There's a lot to like about this article, but a couple sentences in particular give me pause.
"If Little Johnny is disruptive, Little Johnny can go to an alternative school and learn there."
"Removing students who refuse to learn is not just an ethical need but a moral imperative."
There was a time when I would have whole heartily agreed with these sentences. Then the school division tried to send MY CHILD with a disability to an alternative school because he was in a time of crisis that was brought on by an inexperienced teacher and made worse by a principal who was more concerned with punishing undesired behavior than she was making sure my child's needs were being met at school.
Zero tolerance for disrespect, fighting, cursing, vaping, drug use, etc.? Yes, and amen! But the sentences above are broad enough to give me pause knowing that students with disabilities are disproportionately suspended from school.
Thank you (again) for an intelligent and thoughtful response. Always feel as if you add to the conversation -- which is great. Better still when we get to reflect on word choices...
Obviously -- and hopefully -- students with disabilities would not be marked as "disruptive" in any form. Very sorry to hear that this was your experience and entirely agree with your sentiments.
One suspects that the wider problem is the fighting, disrespect, cursing, vaping, drug use, violence, etc. in public schools (and in public culture). For one, I would be horrified to learn that also included in this list were students with disabilities. All the more reason to reinforce the word "accountability" in every sense of the word.
We elected five very competent women with a great deal of experience in education...but most importantly we elected five people who genuinely care about children It's a great start.
3 ideas and claims, each worthy of their own consideration.
"In many ways, this Board has a blank slate to work from. The system itself is in tatters. It has lacked effective leadership for more than a year. It has lost a significant amount of classroom talent. And test scores (a poor measure of what is happening in any school system, but a political reality nonetheless) are down.
Addressing these challenges will consume the Board’s work for the first year. And they have one chance to get it right."
Dramatic. Breathtaking. We wait with bated breath.
They have one chance to get it right?
Really?
No pressure. Let's come back to Earth for a moment, shall we?
This is a not yet sitting school board for a middle size county in VA. It is not a reasonable expectation for them to be a Moses, parting the Red Sea, is it?
If I were a citizen of Spotsy, I'd be looking for folks who are going to make a measured, good faith and sincere effort to do what a school board is supposed to do.
Hire a professional superintendent, follow standards of governance such as Roberts Rules of Order, listen to the concerns of citizens both for and against their policies, and make decisions based upon unbiased information, mutual respect, and decency - while not compromising their own beliefs.
Balance, hard work, and good faith.
Still, I would be surprised if they don't make mistakes and (hopefully) learn from them. Same as everyone else.
We are in total agreement that they have work to do.
But when I hear these dramatic demands for perfection, where we all are saying we wish them well; it sounds like some of us are saying it with all of the sincerity of Sgt Hartman encouraging Pvt Pyle in Full Metal Jacket:
"Private Pyle, whatever you do, don’t fall down! That would break my f***ing heart!"
Why don't we just leave them be for a minute and let them work? There's now been two columns here complaining or making demands of a group which, by law, cannot discuss the School Board's business until they sit - and they sound like they have a lot to work on.
If they do something wrong or questionable, won't there be time to discuss it if and when it happens, instead of criticizing and categorizing them before they ever meet?
Calm down.
There was an hours long line in town the other day of hungry people waiting for food.
Our Governor is planning to spend 2 Billion dollars he doesn't have on developing a sports arena just up the road.
The "great" Rob Wittman just voted to investigate a President because Trump told him to (just as he voted the party line on the debt fiasco that cost us our credit rating, and the Republican speaker debacle).
So it ain't like y'all ain't got stuff to talk about.
Give these folks a chance to sit in their seats before you start giving them ultimatums.
I know you can't tell it based upon today's Republican party, but hyperpartisan drama kings and queens really aren't the norm. Let's see what happens when normal folk are in charge. shall we?
I know we all have them, and some feel the need to show them, even when they shouldn't. Not belly buttons or other private forms of anatomy, but platitudes.
