Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Trustee Awareness Tips from a “defeated” candidate

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 24, 2008
in Blog
. 0 Comments

When I ran for school board trustee in the last election, Nov 15/08, I kept my fingers crossed that I would NOT be elected. I dreaded having to go to interminable meetings for three years of my life.  My main purpose for running was to bring to public and institutional attention the need to seriously examine the very relevancy of school boards in this day and age.  I did learn a lot during the campaign and from my research and thus I have some insights to offer.

TRUSTEE AWARENESS #1

My HOMEWORK on school board issues during my recent trustee candidacy yields a lot of interesting information. I did not get elected, however did garner over 1/10 of votes. My website continues: http://abolish-school-boards.org

As well, I will publish on other sites as news comes in. With that in mind, I share the following:

1. Getting more money for schools. Most candidates I heard or read about said they would dedicate themselves to this effort.

In Quebec the opposition (ADQ) says they would abolish school boards to save $125 million annually. To compute for BC that would mean a saving of about $70 million annually. Instead of the savings going back into provincial coffers perhaps that money should be spread out to BC schools or for special needs. Would BC trustees consider that sacrifice worthwhile?

2. Few trustee candidates mentioned any kind of system-wide reform. Most just wanted to hunker down and improve their own district.

Meanwhile, our sister province to the east, Alberta, seems to have province-wide reviews every few years. Right now they are in the midst of a review of education for special-needs. In 2003 a Commission on Learning produced 95 recommendations with the Ministry of Education acting on 88. The Minister told school trustees Nov 19 that another review is imminent, that “he wants to get people talking about education…that could lead to changes in the legislation that governs how schools are run.” When asked if that meant abolishing school boards, he answered, “…governance is part of that discussion and if we’re not doing governance the right way, then we should be open to the concept of how we should do it.”

These reviews, if genuine, definitely lead to greater responsiveness to what citizens express and want. For example, Alberta has had enabling legislation since 1994 to provide for greater choice through charter schools where parents, teachers and principals run individual schools. This autonomy allows flexibility in meeting accountability standards as well as providing for creative programs to emerge. This is something that BC should consider for its citizens as well.

A worldview approach has significant educational and decisional implications. BC also needs these focused conversations outside the periodic provincial elections. A commission of inquiry soon???

3. School closures due to falling enrollment seem to be a BC political no-no.

Meanwhile, trustees in Boston, even in the midst of closing six schools, are expanding in other areas to improve school quality. They expect to add more “pilot” schools which have more “autonomy than other schools over budget, staffing, governance, classroom teaching standards, and testing programs.”

4. Trustee candidates see themselves as volunteer public servants called to do good things for their community. They don’t see that they’ll be paid to do a lot of busy work and a lot of frustrating political wrangling and manipulation.

A little flavor of the jockeying and fighting that goes on and the ideological agendas at play was evidenced during the recent board elections in Langley. However, rarely do we see anything comprehensive like “Confessions and Frustrations of a Long Time School Trustee”.

Well, there is such a book, not with that title though. The 1998 book by Russell J. Edwards is called “How Boards of Education Are Failing Your Children” and available from $.33 to $1.00 plus shipping (about $5-6) from AbeBooks or Amazon. It’s a long rambling, stream of consciousness, full of insider gossip, political and personal, dirty tricks, etc. Written by a well-intentioned “Master School Board Member” who wants to tell “what is wrong with the educational process and why it is so hard to make progress and solve problems.” Highly recommended, especially for trustees who think it’s a “nice” job and think they’ll get anywhere during any 3yr term.

5. Fads come and go, yet they continue to be embraced for the WRONG reasons. What they really do is buy time for the system to carry on business-as-usual — not for any real reform.

