Monthly Archives: July 2016
School District Questions and Answers –
With new board chair- Twinkle Ann Morton
A few things about the New Year
First of all, let me begin by reminding my readers that this column is my opinion and my opinion only. By that I mean that I am not speaking for the board merely making observations about educational topics and asking for your perspective and input. I joined the School Board in August of 2008. I was chair previously from 2012-2014. My elected term expires in the end of June in 2019.
I am honored to be chosen by my fellow members to be the spokesperson for the board. I would like to say first of all that I know this to be one of the strongest boards in the state for working together to achieve the many responsibilities of the 21st Century School Board. I am a graduate of the OSBA [Oregon School Board Association] Leadership Institute, and while many of the boards represented there were MUCH larger or represented much larger districts, we have a group of people who are willing to work together and give much of their time to achieve our vision for the district. In terms of experience, your board has 38 years of combined service to the Fern Ridge School District. We continue to seek better ways to work with the community to improve not only our students’ and staff’s achievement but also their well-being. While we derive our ‘authority’ from the state regulations, I see our responsibility to hear the community’s needs within that framework.
Our last board chair, Andrea Larson, did a marvelous job during a very high stress time having to do with construction and other changes in the district. I am fortunate she agreed to continue as our vice-chair so we can continue the excellent work she has begun. At our last meeting, Director Soderberg suggested that as part of our planning for next year, each board member talk about something s/he is passionate about. The ideas brought out spontaneously at that time are fresh, and I believe that the community will be excited as well after we flesh out the possibilities. We all have high expectations for our students’ ability to succeed in life based on our children, our community, and our excellent staff. Our challenge will be to find ways to achieve our goals within a limited budget future. Knowing this group, we will find a way.
I am pleased to say that the Key Communicator group members who I have talked with are willing to continue in that capacity. I hope we can increase the messages they receive to share with you and that you, the community, will continue to bring your questions and concerns to them. I believe my job as a board member is to make sure that your interests are being served as best we can within our financial situation. To do that, we need to solidify our vision for the district as well as our board goals, while engaging and linking with the community.
I hope to help the board develop more chances for the community to get involved with programs that will benefit our children and our community. As you know, many strong programs have begun at the schools during this last year. Several serve our youngest members of the community through Kids in Transition to School [KITS] and the Family Resource Center[FRC]. Programs also serve our middle school and high school students. Construction is moving along well and even some ahead of schedule. Pictures are available on the district website [http://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/]. In addition, announcements, calendars and copies of all my articles are available as well. Please check it out.
I look forward to continuing my column and answering your questions so please continue to write to me at tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us and read my articles. I hope to reach new readers so share with your friends and loved ones. I leave you with this quote from Nancy Walser from the Harvard Graduate School of Education from her book The Essential School Board Book. “Boards are now expected to do more than make policy, sit back, and oversee the Superintendent…The role of the school board member today has to be one of leadership working in tandem with the superintendent to make sure that the public’s interests are served by the public schools.”[12] I take my responsibility seriously and want you to know your school board is working hard to do just that. In addition, I want to share with you a moment of humane ‘duck’ action in this YouTube video https://youtu.be/YIZaC33fVy0 Until next time.
School District Thoughts
With vice chair- Twinkle Ann Morton
Unfunded Mandates
First of all, let me begin by reminding my readers that this column is my opinion and my opinion only. I am not speaking for the board merely making observations about educational topics and asking for your perspective and input. Today, I want to share some of the state and nationally added expectations for the schools while offering no funds to help accomplish them. The list will likely astound you- it did me- all of these things are a good idea. What makes it difficult is the strain it puts on under paid and under-appreciated staff who work to complete these things and more. After all- we have not even mentioned in this long list preparing students to read, write and do math. Oh yes, that.
In the 21st Century alone, the nation added:
- No Child Left Behind (Republican)
- Bully prevention
- Anti-harassment policies (gender, race, religion, or national origin)
- Expanded early childcare and wrap around programs
- Elevator and escalator safety instruction
- Body Mass Index evaluation (obesity monitoring)
- Organ donor education and awareness programs
- Personal financial literacy
- Entrepreneurial and innovation skills development
- Media literacy development
- Contextual learning skill development
- Health and wellness programs
- Race to the Top (Democratic)
In 1980, the nation added:
- Keyboarding and computer education
- Global education
- Multicultural/Ethnic education
- Nonsexist education
- English-as-a-second-language and bilingual education
- Teen pregnancy awareness
- Hispanic heritage education
- Early childhood education
- Jump Start, Early Start, Even Start, and Prime Start
- Full-day kindergarten
- Preschool programs for children at risk
- After-school programs for children of working parents
- Alternative education in all its forms
- Stranger/danger education
- Antismoking education
- Sexual abuse prevention education
- Expanded health and psychological services
- Child abuse monitoring (a legal requirement for all teachers)
And in 1990, the nation added:
- Conflict resolution and peer mediation
- HIV/AIDS education
- CPR training
- Death education
- America 2000 initiatives (Republican)
- Inclusion
- Expanded computer and internet education
- Distance learning
- Tech Prep and School to Work programs
- Technical Adequacy
- Assessment
- Post-secondary enrollment options
- Concurrent enrollment options
- Goals 2000 initiatives (Democratic)
- Expanded Talented and Gifted opportunities
- At risk and dropout prevention
- Homeless education (including causes and effects on children)
- Gang education (urban centers)
- Service learning
- Bus safety, bicycle safety, gun safety, and water safety education
All this is Nationally – and then at the state level we have many more. According to a leading authority in Education these things were added to the existing school day WITHOUT adding time to the calendar or the day. Pay to do all this has risen but not kept up with the inflation of other essential providers – and tell me what could be more essential than our children? The authority, by the way if you wish to check it out, is an author, educator and motivational speaker. His name is Jamie Vollmer.
Statewide we have an onslaught of unpaid requirements as well. I’ve listed them here with the Bill number behind. Thank you, Sally Storm for supplying a partial list.
- Dyslexia Screening & Support (SB 612)
- Abuse Prevention (SB 856)
- Dental Screening & Sealants (SB 660)
- School Nursing Provisions (SB 698)
- Domestic Violence Awareness (SB 790)
- Public Immunization Reporting (SB 895)
- Improving African-American Outcomes (HB 2016)
- Attendance Verification to ODOT (HB 2545)
- Safety Threat Drill Requirements (HB 2661)
- Oregon Civics Training for Teachers (HB 2955)
- Chronic Absenteeism Prevention Reporting (HB 3319)
- ELL Reporting (HB 3499)
- Instruct All Students in CPR (SB 79)
This article is not intended to negate the importance of any of these- I merely point out how much we expect each and every day from our fine staff. I was going to check with the budget manager to see if she could determine the money we spend on these items. However, I hated to add to her already overloaded schedule to give an estimate. It does not take much of a leap to see, regardless of the dollar amount, it takes teaching and preparation time to deal with all of this. If you’d like me to go into anything specifically, contact me at tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us. I leave you with this thought from Henry Adams: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never determine where his influence stops.”
I apologize for Mr. Adams sexist choice of pronouns… remember he was born in 1838. The idea is sound- the pronouns not consistent with today’s verbiage. Oh Yes- that is yet another thing we expect our teachers to teach our young people- great thoughts of long ago still apply just without today’s awareness of racial and gender changes. Here is a video from Mr. Vollmer for you if you’d like to see more about these and more added mandates. http://www.jamievollmer.com/video.html