What's worse is when they are used in substitute for sound policy.
Like this little gem:
"If there is one thing we have done to teachers and students, it is surrendering to the soft bigoty of lowered expectations. If Little Johnny is disruptive, Little Johnny can go to an alternative school and learn there. Rather than spending millions of dollars attending to the needs of bullies and abusers, imagine a school system which spent that same amount of investment and energy encouraging excellence? You get what you subsidize."
In a way, I agree with that next to last sentence about attending to the needs of bullies and abusers, as I read of homeschoolers starving their children to death or beating them, all without supervision. Of their state subsidized schools graduating citizens well versed in their ideologies, but without basic literacy in math or reading, whether they be Orthodox Jews in NYC, or someone in the outback of Idaho or Oregon.
Yet I somehow doubt that is what the writer is referring. Rather he is referring to the massive amount of monies spent into special education, etc. in public schools. While ignoring how Sisyphean the task is, which today is given to public schools.
In a state where there's a Dillon rule, so you can't do anything without Richmond's say so. There's decades of systemic white flight, and underfunding of schools, etc. The most massive incarceration rate in the world, the most gun ownership and gun violence that while Jimmy may not know how to read, he does know how to block the door in case of a mass shooting, and this news service just published an article that indicated up to 40% of the population lives without knowing where their next meal will come from - and all of this gets dumped on schools first, and then the criminal justice or mental health system afterward - the wonder isn't that they do poorly - but that they are capable of doing any good at all.
Private education should be held to the same standards of supervision and accountability as public, particularly if they expect any public support. You want our money, you meet our standards. You don't, you don't.
You fear "bullies and abusers"? That's odd, for many of you - that you fear it so much from young children - who by definition are growing, and changing, and developing. It is immature and antisocial behavior - that most of them will grow out of as they mature.
In a way, I am in agreement with you, as I often remarked while working in a jail - that if someone had told this person "No" when they were 2, I probably wouldn't have had to tell them it when they were 20.
Still, I find it odd to hear it from the very people who are currently being kultishly and unquestionably led by a 75+ year old man who is the very epitome of a bully and an abuser. Strange that what you despise in your children is what you worship in your true gods.......(true being defined by the ones who you actually obey, rather than the ones you proclaim you follow).
Does it surprise you to learn that sometimes Johnny acts out, when you learn that he is hungry, abused himself, comes from a culture of violence, ignorance, and want, does not know where he will live next month, or when his Daddy gets out of prison, as his mother works two jobs, while begging for charity?
I would posit that we should 1st look at improving the services that we adults provide, before demanding better of our children.
Other societies routinely do things better, with less cost, regarding things like healthcare, security, education, food. We're out of balance. Not because we are investing too much in our most needful citizens, but because we're not investing enough.
In Matthew 19:14 : "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
If that's good enough for Him, I'd say that's good enough for us. The children aren't the problem. I'd say it has more to do with the adults and what we've been doing and allowing. Give them and the teachers teaching them the tools they need to succeed, I expect they'll make you proud.
Again, the expectation is unrealistic and not necessarily appropriate.
Do the typical due diligence for hiring a superintendent. It sounds like the former board did not, and much of the troubles arose from that deliberate decision to put politics over professionalism.
You should not be expecting to hire Moses. And while someone from a "conservative leaning" thinktank should be just as welcome to apply for the job as anyone else - why on Earth would this not yet sitting board be expected to limit their applicants to anyone?
Much less to accommodate and reward the partisanship which was at the root of most of their current troubles being worse than the general troubles that all education systems face?
Meet, talk about the current superintendent, as you should. If he is gone, then decide the best way forward - both interim, and long term. With an open mind toward what's best for your students and community.
The rest will work itself out.
Reasonable expectations and professionalism, not demands.
There's a lot to like about this article, but a couple sentences in particular give me pause.
