Making Policy Without Reading It?

I've been stewing on this one for a few days. Last summer the Hernando County School Board voted on a number of district policies, making changes based on recommendations from a committee. And now that some have realized what was actually in some of those changes, there is some general unhappiness. This part doesn't surprise me - anytime you make a change, there will be some people who dislike it for one reason or another. The change that is making waves this time is the elimination of valedictorian and salutatorian designations for high school classes beginning with the class of 2016. I know that this is an idea that has been floating around for a while, and some places have already made this move. Again, no matter which way this goes, someone will be unhappy.

Here's the part that really, really, REALLY blows me away. The school board members hadn't read the changes they unanimously voted to approve! They weren't even aware they had done away with vals & sals! Even the superintendent didn't realize that was included in the changes being voted on. What?! *deep breath* I decided to give these good people the benefit of a doubt. So, I went back to the board agendas for last summer and looked over the information that is publicly available on the county web site. What did I find? June 19, 2012 Workshop minutes with plenty of documents attached.

This one gives an overview of all the changes being made to the High School Procedures handbook. (Yep, there it is..."Added language related to change in the designation for valedictorian and salutatorian for the class of 2016 (students entering 9th grade in 2012-13)." In case they were curious about what exactly this change included, they could have looked here (page H69 to be precise) to see that this change was included. The full handbook is again attached to the agenda for the July 31 school board meeting, when it was voted on and approved.

But they didn’t read it.  Not even, apparently, the single page overview of the changes made.  No discussion of any aspect of the high school handbook was ever discussed according to the minutes of either meeting, although the topic of whether cursive is still taught in elementary school was a hot topic at the June workshop. And now, in typical style, time will be spent to change the change…to try and make the voters happy and to save some face.  And really, wouldn’t it have been easier to read the document in the first place?

Buh-bye Support Staff!

I was fortunate to work with some amazing media specialists during my time as a classroom teacher. The best could guide students toward books that fit their interests, sponsored after-school book clubs, taught students how to use the various tools available for research and producing their own texts, and guided the school in various activities throughout the school year that contributed to a culture of literacy. So I was saddened, if not shocked, to see the article that a near-by school district has cut out the jobs of media specialists, as well as reading coaches and instructional technology specialists, combining these three positions into a single position.

I've seen a school that has been without a media specialist for a few years, and it isn't pretty. The many books in the media center are only available for student check-out for a short time each day.  No literacy focused school activities are evident outside basic instruction within the classroom.  And let's not even talk about the school's achievement scores.

According to the article,  the superintendent, "...suggested that classroom teachers have come to rely too heavily on media and technology specialists, who often help integrate computers, programs and software into lessons, while also troubleshooting technology problems. The goal, he said, is to have teachers better able to incorporate technology and literacy into their work, with support from the specialists."  Wasn't supporting teachers in integrating technology...well, wasn't that part of their job?  So, doesn't it make sense that teachers would come to count on these folks, since they are the experts?  This explains the shift in language...media specialists, not librarians.  Specialists in media, including technology.

This leaves me with many questions and I will be watching the situation to see how this all plays out.

• Will there be a change in reading achievement in these schools? 
• Will the resources in those school media centers still see use or will they be forgotten?
• How will this decision change the literacy culture of these schools?
• How will this new role support teachers in integrating the technology and literacy into their instruction without the teachers coming to "rely" on these people in turn?  
• And, if the district has a roaming "geek squad," how will that affect the push for on-line testing that is already stressing out school computer infrastructures?

http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/pasco-school-board-cuts-literacy-coaches-and-media-specialists/2119608