Ssshhhhh! Don't tell my district's auditors, but this was the first time in more than 20 years in public education that I have taken a week's vacation in August. (Our auditors normally arrive about the last week in August, so hopefully I will be able to make up the time evenings and weekends to be ready for the audit.)
What's different about this year? I've just returned from a week's trip to New Orleans. Some of the churches in the St. Joseph deanery (roughly Southwest Michigan) collected clothing, bedding, bibles, and canned goods to deliver to folks who are trying to rebuild their lives in the Lower 9th Ward and in St. Bernard Parish. So, I volunteered to rent a van and drive them down and spend a couple days helping out.
Thus, for a few days I handed out bottled water (our most popular item since the heat index was well above 100 each day), canned goods, and other simple necessities like toilet paper. While it was good to see the new Habitat for Humanity homes in Musician's Village in the Upper 9th Ward, it was discouraging to see all the folks still living in FEMA trailers in St. Bernard Parish (literally thousands of trailers stacked closer together than Cadillac State Park on a 4th of July weekend.) In the 9th Ward, there is some rebuilding going on, but it is sparse. One beacon of light is that the home owned by Fats Domino (of "Blueberry Hill" fame) has been rebuilt.
What has this got to do with education in Michigan? Well, I'm not sure. But let me try to connect the dots. One of the editorials in the New Orleans Times-Picayune recently berated the Board of Education in New Orleans for not re-opening all of its schools even though the population of the city has decreased dramatically. At the same time, the editorialists held out as a beacon of hope the school district in St. Bernard Parish which re-opened schools on the faith that families would return. (Many have. It's just that they're living in tightly packed FEMA trailers this past two years.)
So, which is right? New Orleans or St. Bernard Parish? Is it right to re-open schools in an area that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says will not be ready for another 100 year flood until at least 2011? Is it right not to re-open schools which are a symbol of hope in communities that have suffered from so much devastation?
Which is right? Is it right to build new schools with athletic performing arts facilities that many colleges would die for when at the same time many of our urban and rural schools in Michigan have crumbling infrastructure and schools? Or shouldn't all children have access to such state-of-the-art facilities? Could our state afford it?
Is it right that in Michigan over the last dozen years, our urban and rural districts have lost thousands of students to charter schools and schools of choice? Is it better for those students and families who are attending those charter schools and schools of choice? What about the kids left behind in districts which are struggling with massive enrollment losses? Is competition improving Michigan's public education system for all students? Are we truly serving the needs of every child in our state every day?
Critics of public education in Michigan often point out things like: we spend more than the national average per student on education (as if that was a bad thing). These same critiques will say that our teachers are overpaid. (Earlier this summer I volunteered as a mentor in a summer school program in Benton Harbor. As a result, I know this: there is at least one teacher in our state who deserves a pay raise.) Critiques will also say we spend too much on administration. (That is something we need to be honest with ourselves about. We should be about educating kids and not about building bureaucracies)
Overall, I think the state of public education in Michigan is pretty darned good. That is not to say that we can't improve. And for the sake of the 1.7 million children in our schools, they deserve nothing less than our best efforts. The Michigan School Business Officials has always been an honest broker when it comes to ensuring that we are spending resources wisely and prudently. Each year, we need to re-charge our batteries and re-double our efforts in this regard. At the same time, we need to stand up for all Michigan's students and advocate for fair and stable funding for our schools.
We can argue about the details, but let's not argue about the goal. Kids are and always should be are number one through number ten priorities.
Included in this page is a picture of a young lady in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward whose contagious smile made the 32 hours of driving to/from New Orleans all worthwhile. Sometimes it takes the takes the little ones to remind us what it is we are all about.
After standing the searing heat in August in Louisiana for just a few days, I will tell you one other thing: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."