Town Meeting on Public Education and Teachers 12-14-2002

8/9/2019 Town Meeting on Public Education and Teachers 12-14-2002

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Town Meeting on Public Education and Teachers 1

December 8, 2002

T OWN M EETING ON

P UBLIC E DUCATION AND T EACHERS

A REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION

FEBRUARY 7, 2003

December 8, 2002


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December 8, 2002

T

ABLE

OF

C

ONTENTS

Section Page

Introduction 3

General Session Summary 4

Teachers Face Severe Difficulties Today 4A Better Relationship Is Needed Between Parents and Schools 5

Teachers Do Not Have Input Into Key Decisions 5

There Is A Lack of Trust Among Those Concerned About Education 5

General Session Comments 6

Small Group Summary 9

Teachers Are Too Stressed 10

Parental Involvement Is Important 11Lack of Teacher Input in Major Decisions by Administration 11

Smaller Class Sizes Needed 11

Policy/Politics 11

Conclusions and Recommendations 12

Build Trust by Including Teachers in Decision-Making 13

Evaluate Standardized Testing Requirements to Determine if 13They Are Necessary and Productive

Promote the Benefits of Parental Involvement in the Education 13

of Each Child

Increase the Involvement of the Board of Education in the 13Governance of the School System

Appendix: Small Group Input Grid 14


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December 8, 2002

INTRODUCTION

The Community Dialogue on Education (CDE) isa group of people that continues to meet on

Tuesday mornings to discuss public education.We welcome anyone to meet with us. We are nota single issue, advocacy group although we do

encourage individual members in their advocacy

efforts. In fact, we come from all walks of lifeincluding religious ministry, business, public

agencies, parents and education. The glue that

holds us together is a desire to see all children of

Guilford County get a good education. Wesponsored a Town Meeting on Public Education

and Community in March 2002, which was

attended by about 180 people. Five major areas ofconcern emerged from that meeting, one of whichis “Teachers deserve more respect and support

from the Board, Administration, Parents and

Community.”In order to continue the dialogue, the CDE

sponsored a second Town Meeting (on Public

Education and Teachers) on Sunday, December 8,2002. The purpose of this meeting was to promote

greater respect and support for teachers in order to

provide excellence in education for every child in

the Guilford County Public Schools (sometimesreferred to as District or School System). The key

question asked of all present was “What can be

done to help teachers do the most effective job ofeducating all children in the Guilford County

Schools?”

The Sunday of the meeting was several

days after a major ice storm that resulted intreacherous driving and many people in Guilford

County without electricity. In spite of these

conditions, 110 people braved the elements to

discuss public education. This number includedsix members of the Guilford County Board of

Education (Cooke, Duncan, Garrett, Kearns,

Routh and Sykes) and State Representative JohnBlust. The Meeting comprised two sections. The

first section was the General Session at which all

present that wanted to speak publicly were given achance to do so, with special encouragement for

teachers to speak. The second, Small Groups

section consisted of everyone gathering into fiveseparate small groups so people would be able to

express themselves in more detail.

The CDE plans to continue to facilitate an

ongoing dialogue among various parts of theGuilford County community in order to ensure

excellence in education. As part of this mission,we plan to continue sponsoring Town Meetings todiscuss matters of interest. The next Town

Meeting will be held in the Spring of 2003 at a

site to be determined, preferably in High Point.The topic will be Standardized Testing.


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December 8, 2002

GENERAL SESSION SUMMARY

Joyce Johnson and David Routh facilitated themeeting, which began with a prayer by a Guilford

County student. They emphasized that this meet-

ing was focused on teachers and asked people todirect their comments to the key question.

The process and agenda to be used for the

town meeting was presented. Recorders would

capture the comments of both the General Sessionand Small Groups and a report from the Town

Meeting would be produced.

The “ground rules” for the forum were thesame as the basis for the CDE meetings: to re-

spect others and to listen thoughtfully, not writing

off ideas, but considering them carefully. Speak-

ers were asked to keep their topics focused onhow to help teachers, and to speak for no more

than two minutes, so everyone could be heard.

Twenty-seven community members spokeduring the General Session. The main points rec-

orded for each speaker are shown in the following

section. The speakers were fourteen white females

(speakers number 2,3,4,5,8,11,15,16,17, 20,23,24,25,27), nine African-American females (speakers

number 1,6,7,9,10,12,13,18,26), one African-

American male (speaker number 14) and three

white males (speakers number 19,21,22). Speak-ers included 11 parents, 12 teachers, three con-

cerned citizens and one state representative.

