Left In Lowell

The furor over School Committee members and access to staff in the schools has prompted SC member and blogger Jackie Doherty to write a response.

Whether I am “on a mission” as one colleague muses, I admit it freely: Yes! I am on a mission to improve our schools. I do that by getting information from all levels of the system, from pre-k to the high school, from administrators, parents, students, teachers, custodians, security officers, community partners—you name it; if they’re involved with our students, I want to learn their perspective and use it to improve our schools. I am always respectful, professional, and mindful of the boundaries.

No policy should preclude the elected body or members of it of asking questions of staff members, with or without permission of the school’s administrator. Of course, whenever possible, or desirable, the administrator should be notified, and certainly interference (a.k.a. micromanagement) in the business of running the school is not appropriate, but what is this hush policy on just talking to the damn teachers all about? Coddling administrators’ egos? Give me a break. We elected these people to be the final line of accountability, but we want to hobble their ability to get information to understand what’s needed or what’s happening in the schools?

Jackie explains:

It becomes even more serious when it is curtailed, as indicated by one administrator insisting all questions to his staff be made in his presence—regardless of chain-of-command approval in his absence or the nature of the questions. (In this case, the question was what the recycling club needed from the city, and the visit included, at the invitation of a teacher, watching a science experiment for five minutes.)

Keee-rist people! This is what were up in arms about? An SC member observing a science experiment and gathering information about a recycling club? Jackie sums it up even better than me: “Far more alarming, however, is the idea that staff may be discouraged, even forbidden, from sharing insights with us. That is not a model for good management, nor does it help move the schools forward. Fortunately, we’re not talking about a private business, we’re talking about our public schools, funded by taxpayers to educate our children under the leadership (and scrutiny) of an elected school committee.”

Just when I think that politics around here grows up ever so slightly, someone proves me wrong…