Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Time for the News Roundup.

Post Childbirth Without Paid Leave, Teachers Leave Their Own Children to Teach Others’ (The 74)

The 74 online reported this week that,

“When elementary school teacher Kimberly Papa gave birth to her daughter, Margot, a little over a year ago, she wasn’t expecting much in the way of paid maternity leave. She knew that the majority of Americans don’t have access to it and certainly not those in her state of Ohio.”

“While she could take 12 weeks off through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, this only guaranteed her job security – not pay – and her family couldn’t afford to miss out on months of her salary.”

“’Obviously if I didn’t have those paychecks, I wouldn’t have been able to pay my mortgage or pay for groceries or anything like that. Put gas in my car to go to doctors’ appointments,’ the music teacher said on a recent phone call, baby Margot cooing and spilling Cheerios in the background.”

I think I read a similar story about a teacher 40 years ago. The way we treat our classroom teachers really hasn’t changed at all over the past decades, which is probably why we need to create a new system of learning – because our current system hasn’t provided any evidence it’s prepared to better take care of our classroom leaders anytime soon.

Here’s What Teachers Think Their Salaries Should Be (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek online published a story this week that highlighted what teachers thought they should be paid for classroom service moving forward:

“Teachers said they thought they realistically deserved a 31 percent raise, from the current U.S. median salary of $65,000 to a desired median salary of $85,000.”

…

“The survey found similar desired raises for assistant principals and principals, the latter of whom said $123,500 would be fair pay for the work they do. Superintendents asked for an 18 percent raise to $150,000.”

Yea, this probably isn’t going to happen. Everyone knows teachers and school leaders are underpaid in this country. But getting policymakers to acknowledge consistent pay raises are needed in public education is hard to do.

The way this country usually handles its teachers is to provide just enough money to make sure we have enough prospective teachers in the classroom pipeline. Not to mention the fact that most public schools have no idea how to pay their teachers based on their effectiveness – meaning they would rather pay classroom instructors for their experience than how much their students learn while they are with those teachers.

Four Things Districts Should Do Right Now – Before the Fiscal Cliff (The 74)

The 74 online published an article this week suggesting school leaders should do four things to combat upcoming fiscal problems:

“Leaders should be reviewing layoff policies, closing underenrolled schools, competing for kids – and evaluating everything.”

This will be another tough lift for public education. School districts don’t like to layoff employees. They don’t like to close schools. They don’t really know how to compete for kids. And they are hesitant to change anything, even though their evaluators suggest to do just that.

But, make no mistake about it, the fiscal cliff is coming for all public schools. How will they get ready?

More School Workers Qualify for Overtime Under New Rule. Teachers Remain Exempt (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek online reported this week that,

“School districts will be required to offer overtime pay to more employees under a federal rule finalized by the U.S. Department of Labor Tuesday, but teachers will remain exempt from the regulation.”

No paid maternity leave, and now teachers continue to be cheated out of overtime pay, while other school employees, like school nurses, athletic trainers, and librarians receive extra dollars.

It is any wonder colleges and universities are reporting a serious dip in their teacher preparation program enrollments?

Gaps Widening Between Indiana’s Highest- and Lowest-Performing Students (The 74)

And now schools are struggling in Indiana.

The 74 online reported this week that,

“The exact date varies across grades and subjects, but Indiana’s student achievement scores peaked about a decade ago and have been falling since.”

“The decline started well before COVID-19 and has not affected students evenly. Perhaps not surprisingly, Indiana’s lowest-performing youngsters have suffered the largest losses.”

Two important points here. First, most folks want to blame COVID-19 for this nation’s struggles with getting our kids smarter and stronger. Here’s the deal – we were struggling getting our kids smarter and stronger way before we struggled with the COVID pandemic. And second, our lowest-performing youngsters, especially those black, brown, and poor, struggled, and continue to struggle inside our traditional K-12 system.

How a School Made Parents Central to Its Turnaround (EducationWeek)

This is a story about Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary in Southfield, Michigan and how parents have helped the school turn the corner regarding student safety, achievement and climate. You can Google the article’s title if you would like to read it in its entirety.

I’ve read stories like this one too often over the past 40 years. Of course, parents are central to a high-performing learning organization. But there are too many leaders that don’t know how to involve parents in the life of schools, or just don’t want to deal with them.

That’s why more and more parents are voting with their feet and taking their kids out of our traditional K-12 school system. If only schools were more committed to making parents real partners, and not just reaching out to them when teachers or principals need their support.

Til Monday. Have a great weekend. SVB