"If Little Johnny is disruptive, Little Johnny can go to an alternative school and learn there."
"Removing students who refuse to learn is not just an ethical need but a moral imperative."
There was a time when I would have whole heartily agreed with these sentences. Then the school division tried to send MY CHILD with a disability to an alternative school because he was in a time of crisis that was brought on by an inexperienced teacher and made worse by a principal who was more concerned with punishing undesired behavior than she was making sure my child's needs were being met at school.
Zero tolerance for disrespect, fighting, cursing, vaping, drug use, etc.? Yes, and amen! But the sentences above are broad enough to give me pause knowing that students with disabilities are disproportionately suspended from school.
Mr. Blosser --
Thank you (again) for an intelligent and thoughtful response. Always feel as if you add to the conversation -- which is great. Better still when we get to reflect on word choices...
Obviously -- and hopefully -- students with disabilities would not be marked as "disruptive" in any form. Very sorry to hear that this was your experience and entirely agree with your sentiments.
One suspects that the wider problem is the fighting, disrespect, cursing, vaping, drug use, violence, etc. in public schools (and in public culture). For one, I would be horrified to learn that also included in this list were students with disabilities. All the more reason to reinforce the word "accountability" in every sense of the word.
Much appreciated, sir!
We elected five very competent women with a great deal of experience in education...but most importantly we elected five people who genuinely care about children It's a great start.
3 ideas and claims, each worthy of their own consideration.
"In many ways, this Board has a blank slate to work from. The system itself is in tatters. It has lacked effective leadership for more than a year. It has lost a significant amount of classroom talent. And test scores (a poor measure of what is happening in any school system, but a political reality nonetheless) are down.
Addressing these challenges will consume the Board’s work for the first year. And they have one chance to get it right."
Dramatic. Breathtaking. We wait with bated breath.
They have one chance to get it right?
Really?
No pressure. Let's come back to Earth for a moment, shall we?
This is a not yet sitting school board for a middle size county in VA. It is not a reasonable expectation for them to be a Moses, parting the Red Sea, is it?
If I were a citizen of Spotsy, I'd be looking for folks who are going to make a measured, good faith and sincere effort to do what a school board is supposed to do.
Hire a professional superintendent, follow standards of governance such as Roberts Rules of Order, listen to the concerns of citizens both for and against their policies, and make decisions based upon unbiased information, mutual respect, and decency - while not compromising their own beliefs.
Balance, hard work, and good faith.
Still, I would be surprised if they don't make mistakes and (hopefully) learn from them. Same as everyone else.
We are in total agreement that they have work to do.
But when I hear these dramatic demands for perfection, where we all are saying we wish them well; it sounds like some of us are saying it with all of the sincerity of Sgt Hartman encouraging Pvt Pyle in Full Metal Jacket:
"Private Pyle, whatever you do, don’t fall down! That would break my f***ing heart!"
Why don't we just leave them be for a minute and let them work? There's now been two columns here complaining or making demands of a group which, by law, cannot discuss the School Board's business until they sit - and they sound like they have a lot to work on.
If they do something wrong or questionable, won't there be time to discuss it if and when it happens, instead of criticizing and categorizing them before they ever meet?
Calm down.
There was an hours long line in town the other day of hungry people waiting for food.
Our Governor is planning to spend 2 Billion dollars he doesn't have on developing a sports arena just up the road.
The "great" Rob Wittman just voted to investigate a President because Trump told him to (just as he voted the party line on the debt fiasco that cost us our credit rating, and the Republican speaker debacle).
So it ain't like y'all ain't got stuff to talk about.
Give these folks a chance to sit in their seats before you start giving them ultimatums.
I know you can't tell it based upon today's Republican party, but hyperpartisan drama kings and queens really aren't the norm. Let's see what happens when normal folk are in charge. shall we?
They might surprise you.
Until then, calm down.
I know we all have them, and some feel the need to show them, even when they shouldn't. Not belly buttons or other private forms of anatomy, but platitudes.