Canada (except for Alberta) it seems is wedded to the pro forma model of consultation as noted in the OECD report of 1976 meaning — going through the motions, affecting concern that is not genuine, perfunctory…

Here is a recent gross example of such a fad from the US. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation poured millions, NO, over 2 billion dollars into converting large high schools into smaller ones. 8 years later, Nov 11/08, the Foundation called a meeting “to admit candidly that the new small high schools had not fulfilled their promise.” Please see "Bill Gates and his Silver Bullet"

Critics of this program show the harm done to students, 8 years of their lives lost, whole schools turned upside down…millions of taxpayer dollars wasted, good teachers quitting rather than being forced to support a plan they knew would be detrimental for their students…

I’ve been reading the 12 page promo for the Iowa Lighthouse Project that BC trustees will be considering in their upcoming training in Dec and I’m really hoping it is not being sold as another “silver bullet”. By trying to make trustees more “effective” this still consigns parents to a secondary, auxiliary role. Parents having choice and voice can move “stuck” schools and scores far better than expensive trustees and school boards.
 

Submission to Lions Bay News

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 22, 2008
in Blog
. 0 Comments

 

To Lions Bay News   Oct 26/08

I’m running for the position of school board trustee in West Van, Bowen Island and Lions Bay for one main reason:  I want to promote the cause of parent involvement in schools. 

Since my daughters were young, I have worked hard to advocate for parents to be in charge of their children’s upbringing and education.  There are very strong reasons why parents should be meaningfully involved and not leave child care or education to others who call themselves experts. 

I am now a grandparent and have seen the steady growth of central office administrations at the expense of local schools. 

It is very easy to relinquish our freedoms, rights and duties to others and over the years this has become such a norm that we, as parents and citizens are losing our independence and increasingly becoming dependent on government.  This is particularly bad in government public schools where parents have very little say in their schools.

School Boards do not make it easy for parents to be involved as they see themselves as being in charge.  There are few opportunities for parents and students to have a voice in quality or achievement goals.  Boards, however, seem to enjoy parents as fund-raisers and organizers of events in the schools.

What I would like to see happen is that each school become autonomous, with a governing board consisting of parents and teachers (including principal teacher). You don’t need distant superintendents, administrators, curriculum developers, bureaucrats, and trustees involved. 

In a place like Lions Bay I’m sure this could be done.

If we abolished the School Board, as I believe we should, we would achieve considerable savings.  These could be applied, perhaps to the tune of $1,000-$2,000 extra per student, or dedicated for special needs.  For more on my views on this topic, visit my website:  http://abolish-school-boards.org.

I do hope the citizens in Lions Bay seriously consider the idea of school autonomy for the near future.

Best wishes,

Tunya Audain
 

Teacher Harrassment — Another Reason to Homeschool

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 8, 2008
in 101 Reasons to Abolish and Blog
. 0 Comments

 

More reasons to Abolish….

16.  Teacher harassment – another reason to homeschool.

Homeschool sites and blogs have been busy articulating the reasons they avoid schools.  One reason is to bypass indoctrination by teachers.  This site with YouTube video gives reason #142  to homeschool: “Obama Teachers won’t bully students who support McCain.”

The story relates to a teacher in the US, before their recent election, quizzing students about candidates.  But her remarks showed a decided bias for Obama and a berating of a girl who was on the verge of tears after saying McCain.  Read the story, the transcript, and the superintendent’s letter.

This story has gone around the world many times now, with headlines using words as Teacher — belittles, bullies, browbeats, hectors, ridicules, attacks — student who votes McCain. 

The comments from readers, mostly parents, are calling for firing  the teacher.  We await the decision of the School Board Superintendent.

 

Unruly School Boards Need Rules of Behavior

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 7, 2008
in 101 Reasons to Abolish and Blog
. 0 Comments

More Reasons to Abolish…….

15.  Unruly School Boards Need Rules of Behavior

Even though School Boards are supposed to work as a team, or a corporation, divisions do occur.  But, their handbooks and training are supposed to produce a unified front once decisions are made.  And the reason School Board Public Meetings are generally “civilized” (too civilized some would say to the point of being mechanical), is that REAL discussions are usually held in secret, behind closed doors.  A good article written by a former trustee in BC talks about this issue.