Comments during the General Session

focused on what could be done to let teachers do

the most effective job of teaching. Specific com-

ments clustered into several broad areas in

which teachers need more support, which were:

the difficulties facing teachers today, the need

for a better relationship between parents and

schools, and the lack of input from teachers on

matters affecting both them and the education of

children.

Although we list these broad areas sepa-

rately, they are actually inter-related. If teachersfelt their voices were being heard and taken into

account in decision-making by the Administrationand Board, their levels of stress would be muchlower for two reasons. First, people feel better

about themselves and the decisions that are made

if they are part of the decision-making process.Second, if teachers’ input were seriously consid-

ered, decisions would likely be different, leading

to improved educational situations and less stress

and difficulties for the teachers. If the stress and

difficulties of teachers were reduced, they would probably be more welcoming to the efforts of par-

ents who want to volunteer in the classroom.

Each of the broad areas is discussed be-low. These areas and the following listing of the

specific comments by Town Meeting attendees

during the General Session represent the views ofthose attendees and do not necessarily represent

the views of the CDE.

1) Teachers Face Severe Difficulties Today In addition to the traditional pressures on

teachers, they have to deal with many more issues

today. Teachers today must administer standard-

ized tests and prepare the students for them. In-terns at one elementary school spent 500 hours in

handling the tests. Without their help, the teachers

would have had 500 hours less of instruction time.The testing requirements will become even more

onerous with the new “No Child Left Behind”

Legislation. Eliminating some of the scripted

programs imposed on teachers would be the best thing we could do to help teachers because it

would give them time to teach. Not

continuously changing programs would let teach-

ers build on a foundation. And, the variety of dif-ferent cultures of the children and the accompany-

ing slang language make communicating difficult.

As one teacher put it, “I have taught for 19years and never seen so much stress on teachers

as I see this year….I am frightened about what is

happening to teachers, many of whom are already burned out now instead of its happening late in

the school year.”


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SUMMARY CONTINUED

2) A Better Relationship Is Needed Between

Parents and Schools

Thirteen of the 27 people who spoke duringthe General Session mentioned something about

parental involvement. There was consensus that

having parents intimately involved in the education

of their children helps their children, helpsteachers, and improves education. Some parents

have time during the school day to volunteer at the

schools. When this is the case, the school

should welcome their efforts and be able toeffectively utilize them. Several successful

examples are in structured programs that have

some coordination such as “Lunch Buddies,”“ M e n t o r s ” a n d o t h e r s .

Regardless of whether a parent has time to

spend at the school during the school day,however, it is critical that parents be involved with

their children on school related issues outside the

school day.

As one speaker put it, “The best parentalinvolvement is what happens at home. Parents

should be educated about the importance of

listening to their children read, looking at

homework or just talking about what is going on ins c h o o l . ”

Some of the comments dealt with whether

or not teachers welcomed parents into theclassroom. Several people said they had not been

welcomed when they had tried to volunteer in theclassroom whereas several people said that parentswere welcome.

It was pointed out, by a teacher, that the

teachers are so stressed with other demands ontheir time they may not have time to effectively

coordinate the efforts of volunteers, especially

if the volunteers show up unannounced.

3) Teachers do not have input into key decisions

Teachers repeatedly have to comply

with directives and programs that result from

decisions in which they have no input. Theydo not see the Administration seeking out their

input, which would be based on years of

experience in the classroom. The resultingchanges often occur during the school year,

thereby disrupting the teaching process.

Examples mentioned of changes happeningwithout teacher input are putting most 8th gradersinto an algebra program when about 75% of the

students are not ready for algebra and a new

computer program to test children

weekly on math. The clearmessage is that input from

teachers should be solicited before

such decisions are made.

4) There Is a Lack of

Trust Among Those Con-

cerned About Education Although not mentioned

by anyone as a specific concern,

an overarching theme that

seemed to pervade the General

Session comments was a lack of

trust . This lack of trust exists be-tween parents and teachers; teach-

ers and administration; and ad-

ministration and School Board. If

this lack of trust were eliminated,many of the specific concerns ex-


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GENERAL SESSION COMMENTS

1) At some schools parents are not involved

much and students are suspended at high

rates. Parents are not well received whenthey do go to the school to volunteer. How

can parents help in the classroom?2) We live in a culture that does not take goodcare of our children. Many parents do nottake care of their children. Parents are wel-

come in the classroom when they are there

as helpers as opposed to critics. Parentsshould check with principals if they feel

unwelcome.

