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Shannon Norris, Kat Fair and Yvette Heasley review EduSoft analytic functions that let the Frazier Mountain High School English Department stay creative in the classroom, while closely monitoring how students are progressing in grasping core standards that are part of the state curriculum. It alerts individual teachers when it is necessary to "reteach" in new ways when if a concept needs reinforcement for individual students. The professional learning community (PLC) meeting is intense, with lucid laughter and exciting moments of discovery. They teach classics, such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Animal Farm, each in their own way. They assign individual and group projects. Kat Fair is building a film literacy segment for her class to explore storytelling using storyboard sequences based on the book they are reading and analyzing. Because of school budget problems, Norris and Heasely both received pink slips last month. Kat Fair was laid off two years ago, and is teaching at FMHS at the moment as a long-term substitute.
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Shannon Norris shows the way that individual students are monitored through EduSoft to be sure that their core standards required by state curriculum are learned. These notebooks were created by teachers to guide their presentation of core concepts, and to track the progress of their classes.
Let’s Build Some Windows, Doors…and Bridges
My family moved to the mountain two years ago and I have a first grader and another boy who will start kindergarten in the fall. I am an active volunteer at my son’s school and have attended several of the ETUSD Board meetings over the past year or so.
I became aware of the severity of the problems in our district last year, and wanted to try and decipher for myself what the problems are and to see if I (or any parent) could learn how to be a part of the solution.
Dangerous and Shocking
The only thing I’ve come away from the meetings with, thus far, is the fact that there seems to be a severe and dangerous lack of collaboration between the district administration, the board of trustees, the teachers and the parents.
There is a shocking lack of respect and even common courtesy between people who are all there for the same reasons—to help educate our kids and keep our schools afloat.
Exclusion vs. Collaboration
I understand the need for Rules of Order at public meetings, as well as the need to follow the Brown Act, but it seems to me that in a district as small and closely-knit as ours, there surely must be a more inclusive and collaborative way for us to communicate and work together on solving the great problems that we all face regarding our schools.
I was particularly struck by Ms. Regan’s comment about the fact that the board meetings are not "public meetings."
The parent she addressed that comment to responded with the question, "When are the public meetings?"
Indeed. When are the public meetings?
Questions
Parents and community members must be allowed to question the steps that are being taken by the administrators and the board in regard to their children’s education.
Perhaps if more people felt that they were being heard and concerns were being addressed in a more personal way, the school board meetings would not feel so dangerous and frustrating.
Perhaps if we had the occasional public meeting, rumors and misconceptions would not be so rampant and people could gain a better understanding of the actual work being done by the administration and the board.
Barricades Blocking Real Information
The attendees at the most recent board meeting were asked by the board to come to the budget meeting, which is occurring this week. We were asked to bring specific suggestions on how to make cuts in the budget. I know of a parent who asked about getting a copy of the budget and was told to submit a written request for it. How does one go about doing that? How long would it take? Isn’t there a way that the budget could be included on the ETUSD website?
It seems counterproductive to ask for suggestions regarding cutting the budget, then requiring people to jump through hoops to get a copy of it. If the info were available on the district’s website, anyone who wanted to could pull it up and print it out themselves.
If people had easy access to this information, intelligent questions could be asked and informed suggestions could be made by anyone in our community.
I have learned from experience that simply telling people that information is available is not nearly as effective and inclusive as actually providing them with it.
Ken Hurst suggested that the board members receive their packets of information via Kindle. I say if it’s public information, put it on the ETUSD website and make it easily accessible.
Specific Suggestions to the board and administration:
I call on the board and administration:
- For a much greater level of transparency;
- Better, more respectful and more consistent communication;
- Easy access to information that is going to be discussed at board meetings (like the budget, for example).
- How about a quarterly or even bi-annual public Q&A session?
Specific Suggestions to parents and the public:
I call on parents and community members:
- To become more informed and involved, and to be respectful in all of their communications.
It is next to impossible not to take things very personally when it comes to making cuts and changes in our children’s educations, but let’s all do a little less reacting, a little more listening and a lot more collaborating.
We can do better than this.
Kelly Franti
Piñon Pines
Kelly Franti lives in Piñon Pines. She carpools to take her first grader to the Pine Mountain Learning Center, where she volunteers. She expects to also have a kindergartner in the school this year.
This is part of the March 30, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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