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Health & Fitness

SCHOOLS: MORE THAN JUST BRICKS, MORE THAN JUST MONEY

    In just days, dozens of LI school districts will have their “election day” for their budgets…and in many cases, candidates for Board of Education. Each district has its own set of strengths, problems, and issues;  its own set of community traits and values.    

   However,  one factor runs through nearly all  districts:  the primacy of financial concerns. Translation:  when it comes to their school systems, most  voters are zeroed in on “How much do we really have to spend?” and “How much can we save?”,  far more than on any other issues. Naturally, the overwhelming majority of School Board members and candidates are usually business people.    

   In terrible times like these, that’s hardly surprising.  On the other hand… truth be told, even in good times, most school district voters  look far more closely at the figures than at “the product.”     

   Obviously, we all have every right to guard our pockets and our property values carefully; no argument at all there.  However, approaching education issues strictly through a business model is, well, tricky.  Voters usually insist that their district needs to be run better – that is, on sounder  business practices – and Board members (and would-be’s)  trumpet that as their dominant  approach and mission. .                                                                                                                          The problem is that although school districts do conduct plenty of business, they are, in quite  few ways,  really not like ordinary businesses.  They’re not expected to make a profit. Their operations are far more accessible and “transparent”.  They’re accountable to every district resident, not merely to a select group of “owners”.    

   So far, interesting…but there are much  more important differences. School districts have no control over their “raw materials”; with rare exceptions,  they have to take in whoever lives there. They also have very limited choice of their “final product”.  Each state tells them exactly what each student must have experienced and accomplished to earn graduation.     

    And then there is the long list of auxiliary state requirements.  In addition to subject knowledge and skills, schools must also systematically and educationally take on safe driving, drinking, drug use, sex education, divorce, eating disorders, bullying, LGBT issues, suicide, and whatever else most families don’t really know how to deal with.    

   To return to the business analogy:  think of the previous 2 paragraphs as quotas and  mandates borne by a company. Now imagine cutting back significantly on that  company’s  budget.  Being forbidden to decrease or vary “production”, the company will have only one other choice:  slice off layers of quality. In schools, one of the first quality slice-offs is to reduce faculties by increasing  class size. In my 36 years of teaching high school, I experienced classes of  15, 40, and everything in between. Let me tell you, folks – don’t listen to those who say class size doesn’t matter that much, or that any good teacher can deal with any size class just as well – no way!  You could also ask any recent graduates to look back on their smaller and larger classes;  two utterly different experiences – one rich, one lean.    

   Here’s the other tricky thing about education:  the real “product” is intangible. It isn’t only the kids’ scores and grades;  it’s what’s inside them, what understanding and awareness  they’ve absorbed, what they’re now “made of”. It’s also how their minds work, how they process and handle whatever they encounter.     

    “Preparation for their future” is a mantra in education, but we’ve got to broaden our picture of that future.  As adults, today’s kids are going to be much more than just job-holders and consumers. They’re also going to be spouses (most),  parents (most),  relatives,  long-term friends, neighbors, community members, organization members,  citizens/voters….and in the center of it all, individual persons, each a demonstration of the endless diversity of  humanity.              
   To do well in those roles  (in which they’ll spend much more time than at jobs), they’ll need a different kind of “skills”:  curiosity, open-mindedness, sensitivity, honest self-analysis, acceptance of others and their differences, ability to cooperate and compromise, etc.  Those skills are built on a foundation of self-respect and  self-confidence,  in turn built on a healthy, developed, balanced sense of self and of reality.    

   And – pardon the cliché – here’s the thing.  For years, schools  have been playing  a major role in all of the above.  Those tv ads and other statements you hear about how such and such teacher “changed my life”….that’s no b.s. – it happens all the time.  And  it often happens thanks to things that are commonly  on the “We don’t really need that” list:  programs like music and art, many extra-curricular activities,  and teachers who, thanks to their reasonable student loads, have the time to really get involved with kids and make that difference in their lives.    

   So here’s the pitch…to you in Huntington, and to any folks you talk with In other districts.  By all means, come out and vote….but see yourself as voting not just on bricks and windows, not just on dollars and cents. Vote for the futures – for the best, fullest personal development - of all those kids who, before you know it, will be taking their places as your adult partners in our society.

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