3) The Guilford County Council of PTAs is

offering grants to individual schools to pro-mote parental involvement in the schools.

Forty schools have applied for grants.

4) Is it possible to bring parents to the table by

having a mentoring program for individual parents who cannot visit their children’s

school?

5) Giving parents, who visit schools, a badgethat says “visitor” is not welcoming to the

parents. Find a new name for parental visi-

tors, like “parent.”

6) The District needs a dress code for teach-ers. The dress of many teachers is such that

one cannot tell the teacher from the stu-

dent. Dressing nicer would give more au-thority to teachers.

7) In the old days, teachers represented the

hallmark of respect. Now you cannot tell

the teachers from the students. The teacheroverrides the authority of parents. There is

too much prescription drug medication ofstudents, such as Ritalin.

8) Some students speak a cultural language

that is significantly different from the for-

mal language. This difference causes mis-understanding between teacher and stu-

dents. Students should come to school with

the right attitude and listen to what the

teachers say.9) As a parent, I felt unwelcome when I went

to the school to volunteer. Had to prove I

was a good person. Low-income parentsoften assumed to be poor parents. Talk tothe principal about fostering a welcoming

attitude.

10) Regardless of what language is spoken, ateacher’s role is to translate so each child

can learn. We should not blame a child for

the language they have learned. If parents


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entrust children to teachers, teachers shoulddo the best job they can.

11) I am a parent of three girls in school.

Teachers do not want parents in the class-

room. We should value and support teach-ers but recognize that they sometimes cross

the line. When parents volunteer, they areassigned to places like the library. It is stillimportant that parents are visible.

12) Are resources on language available to help

with diversity training? A teacher has amission once a child walks into the class-

room. Some teachers put up walls to pre-

vent parental involvement. Parent has to

keep pushing.13) I had six children graduate from Smith

High School. It is important to get involved

in the school from the first day by volun-teering, being active in the PTA, and meet-

ing every one of your child’s teachers.

Your children know when you are in the

school.14) More after school programs are needed. If

children just go home to poverty areas,

they can be lost. All children will not bescholars. Need guided growth programs for

academically challenged children.

15) As a student teacher, I find that parents are

welcome in the schools. When volunteer-ing, a parent needs to be available for all

the children in the class and not just theirchild.

16) There is no PTA at one of my children’s

schools and the second child’s school has

begun a PTA this year for the first time.Could a strong PTA from a school adopt

another school that does not have a strongPTA? PTAs provide good services and ma-terial things to schools.

17) I have taught for 19 years and never seen

so much stress on teachers as I see thisyear. This pressure results from the normal

teaching role, giving and preparing for

standardized tests, and now the “No Child

Left Behind” law. I am frightened

about what is happening to teach-ers, many of whom are already

burnt out now instead of its happen-

ing late in the school year.This pressure is partly why

teachers are not able to welcome all

volunteers into the classroom. It isnot that the volunteers are not want-

ed, but that it is hard to coordinate

their activities along with all theother responsibilities on teachers.Come with open mind believing

that teachers want to help your

child. The best parental involve-

ment is what happens at home. Par-ents should be educated about the

importance of listening to their chil-

dren read, looking at homework or justtalking about what is going on in school.

18) It is hard to stay focused when there are so

many cultures. Can we reach all children?Don’t just pick on slang users because that

is their culture. Teachers should do what

they need to do. Some teachers think they

can do no wrong.19) As a member of the North Carolina House

of Representatives, teachers often tell me

about their problems. They tell me they donot have time to go to the houses of all the

parents who do not show up at the schools.

What percent of parents are involved in

school activities?20) There is a significant difference in what my


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Following the General Session section of the Town

Meeting, the attendees were divided into five,small groups. During this Small Group section,

each group was encouraged to continue the discus-sion on Public Education and Teachers in order togive each attendee an opportunity to express his/

her experiences, opinions and suggestions on the

topic. Members of the Community Dialogue onEducation (CDE) facilitated the groups.

One person was appointed in each small

group to record the input from the participants in

that group. These persons recorded 70 separate in-

puts, some of which were repeated in various smallgroups. Although these inputs covered a wide

range of topics, they all were directed at the issue

of providing more support for teachers in order to provide a better education for all children of Guil-

ford County.