What's worse is when they are used in substitute for sound policy.
Like this little gem:
"If there is one thing we have done to teachers and students, it is surrendering to the soft bigoty of lowered expectations. If Little Johnny is disruptive, Little Johnny can go to an alternative school and learn there. Rather than spending millions of dollars attending to the needs of bullies and abusers, imagine a school system which spent that same amount of investment and energy encouraging excellence? You get what you subsidize."
In a way, I agree with that next to last sentence about attending to the needs of bullies and abusers, as I read of homeschoolers starving their children to death or beating them, all without supervision. Of their state subsidized schools graduating citizens well versed in their ideologies, but without basic literacy in math or reading, whether they be Orthodox Jews in NYC, or someone in the outback of Idaho or Oregon.
Yet I somehow doubt that is what the writer is referring. Rather he is referring to the massive amount of monies spent into special education, etc. in public schools. While ignoring how Sisyphean the task is, which today is given to public schools.
In a state where there's a Dillon rule, so you can't do anything without Richmond's say so. There's decades of systemic white flight, and underfunding of schools, etc. The most massive incarceration rate in the world, the most gun ownership and gun violence that while Jimmy may not know how to read, he does know how to block the door in case of a mass shooting, and this news service just published an article that indicated up to 40% of the population lives without knowing where their next meal will come from - and all of this gets dumped on schools first, and then the criminal justice or mental health system afterward - the wonder isn't that they do poorly - but that they are capable of doing any good at all.
Private education should be held to the same standards of supervision and accountability as public, particularly if they expect any public support. You want our money, you meet our standards. You don't, you don't.
You fear "bullies and abusers"? That's odd, for many of you - that you fear it so much from young children - who by definition are growing, and changing, and developing. It is immature and antisocial behavior - that most of them will grow out of as they mature.
In a way, I am in agreement with you, as I often remarked while working in a jail - that if someone had told this person "No" when they were 2, I probably wouldn't have had to tell them it when they were 20.
Still, I find it odd to hear it from the very people who are currently being kultishly and unquestionably led by a 75+ year old man who is the very epitome of a bully and an abuser. Strange that what you despise in your children is what you worship in your true gods.......(true being defined by the ones who you actually obey, rather than the ones you proclaim you follow).
Does it surprise you to learn that sometimes Johnny acts out, when you learn that he is hungry, abused himself, comes from a culture of violence, ignorance, and want, does not know where he will live next month, or when his Daddy gets out of prison, as his mother works two jobs, while begging for charity?
I would posit that we should 1st look at improving the services that we adults provide, before demanding better of our children.
Other societies routinely do things better, with less cost, regarding things like healthcare, security, education, food. We're out of balance. Not because we are investing too much in our most needful citizens, but because we're not investing enough.
In Matthew 19:14 : "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
If that's good enough for Him, I'd say that's good enough for us. The children aren't the problem. I'd say it has more to do with the adults and what we've been doing and allowing. Give them and the teachers teaching them the tools they need to succeed, I expect they'll make you proud.
Invest in them, not platitudes.
Thank you for this column. #writ large
The superintendent.
Again, the expectation is unrealistic and not necessarily appropriate.
Do the typical due diligence for hiring a superintendent. It sounds like the former board did not, and much of the troubles arose from that deliberate decision to put politics over professionalism.
You should not be expecting to hire Moses. And while someone from a "conservative leaning" thinktank should be just as welcome to apply for the job as anyone else - why on Earth would this not yet sitting board be expected to limit their applicants to anyone?
Much less to accommodate and reward the partisanship which was at the root of most of their current troubles being worse than the general troubles that all education systems face?
Meet, talk about the current superintendent, as you should. If he is gone, then decide the best way forward - both interim, and long term. With an open mind toward what's best for your students and community.
The rest will work itself out.
Reasonable expectations and professionalism, not demands.
Again, calm down.