I am currently serving on our town’s board of education. As such, I don’t typically write too much about my experience there; even though I write about everything else, my work on the board is collaborative and I want to maintain a professional perspective for the position. (However, check with me after the election next week…I’ve been threatened with being voted out!)
But, since our public board meetings started looking like some of the ones from the news across the country; heated, accusatory, unimaginable, I am at a loss to understand what these parents think they sound like when they show up in such a state. So, I thought I’d share what it sounds like from my side of the board . . .
First it was the masks.
It wasn’t enough we got the kids back in school (last year’s complaint), now they wanted them unmasked. They brought in so-called experts to testify that masks are bad for children.
Parents insisted, no—demanded--that we go against state and federal mandates in requiring that our kids wear masks while in the school buildings. Some of the parents claimed that their kids suffered from all manner of ailments due to mask wearing. I’m not saying that some children didn’t have difficulties with wearing a mask; I’m sure it was hard for some kids to adapt. But there is one glaring point that these parents seem to be missing: We simply can’t change how we do things because of one child. Or five children. Even ten.
Think of it this way: It is well documented that some children suffer from math anxiety. In all the schools I’ve ever worked in, math support has been offered and available due to this very real phenomenon. For whatever reason, there are just some children who become anxious when faced with a math lesson or activity. Anxiety that can manifest in physical ailments such as stomachaches and behavioral issues. When I was a paraprofessional in a K-5 school, our students had to do an evil activity called the “Mad Minute”—a sheet of math problems to be completed in a minute. The students I worked with hated them. So did I.
But did the parents come to the school accusing us of exposing their child to something evil and dangerous? Not that I’m aware of. Did we make as many modifications as possible for those children who demonstrated math anxiety in order to help them get through it and, even optimally, overcome it? Absolutely. And because some kids suffered from math anxiety did we change our whole curriculum and get rid of math because it affected some children adversely?
Well, you know that answer. And neither can we change the protocols that have been established to keep everyone in our schools safe and in-person. Our policies are guided by science and research and evidence; research shows that masks help to contain the spread of covid—and, as a side benefit—other germs as well.
Honestly, the board is happy when parents come to meetings. It beats sitting in an empty lecture hall talking to ourselves. And I get that these parents are concerned about their kids. That’s a plus . . . parents should look out for their kids. I have no problems with that. None at all. I'm happy to work towards finding solutions so kids can continue to attend school. But it sounds like they want us to change our whole safety plan to work for their kids. We have over 2,000 children in our schools and many of them aren't having problems with masks. Their parents are in support of keeping a line of defense against a disease that's proven fatal to over 700,000 people. We can’t be swayed by the threats of a few to establish policy and procedure for our entire district.
So, the next thing is CRT. I have read so much misinformation about this topic my eyeballs are practically falling out. I try and keep up with the alleged “evidence” that is posted on social media and brought to our attention, but it is so transparently bullshit, it’s almost laughable that people read it and believe it. The only reason it’s not laughable is because even though we have presented actual data regarding our curriculum, parents continue to assert that we have somehow managed to introduce it into our district.
Do you know what that sounds like? It sounds like these parents believe that the teachers who have taught here for years, and were lauded as heroes during the pandemic are now some coven of diabolical indoctrinators intent on making their kids feel bad that they’re white. It sounds like somehow our whole district has integrated a secret curriculum that we’re calling “SEL” or “DEI” in order to brainwash their kids. And, I guess it’s just their kids, because there are hundreds of other parents in our district who don’t feel that way. But because these parents do, once again, we’re supposed to heed their threats and accusations.
I don’t know what happened to simply talking to the teacher or asking for a meeting with the principal or the superintendent. I’m not sure what (or who) whipped these folks into such a frenzy, but it sounds like they think we, as a board, should just drop all the research, data, and evidence we have gathered to make our district-wide decisions, ignore the educational professionals we are lucky to have on our staff and simply listen to them. But that doesn’t make sense, does it?
And what about those teachers? The men and women who have been juggling curriculum, schedules, increased student needs and their own families--do they honestly think that these educated, dedicated professionals are going to just stand by and let some demonic cabal of a board of ed force them to teach any way but what they know in their heart and their brains is the right way to teach children? I can guarantee you that if a teacher hangs up a BLM poster or a Pride flag in their classroom, you can be 99% sure it’s not for their comfort, but one of their student’s.
We’re supposed to listen to these parents as they denounce and insist we change—or rescind--the policies we create to guide our teachers to tackle the actual problems that come into their classrooms every day. But we don’t write our policies for the public--our policies and guidelines are for professional educators, most with advanced degrees. Our policies are written by professionals--FOR professionals. Bowing to a confused crowd of parents fueled by misinformation is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous.
So, that’s what it sounds like. It sounds like a bunch of people who think they know better than the teachers and administrators who have been working in a profession supported by data and research most of their lives. It sounds like suddenly the board has become a source of mistrust when all of our meetings, minutes and agendas are posted and public. It sounds like they don’t have anything better to do.
But I know they do. They are parents. They have children in our schools and it is still our job to make sure they are heard and confident in their educational choices for their children. We are still public education and we answer to a greater community than a handful or parents, although this handful is definitely that—a handful. Hopefully whatever is stuck in their craw will dislodge and they will let us get back to the business at hand—oversight of our schools and our kids.
All our kids.
Some of what you say is true, but on the other hand there is something in the way you say it that might strike a bad chord in some parents. I wonder about the BLM and the Pride flags. Why not treat all children equally, no flags but our National Standard, the Red, White and Blue, that will unite rather than pick something to devide?
100% correct, but the squeaky wheels are using up all the air...how can we bolster and boost reporting of the ones following the golden rule?