Saturday, October 30, 2021

Go Bucks School boards

So Ohio's School Boards Association has cut ties with the national brand of the same, the National School Boards Association.  This over the despicable letter sent by the NSBA that labeled, rather broadly I might add, concerned parents as national terrorists. 

Beyond the conflict of interests charges that arose with the DOJ, or the growing idea that opponents of the Left and enemies of the state are one and the same, the bigger problem was the underlying message of the letter.  That message was articulated by such political gurus as Terry McAuliffe.  That is, after over half a century of parents being told to be involve in their kids' education and school systems, we now say shut up and get out of our way. So extreme was the reversal of that generation's long mantra that it caused whiplash for those hearing it. 

Literally.  Actual whiplash.  When I wrapped up my undergrad work, having moved from Political Science to Secondary Education, one of the main goals we were told to strive for was involving parents in the education process.  Get them into the meetings, get them to the hallways and byways of our schools.  But now, the latest example of 'you heard postwar liberals say thus, but the leftist state now says not thus.' 

Now, none of this is to say parents should be threatening board members, though I would like to see the actual evidence they were.  Charges of being threatened in the internet age are as common as actual threats.  A good way to avoid this, I should mention, is by not shutting parents out, shutting them down, and shooing them away when they're questioning school board policies and actions.  

One thing that began setting things off was schools forced to show what they were teaching during the lockdowns last year.  That caused parents to begin asking questions.  At that point, I remember local news stories earlier this year where parents said they were being shut down, told to shut up and deal with it when asking questions about their children's schooling.  That made them understandably angry. 

Again, not saying violence is right, it isn't.  But if the violence is defined as a parent trying to ask questions about raped girls in a school bathroom, and dragged out of a meeting for his efforts, that's not the same as a bomb threat. 

So a hot mess problem for the schools and their leftwing agendas.  Parents told to shut up and stay out of the schools' hair, parents being shouted down in board meetings as was happening earlier in the year, parents being labeled terrorists by a compromised DOJ,  and parents being told by high profile politicians to leave their kids' education alone, have conspired to make school board elections the hottest story in this year's election.  

Usually they're as interesting as the race for local dog catcher.  Not this time.  And that's not what the Left wants.  So expect to see more of this.  We call it damage control.  For their part, I appreciate the Ohio association's severing of ties with this egregious attack on parents and, as an extension, their students.  But it would have been nicer if they would have done this immediately, rather than wait to see where the backlash needle landed on the scale. 

5 comments:

  1. When I wrapped up my undergrad work, having moved from Political Science to Secondary Education, one of the main goals we were told to strive for was involving parents in the education process.

    Properly the subject of occupational magazine literature, hands-on instruction, or perhaps a single course.

    IMO, secondary school teachers should have baccalaureate degrees or trade certificates (which might include an associate's degree) in particular subjects. Appended to that would be a teaching certificate which would incorporate courses in approaches to imparting material and evaluating performance, an internship where you're placed in the classroom of a master teacher, and a stipended apprenticeship wherein you continue your internship but are earning at the same time. The certificate program would take two or three academic years and you'd be in the classroom and earning for most of it. You could enhance your certificate by taking 42 credits in a second subject.

    You look at the course lists of your nearest 'school of education' and what hits you is that practical teacher training is about the last thing that interests them.

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    1. As one who finished by undergrad in that major, I'd have to agree. I felt there were many things we should have been taught that we weren't. And much we rambled on about that was more opinion than proper training.

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  2. Simple answer.
    1. Run for school board.
    2. Refuse all federal funding.
    3. Stop spending money on unnecessary stuff. If schools are responsible with their cash they don't need federal funds.

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    1. Since we homeschool, that would likely put a damper on our chances. Plus, I wonder how much of these issues have to do with funding at all. I get the impression they are being driven by agendas far removed from financial concerns. Not that those concerns aren't there. But it might be two separate issues.

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    2. I wasn't necessarily referring to you specifically.
      The last time I talked about school board reform, the main objection I got had to do with federal funds. Obviously there are other things that need doing as well. It's just strange that people in Red districts often allow their schools to become do woke.

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