"Happy wife, happy life." That's the unofficial advice given by many
married men to each other. Often, this phrase is paired with a knowing wink of one who has dared to go against sage advice. Those of us who have
visited the dog house for something we've done, learn this lesson quickly.
In many ways this wisdom can be applied to our schools. Although it doesn't really have that poetic
ring to it, "Happy teachers, happy schools" isn't a bad credo to
strive for. I suppose it was my wife,
the daughter of an Iowa City
When I sit down and share with her my ideas for magnet
school programs to give parents choices in their child's school calendar or
pedagogy, her frequent response is, "What do the teachers think?"
When I share ideas that I have for lessening the achievement
gap between minority students and their peers, she stops me curtly and asks,
"Have you asked any teachers?"
When I get excited talking about the possibility of equity
in our facilities, building new schools, broad redrawing of school boundaries
and creative ways to implement the district's new diversity policy, her
answer...you guessed it...."How do the teachers feel?"
I was reminded of this in a recent meeting when a teacher in
the district shared with me that he understands the diversity policy and the
research behind trying to equilibrate socioeconomic status in our schools. He gets it. He understands how years of data supports that children are most
influenced by their peers and that the resources in parent sweat equity and
finances are greater in middle income schools.
What he's concerned about, is that if teachers are the ones in the
classroom, will they be a part of developing the plan for diversity policy
implementation?
Another teacher friend of mine who has taught at both City
and West as well as at the elementary level, recently confided in me that he
really didn't need a new smart board for his classroom. He needed smaller class
sizes and new textbooks. His teaching
needs didn't require the smart board as much as another classroom might. He was thankful, but perplexed, as to why he,
the teacher, wasn't asked what he needed.
A good writer always returns to what he knows (or so I'm
told, since I don't profess to be a good writer). I work at the VA hospital with veterans and I
enjoy military history immensely. I've
often heard stories of bad officers and their follies, as well as leaders who
earned, rather than demanded the respect of their troops. (Funny thing about
titles and rank....people who insist on being referred to by a title or rank,
usually are the least deserving of the accolades....something to ponder). The best loved and most successful military
leaders in our history were the ones who went to the frontline soldiers and
asked them point blank "What do you need to fight this battle?"
So, here we stand. Our district is perched at the precipice
of doing great things. We can start to
move forward and take groundbreaking steps that are reflective of who we are as
a community and who we wish to be. We
can start to balance our district to ensure our children will have modern,
technology driven, environmentally friendly 21st century schools and equal
opportunities regardless of their street address. We can start to decrease the achievement gap
between minority students and their peers.
We can look ahead to begin shaping growth in our little corner of the
world. It's going to have to start from
the ground up, though....not from the top down.
To do that we are going to have to not just turn to the community, we
need to enlist the teachers.
I very humbly admit, I don't
know everything about education. I do
know a lot about my community. I do know
how to listen. I have faith that we can
do this and we can tackle these conversations. I believe we will emerge a
stronger school district and community with pride in what we've done. My wife is right....it's all going to have to
start with the teachers. So, Teacher, I
have a question....what do you think?
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