred children in a Uvalde, Texas elementary school had gotten inside through a door ‘propped open by a teacher,’ the state agency investigating the massacre now says the educator had closed the door.”

“The teacher shut the door behind her, but it ‘did not lock as it should,’ Travis Considine, chief of communications with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said in a brief telephone interview Tuesday. And now investigators are looking into why that was.”

Let’s be thankful to know it wasn’t that teacher’s fault the door was open. I can’t imagine the guilt one would feel is their actions contributed to such a tragedy.

But here’s the deal. I can tell you why that door was open – because doors break, and often remain broken, in schools every day, all the time.

Lawmakers who preach on about “hardening” schools don’t know what they are talking about. Those same lawmakers won’t be willing to spend the money necessary to “harden” schools. And besides, once Uvalde fades away until the next school tragedy occurs, parents and community members won’t like their “hardened” school since they will have to wait at the door to be let in, be subject to body scanning and wand searches, sign in and out in the main office, wait to be escorted to their teacher meeting, and the list goes on and on.

We can’t “harden” schools because it’s just too costly and too inconvenient to have our schools operate in that manner.

Have a great weekend, and we will talk Monday. SVB