All in all, the response was positive. I received words of encouragement and/or agreement from many members of the community, administrators, teachers, and former students in attendance. The board president conveyed the concern of the school board over the issues that I presented, and suggested that they were in the process of considering a resolution.
Here is the transcript of my statement to the board this evening...
Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Many of you know me as a history teacher from Elyria High, and while in many ways a teacher is always a teacher, I am here today speaking as a parent of a student entering Eastern Heights, an educational activist, a proud resident of the city of Elyria, and an advocate for children.
There is a crisis in public education. Contrary to what some would have us believe, it has nothing to do with failing public schools. It has everything to do with those who would, for their own private gain, discredit the incredible work being accomplished by public schools. As has been proven here in Elyria, if an educational community focuses on its function as a team, and celebrates its victories while pragmatically addressing its obstacles, that community can find success.
However, continued attacks on public education are making our efforts terribly difficult.
Over the last several years an increasingly vocal contingent of administrators, teachers, parents, and students have criticized our system of standardized testing. In the state of Ohio, this activism has forced the hand of politicians. Recently they decided to eliminate PARCC, and cut one of the testing windows. It is not enough. The assessments created by AIR are not any better. Three hours per test is still inappropriate. We are testing beyond the federal minimum of hours and content areas. While we squander instruction time for the sake of assessments, the tests will continue to measure what they measure best, which is the relative economic well being of the students taking them.
Parents are becoming more aware of the problem. Last year hundreds of families here in Elyria refused testing. Regardless of our opinions or guidance on the matter, they will again this year. Last week the ODE released its ramshackle system of “Safe Harbor.” Designed to protect students, teachers, and districts from punishment as we roll out yet another unfamiliar testing system, it fails to formally protect public schools from loss of funding due to refusals. Last year Senator Gayle Manning created an amendment that did just that. It needs to happen again.
With regard to the loss of funding, state legislators tout millions in funding increases to public education without factoring in the billions cut in past budgets, without mentioning the increases taken from local districts for charter schools that are very often less successful, and are as yet completely unregulated.
State Superintendent Richard Ross and the Ohio Department of Education have proven that their interest is not public education, but promoting charters. Ross and his staff manipulated the test scores of online charters to increase the overall ratings of charter sponsors. Despite having broken the law, Ross has refused to resign and no investigation has been undertaken.
Dr. Ross has also admitted to purposefully misleading the State School Board by hiding his involvement in the development of the Youngstown Amendment to HB70. In secret, Ross and others revised and championed a piece of legislation that dismantles the democratic process, dissolves the locally elected school board, and gives a frightening degree of power to an appointed CEO, who, within a year, can begin to turn over local public schools to charter school sponsors.
While this situation is currently catastrophic for Youngstown, it is dire for our neighbors in Lorain. They are next on the list of likely districts to be subject to this new plan unless they can raise their test scores in the next two years. Keep in mind that they are directed to do this despite being led by a state appointed Academic Distress Commission that has been criticized as dysfunctional, under a set of assessments that have yet to be created, in a district with high rates of poverty which, as I mentioned before, almost always correlates to exceedingly low scores on these assessments.
Those of us in districts like Lorain and Elyria have tried for years to illustrate the fact that socio-economic conditions have an adverse effect on our performance on these measures of school success. We've been criticized for making excuses, labelled as failures, then had our districts opened to charter schools. In something like the definition of hypocrisy, the charter sponsors who thrived under this system have now decided that it is not fair to rate them without considering socioeconomic factors. Responding to this request, the legislature has announced that they will study this issue through ratings created by the California “Similar Students” measure, which takes things like poverty into account when rating schools.
There is a crisis in public education, and these are but a few of the major issues. In order to begin to remedy this situation, we need to work as a community. We need to function as a team as we have done to find success in our schools. You are the leaders of this team.
Over the last year, local school boards and district superintendents have become more outspoken regarding education policy. School Boards have adopted resolutions to formally denounce issues as they have arisen. Superintendents from across the state have publicly condemned the assessment system. Dr. Jama, you are one of the greatest champions of public education that I have ever met, and one of the few people that I believe are as loyal to the city of Elyria as I am. I hope you will consider expanding on this outspoken tradition for the sake of our schools and our city. I also hope that members of the school board will consider the same.
I realize that resolutions, statements, and admonishments do not change the law. They do, however, send a message to legislators. Also, for those of us working tirelessly to change our public education system for the better, they arrive with a sense of vindication for our cause. They have a way of galvanizing the movement, of inspiring individuals who feel small in the face of this adversity.
I don't expect a response to these things today. I am simply asking that you consider the issues I have mentioned, others as they arise, and to consider taking a public stand. I believe that this is a natural extension of the work our community is already doing to assure success in Elyria’s schools. I look forward to hearing from, and working with all of you in the interest of doing what's right for Elyria’s kids.
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