All of these inputs were compiled in a list-

ing and analyzed for the degree of convergence.Based on this analysis, all of the Small Group com-

ments were consolidated into six categories. Thesecategories and the specific comments by Town

Meeting attendees during the Small Group Session

represent the views of those attendees and do not

necessarily represent the views of the CDE.The specific comments are shown

in the attached Small Group Input Grid.Categories (and the number of inputs ineach category) are as follows:

Teachers are too stressed (18)

Parental involvement is important (17)

Lack of teacher input into major decisions

by District (9)

Smaller class sizes needed (7)

School Board polity/politics (12)

Miscellaneous (7)In addition to a categorization of the com-

ments recorded in the small groups, each group

also reported the one point that they considered to be the most important point they discussed.

These mos t impor tant poin t s a re :

1) Smaller class sizes are needed, particularly for

disadvantaged children and in grades K-2. Need


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more input from teachers in decisions.2) School violence causes disruptions and is un-

safe. Need a safe, nurturing environment. Provide

services such as mediation and counseling

to bring children back into schools.3) Have more classroom-based decisions as op-

posed to basing instructional decisions solely onwhat is mandated by curriculum requirements.4) Urge the School Board to adopt a more hands-

on approach and not just accept what is mandated

by the State. Need a more structured way to in-volve teachers in decisions before they are made.

5) Parents can help teachers by working

with their children at home. The Administration

needs to provide support and training

r e g a r d i n g w o r k i n g w i t h p a r e n t s .A summary of the major categories

in the Small Group Input Grid follows.

Teachers Are Too StressedThere was a plaintive plea in the voice of

the teachers in the small groups as they describedthose things that prevent them from

teaching children, as they know they can.

A dominant theme was that so many man-dates have been imposed on teachers they do nothave time to adequately prepare and teach the sub-

jects needed by the children. These mandates in-clude standardized test preparation and administra-

tion, constantly changing programs, elimination of

planning periods, lunchroom monitoring and bus

loading duties. Not only do these factors hindertheir ability to teach, they also intrude into normal

functions such as having time to eat lunch, preparelessons and go to the bathroom.Superimposed on these impediments to

teaching are issues such as teaching positions being

left unfilled for lengths of time, reductions in thenumber of teacher aides, the disruptions of school

violence and the pressure of bearing responsibility

for lack of student performance on state-mandated

tests for reasons that are often beyond the control

of the teacher.The result is that teachers are frazzled to the

point that many qualified teachers are considering

leaving the teaching profession. And, amazingly,not one single teacher mentioned the frustration of

being paid at the low end of professional salaries in

spite of the critical nature of the position and inspite of the difficulty of providing for a family on a

teacher’s salary.

Parental Involvement Is Important

There was universal acceptance that parents


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play a critical role in the education of children.Parents need to interact with their children around

school related topics. They need to ask their chil-

dren about their homework assignments and pro-

vide help with them when needed. Parents need tomake contact with the teachers of their children to

ensure that the teachers know of their interest andto ensure that their children know their parents aremonitoring their progress in school. Parents also

need to be aware of what is going on in the

schools. Parent/teacher conferences are an integral part of this communication. Teachers should com-

municate both the good and not so good activities

of the children of the parent. Teachers should pro-

vide advice to the parents regarding how they can

help and parents need to receive that advice aswell-intended, constructive comments.

Where possible, structured volunteering

by parents in the schools provides a useful serviceto the school and lets their children know that

they are vitally interested in their education. Such

volunteering should be on a structured basis in-stead of just showing up at school unannounced.

Teachers, principals and administration need to

provide a welcoming atmosphere for parents toencourage their volunteering.

Lack of Teacher Input in Major Decisions by

Administration

There is a strong feeling among teachersthey their views on major issues are not being so-

licited by the Administration. This means that

their wealth of understanding of what works in theclassroom is not being considered. Examples of-

fered are drafts of new proposed new schedules

and the 30-minute videotape interview process. Inaddition to the possibility that their input would

result in better decisions, including teachers in the

decision making process would increase their

commitment to the decisions made.

Smaller Class Sizes NeededSmaller class sizes are needed, especially

in schools with high percentages of disadvantaged

students and especially in grades K through Two.

The fewer students in each class would let theteachers spend more time with each student, con-

centrating on what is important for each student.Fewer students would also result in more orderly

classrooms, even to the point of reducing fights.

One School Board member participating in the

small groups raised the critical question of wherethe additional funding would come from in order

to reduce class size.

Policy/Politics

A number of people felt that the School

Board does not provide enough guidance to theAdministration. Administrators and Board mem-

bers would understand better what goes on in the

schools if they would spend time in the class-

room. The Literacy First program should be re-

evaluated.In Guilford County (and across the State),

the Board of Education has responsibility for the

education of our children but has no authority tolevy taxes to support that education. The County

Commissioners have authority to levy taxes to

support education but have no responsibility forthe education of our children. This is a recipe for

failure. In addition, the County Commissioners

and Board of Education members have been atcross-purposes for years. This detracts from theesteem with which people hold the public schools.

