Monday Moanin Thoughts #244 Things Haven’t Changed, Tell Your Story

Happy Monday Moanin to all of you. It is early March 2017 and Education is a topic that is front and center across the country. Below is an archived blog from November 27, 2011. Nothing has really changed in terms of many of these issues. More than ever, public educators need to be active in sharing the truths about the work that is being done on behalf of their students. It is time to get to work.

From November 27, 2011:

For the past several months public education across the country has been attacked and defined by several as failing and ineffective. In fact,  many state legislatures have passed laws increasing  the number of charter schools, reducing teacher pay, imposing an 80-20 health care provision on educators, and reducing the amount of state aid to schools. All of these pieces of legislation do little to help improve public education. In fact it is clear that politics is being played while support  is being given to privatizing many areas of education.Is public education being dismantled by special interest groups who are in our legislators pockets? Is the goal to create private businesses running education ?  Who is telling their story better?  What can public educators do?  Start fighting back by telling your story. Market what your district is doing by publicizing your data and let the public know the real story regarding your improvements, curriculum, and successes. Public education is the backbone of America. It has changed and the challenges are great, however you will continue to address the needs of all students and make improvements.  When telling your story, do more than the typical points of pride sheet that is published in most newsletters. Communicate all of the strengths of your school and district and be open about your challenges. Publish your vision and future plans regarding the path it takes to graduate from your schools. Make sure your parent community understands this path and vision? This needs to  be  communicated  clearly  and often to all of  your stakeholders. This includes every employee and your Boards of Education. I think many board members struggle to  articulate the key parts of the story. They need to be armed with the critical information so  they can  ask the right questions to ensure improvement. Get to work on telling your story, stop sitting back and letting critics of public education tell theirs. Enough is enough!!

Have a great week and keep finding the good stuff.