However, sometimes Boards do become publically fractious and dysfunctional.  Then the provincial Ministry of Education steps in and disbands the board and provides an administrator to govern.  This has happened in BC several times in my memory in a number of districts.

Nova Scotia has just introduced new legislation to help boards maintain “discipline and decorum”.  Comments to the newstory
add more flavor to the issue:

Why doesn’t the province just take them over, and run them? After some of the problems in the past it seems to be a good time to do it!!

I fully support this bill. Our public servants should be serving the public and not wasting their time on personal vendettas and power struggles. It’s about the students.

 
 

Alternatives to School Boards

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 6, 2008
in 101 Reasons to Abolish and Blog
. 0 Comments

Adding to the 101 Reasons to Abolish…..

14.  Alternatives to School Boards

Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec, has called a General Election for Dec. 08/08.  He said his minority government can’t operate with “three pairs of hands on the helm”.  He seeks a majority government to tackle the difficult times ahead.

He blamed the other two parties of brinkmanship with the PQ and ADQ threatening to force votes of confidence and vote together to bring down his Liberals.  He cited the ADQ plan to abolish school boards as a possible issue to bring down his government.

In the last election of 2007 the school board issue was widely discussed.  ADQ claimed that by abolishing the boards this would remove this extra layer of bureaucracy, leaving governance to the municipalities, the provincial government and the schools themselves. 

We shall await any discussions of the issue in Quebec in the next month
 

My Mission Statement on BCSTA Website

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 4, 2008
in Blog
. 0 Comments

 

For the full statement see BCSTA site here.  Below is the mission statement as I see it.

 What in your experience and qualifications prepares you for the role of school trustee?

I have considerable background in parent advocacy. (See my website)

I believe in self-government, self-reliance and self-responsibility. That’s why I see great danger when educators, trustees, and others persuade parents that they should leave education to the experts.. Parents should not only be empowered to participate in education decision-making, they should also not be disempowered. Far too many eager, energetic parents are channeled into fund-raising instead of attending to the quality of programs and staffing at their schools.

Not only are parents enfeebled in their duty to advocate for their children’s rights, but young people are cheated of good modeling. How do they feel when their parents are made to feel inadequate in school or school board relations? How do they feel when they see their parents constantly fund-raising with the lame excuse that there’s not enough money?

During these intense economic and political times I discern a very worrisome trend. I see politicians calling for more government and the public seemingly acquiescing.

It’s time to stand up to the growth of this collectivist mind-set. School boards and the government monopoly public education system must be examined for their contributory role in government dependency. We need to examine the nature of “civics” lessons and see how students learn about the precious freedoms our forefathers fought for and the dangers we face in relinquishing our individuality and our freedoms.

What steps will you take to work with other trustees to improve student achievement?

1. Promote parent governance in each school – autonomy, budgeting, staffing, quality, programming, as done in independent schools
2. Adopt parent rights in education: The Right to:
- Choice
- Information
- Be heard & consulted
- Special assistance
- Involvement
- Safeguards
- Appeal
3. Adopt Anti-Indoctrination Guidelines for controversial topics in schools — global warming, social justice.
4. Have ALL board cheques published online for transparency.
5. Transfer all Community Courses to Recreation Commission.
6. Compare costs of administration in SD#45 with others. (Are these costs still the highest in BC?)
7. Consider such topics as charter schools, vouchers, and tuition tax credits.
8. Solicit private scholarships for special needs students who would benefit from specialized schooling out-of-district.
9. Compile research into the damage that choicelessness and lack of parent involvement does to families and education.
10. Question the international student business. Some claim this yields up to 15% to income. Isn’t this best left to private business?
> 11. Research teacher training in BC. Is it adequate for today, especially for special needs?
> 12. Explore how civic education can better prepare students for independent thinking and self-sufficiency.
> 13. Convene provincial discussions on a) The Relevancy of School Boards Today – Should They be Abolished, Reinvented, or Remain? and b) Should we be Concerned About Mission Drift in BC Education?
 