The Board of Education needs the authority to

levy taxes. This would require a change in State

law. Parents should lobby politicians on educationand a good starting place would be such a change

in State law.


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CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Town Meeting illustrated clearly thatGuilford County is blessed with teachers whose

primary concern is the education of the children

under their care. They are, however, experiencingsignificantly greater stress than the profession has

known before. The greatest stress-inducer is the

emphasis being placed on standardized testing;

both the administration of such tests and thestudent preparation for the tests as the teachers are

compelled to “teach to the test”. The new federal

legislation “No Child Left Behind”, while having

noble objectives, will exacerbate the emphasis onstandardized testing and result in more stress on

teachers and students. Our teachers increasingly

have to reduce the time spent on teaching subjectcontent in order to fulfill the standardized testing

requirements.

Teachers are also contending with changesin curriculum, elimination of planning periods,

changes in school-day starting and ending times,

and demands of lunchroom monitoring and busduties. Each of these items adds to the stress

experienced by teachers.

Addressing these concerns by the District

will require a collaborative effort to findsolutions. Instead of the teachers’ feeling like an

integral part of a team that will move the Districtforward, they have reason to doubt that theAdministration is looking after the best interests

of them and the children. This distrust stems, to a

large degree, because teachers’ input is notsolicited before decisions are made on topics

about which they have valuable knowledge.

Turning around this lack of trust will require

significant effort by both the Administration and

the Board of Education.The involvement of parents is critical to

the education of their children, particularly in

interacting at home with their children aroundschool matters. Schools should ensure that parents

always feel welcome to visit their children’s

schools and classrooms. Most teachers alsoappreciate and welcome volunteer activity by

parents, especially when they have some prior

knowledge of when the parents will bevolunteering. Parents are more likely to contributeto schools when they see that schools are serving


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the best interests of their children and they aremade to feel welcome.

The Community Dialogue on Education

suggests the following action steps to help

teachers do the most effective job of educatingall children in the Guilford County Schools.

1) Build trust by including teachers in decision-

making.

Parents, teachers and community must

impress on the Board of Education and theAdministration the need to include them in the

decision-making process. Teachers have a wealth

of knowledge and understanding about what

works and what does not work in the classroom.

The Administration must include teachers, in ameaningful way, in major decisions that affect

what goes on in the classroom. Teachers will gain

a sense of trust if the Administration repeatedlyincludes them in the decision-making process.

Actions speak louder than words and such actions

by the Administration will be recognized andappreciated by teachers.

The Board of Education must ensure that

the Administration takes these steps, which willresult in better decisions and a feeling of trustamong the Board, Administration and Teachers.

2) Evaluate the standardized testing

requirements to determine if they are

necessary and productive.

The Administration should undertake a

rigorous study of the amount of time beingdevoted to standardized testing plus the impact

that “No Child Left Behind” will have on this

topic. Teachers, parents and community should bean integral part of this study. The study should

determine if any of the current State and District

testing requirements are redundant and if the

amount of test preparation time is appropriate.Part of this study should consider whether

achievement is too much defined by standardized

test results as opposed to other measures such ascurriculum, the individual needs of each child,

and parental involvement. Before finalizing, the

study should be reviewed with the public for

information purposes and to solicit input from the public.

3) Promote the benefits of parental

involvement in the education of each child.

Parents can contribute greatly to the

education of their children. The Guilford CountySchool District should expand its efforts to

communicate the importance of this factor to all parents and to all staff. Specific suggestionsshould go to each parent of how they can enhance

their child’s education. Each school and

classroom should foster a welcoming atmospherefor all parents and citizens who are able to visit

and/or volunteer in the schools.

4) Increase the involvement of the Board of

Education in the governance of the School

System.

The Board of Education should take a

more hands-on approach in key areas of theeducational process. By this, we do not mean that

the Board should co-opt the responsibility of the

Administration in administering the policies of theSchool System. Board involvement in key

decisions, however, would provide valuable

guidance to the Administration. The Board shouldensure that input is sought from teachers, parentsand community in the decision-making process.


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APPENDIX SMALL GROUP INPUT BY CATEGORIES


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COMMUNITY DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION

PO BOX 875

GREENSBORO, N.C. 27402

PHONE: 336-230-0001

F AX : 336-230-2428

Documents

Town Meeting on Public Education and Teachers 12-14-2002