I have it straight from an school administrator’s mouth as to why our school system is failing…

I’m very upset…after spending an hour ‘discussing’ why we, as parents, can’t hold our local school officials accountable for the issues in our system with an administrator in the district I’m talking about.   This administrator claims that the entire blame is with our elected officials in Sacramento.   I even agree that this is part of the problem but when has any elected official in this state stepped up to the plate without pressure from some group, somewhere.  Therein lies the truth of the matter.  Do we, as parents, as teachers, as administrators, deserve better?  So, who is in the best position to drive change?  Is it the parents?  No, they aren’t knowledgeable enough about the current system to attack it correctly.  That leaves the teachers and administrators.  My conversation tonight was mindboggling!  What I heard from this administrator more than any other comment was ‘we can’t’ or ‘they can’t’ or ‘can’t do that’….simply a word ‘CAN’T’.  So we wonder why the system is failing or ‘broken’ as this individual stated.  He’s in the system and he says it’s broken.  Let’s say that again…HE’S IN THE SYSTEM AND SAYS IT’S BROKEN.  This is an ‘educator’ in the State of California.   Now let’s put this in perspective.  We, as parents, already know it’s broken and my sister in law, who’s a teacher, also agrees that it’s broken.   Based on the news reports on KSBW, in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, in the general conversations taking place at the local coffee shops or pizza parlors (where this conversation took place), there is general agreement that the system is broken.   I think we can see the consistency here…it’s broken and there is nothing that can be done to band aid this situation without radical change in the entire system.  Now, we know that it takes a collective effort and voice to produce change.  We also know that the current legislators in California lack any sense of propriety and they certainly feel that there won’t be enough of a collective voice to threaten their existence.  And that stands to be true if ‘FEAR’ continues to rule our teachers and administrators.  What is this fear?  It is reflected in the word of the administrator above…CAN’T.  For example, this administrator says that the Superintendent ‘CAN’T’ say that the system is broken and refuse to capitulate to the cuts being brought on by the current deficit.    Why is this??  She might get sued, lose her job, and have the state appoint a trustee for the district.  What if each of the assistant supers stood by her…and each of their department members stood by her…and each of the teachers stood by her…and all of the students stood by her…and all of the parents stood by her!  What is the state going to do, send in the national guard???  For what?  Doing what is right??  The answer is that we CAN do the things necessary to force change but we have to willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other.  It doesn’t matter if you are teacher, or an adminstrator, if you speak English or Spanish, if you are a parent, if you are not a parent, or if you are a student.  This administrator says they can’t go on strike.  Why?  Because it’s illegal and they could lose their jobs.  These are the same jobs being cut by the budget issues brought on by their own lack of willingness to fight the system that they themselves say is broken.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Another comment had to do with that to fight the system means hurting the kids who are currently getting ready for college.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  You mean that the way things are is helping these kids??  Has this guy even paid attention to the current situation this country is in?  Unfortunately he has, but he lacks the guts to risk his job for sake of the right thing…and it’s not just him…where’s the collective voice amongst these folks?  They fear the effort, they fear work, they fear the ‘lawyers’.  What they haven’t asked for, however, is the support of the community to collectively share in one common cause and that’s to not accept the current status quo and demand change.  They have nothing to fear if we stand by them, but they hide their true feelings, get caught up rhetoric, and capitulate to the demands put forth on them.  How embarrassing to their character.  How are our students supposed to feel when then can easily see the lack of backbone being put forth?  The United States of America was built on ‘I Can’ and ‘We Can’.   The fact that these school systems are being manipulated by ‘elected’ officials and they still fear challenging them is beyond my comprehension.  The fact that these school systems won’t disclose the details of how they operate to the public in easy to understand terms is beyond my comprehension.  Then they wonder why the general public has such anger and disgust at the individuals running the schools.  This administrator said unequivocally that the problem wasn’t the local folks but the legislators in SAC town.  I disagree and as this gentleman said, the local folks only know ‘I CAN’T’.  If the schools employees will join us, The PEOPLE, in a general strike to take back education then we can start local.  Notice the words, WE CAN.  We pick a day…I like March 15…and we all refuse to go to work or go to school for at least a week.   We then make our way to Sacramento over the next couple of weeks and we shut down the government there until they do what WE THE PEOPLE demand.  This is our right and this is our obligation, but it won’t work unless we all buy into this effort.   Spread the word and let’s take care of the kids since it’s clear the administrators and teachers are in over their heads.  Perhaps we’ll teach them the power of ‘WE CAN’!  It’s time to stop fearing what might happen and remember that what we do is for our children’s sake.

Why should I? or What can I do?

I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I stand behind that statement due to the fact that people from all over the world come here for vacation.  Unfortunately, behind the scenes, we have a school system that is failing our kids.  I can’t blame the teachers or the administrators completely, though they have a part in this.  It’s the system…from our legislators to our US Congress.  How we elect people who have no competence in just about anything is beyond me.   Then these folk make policy based on pressures from lobbyists, unions, wealthy citizens, and freak of nature liberals and conservatives.  The system is broken and we just don’t seem to be willing to just say enough is enough and start over.  Will that cause turmoil?? Heck yes, in the short term.  In the long term it will provide the means for our children to receive the benefits befitting a first world culture by exposing creative young minds to arts, music, sports, literature, science, philosophy, and frankly, common sense.  Cynical you say our young people are…darn right, they should be.  I’m embarrassed for ourselves as we’ve let greed and corruption make up our current society.   These leaders in California, for example, care more about partisan politics and keeping their elected posts than actually dealing with real problems.  The US Congress??  Let’s see, they are bailing out everyone but you and me who actually drive the economic engine.  Let’s see $700B for financial institutions, $0B for schools and education.  BofA does a Super Bowl party with your tax dollars.  Billions are paid in bonuses with your tax dollars.  No restructuring of your mortgage which is way too high because greedy folk artificially inflated the housing market.  Come on people, this is OUR country, not just theirs.   WE all should demand more accountability, starting with ourselves.  Have the guts to stop your own selfish behaviors and give back.  Start giving back to where it hurts and see how much better you feel, how much more respect you gain, and see the positive impact in your community.  Start caring about others besides yourself.  If you live on the central coast of California from Pebble Beach north through the San Lorenzo Valley, there are 100′s of you worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  A thousand more worth $50M or more.  How is it that you can sit there while schools are cutting athletics, art, music, etc. and not realize that if each of you gave 10% of your net worth back to the community in an education trust, there would be no funding issues in this area and we could cultivate these minds in an impressive manner.  We’ll name the schools after you if you need the recognition.  What could be more important than providing that support?  Do you think that locked gates and alarms will serve as deterrents to the thousands of youths who, rather than expanding their minds with education, athletics, art, and music, have to expand their minds while on the streets every afternoon without supervision or direction.  Do the math and see where this leads.   I leave you with the simple question…is your first inclination to say “Why should I?” or “What can I do?”

NBPI