Powerful Unions “tie the hands” in Education Decision-Making

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 3, 2008
in 101 Reasons to Abolish and Blog
. 0 Comments

 More reasons to Abolish SBs……..

13.  When an educator says their “hands are tied”, that is code talk for a union contract taking precedence in decision-making.

How many times have we heard, coming from the mouths of principals, superintendents or trustees – “Our hands are tied.”? I’ve heard it MANY times.

A newstory from Surrey just begins to highlight some of the issues that arise when powerful unions are involved in school decision-making.  See online story from Janet Steffenhagen, Sun Reporter here.  Do read the other links in the story and maybe you can sort this out better than I can.

Anyway, I see some issues emerging which beg attention:
-    Should union members who work for a School Board run for trusteeship?  To me this is rank conflict of interest and we need to tighten conflict of interest provisions in public office.
-    The president of the local CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees), an incumbent trustee, was asked about this issue:  “if students rights should trump those of unionized employees”. Her answer was that CUPE was the governing body for Special Education Assistants and offered to set up a meeting with the parents “to have an open dialogue”.
-    Why is the union (CUPE) the “governing body” for Special Education Assistants? I thought the School Board was THE governing body in this matter?  What kind of a loose contracting system do we have here?  Can we get some details? How appropriate is it for the union to be setting up meetings with parents for dialogue?  Who are the responsible authorities here anyway? What’s dialogue going to accomplish?
-    Union contracts perpetuate” seniority”, not qualifications or suitability in jobs. In the story you will see another candidate, (heaven help us) also a CUPE member, saying she worked successfully with some children, but “because of low seniority” wasn’t able to continue.

WHAT CHANCE IS THERE AT ALL FOR PARENTS TO BE ADVOCATES FOR THEIR CHILDREN WHEN ALL THESE COMPLEX CONTRACTUAL UNION ENTANGLEMENTS STAND IN THE WAY OF “THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD”?
 
Furthermore, isn’t it SAD that parents are reduced to the state where they can only get some answers at all-candidates meetings, which come once in three years?  Their only chance for attention is the hope that there might be a reporter in the crowd who would report some of their frustration and grief.

And, furthermore, I am also running in a School Board election at the moment in West Vancouver and I see parents at meetings asking similar desperate type of questions.  What kind of accountability and accessibility is there when parents have to come, cap-in-hand, to AC meetings to ask potential trustees what they would do? 

By the way, I first ran for School Board 33 years ago when I wanted to make things better for my children and their peers in their lifetime.  Now, I am a grandmother and am running again, mainly to point out that “the system” is as stagnant now as it was then as far as responsiveness  to parents goes.  It’s run for the convenience of the establishment..
 

School Boards and “Catchment Areas”

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on November 2, 2008
in 101 Reasons to Abolish and Blog
. 0 Comments

 

12.  School Boards cling to catchment area policies to retain central office control. 

Think how sinister that term “catchment area” sounds.  Reminds me of how the phrase “beyond the pale” is used — people (Jews, Gaelic Irish) daring to settle outside their assigned territories or boundaries in old Russia, Ireland, Europe.  Or it brings to mind the caricatures of truant officers of old, knocking on doors, in search of and “catching” absent school children.

Anyway, I have recently been looking at the websites of school boards in BC and find a disturbing number still using the term “catchment areas”.  What if parents were innocently looking for new housing in a new community and found a “good” school as their first criteria for resettling. Wouldn’t this “catchment area” policy force them to look for property only in that area? 

France has recently aroused serious controversy and protest because of education reforms.  Some of the concerns are voiced by teachers losing jobs because of redundancy.  See this quote about catchment area reforms:

One of the most controversial reforms has been the liberalisation of the catchment area system. Since classes resumed in September French families can apply to any state school they want: They no longer have to apply to the institutions in their local area. Supporters of the change say it decreases segregation, as good schools in rich areas are no longer reserved to rich families, while opponents argue it will increase inequality, as it increases competition between institutions." 
 

story here