School Board Failure:
100 Days
And Counting
What Are We To Make Of The School Board's Refusal To Support Our Teachers?
Opinion
It's been 100 days since the School Board heard from the teachers at the Emery Unified School District about their impasse with the new Schools Superintendent Debbra Lindo. One hundred days of no action that by itself, has resulted in a defacto clarification of official policy and revealed the workings and the culture at the District.
On June 11th, Emery teachers assembled en masse before the School Board and read aloud their 'Teachers Resolution' a damning treatise enumerating the myriad problems they have had with the Superintendent. The Resolution, a call for help against a recalcitrant Superintendent, has been completely ignored by the School Board for the last 100 days.
In the wake of the impasse, the Board has shown no interest to do anything by way of helping our teachers, 96% of whom signed the Resolution. In fact, the only action taken by the Board on this issue was a subsequent reading of a statement of support for the Superintendent by Board president Melodi Dice, on behalf of the entire Board.
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un-der-val-ue [uhn-der-val-yoo]
verb (used with object)
1. to value below the real worth;
to put too low a value on.
2.to diminish in value; to make of less value.
3.to have insufficient regard or esteem for;
hold too low an opinion of.
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The Board, by doing nothing, has in fact done something. They have sent a clear message of indifference to the teachers, the parents of school children at the District or thinking about enrolling them, and the residents of Emeryville. This vote of indifference by the Board, or disdain really, against the teachers has laid bare the impoverished sense of community they imbue as they build the ironically named Emeryville Center of Community* Life. The School Board has run roughshod against dissenters to the Center of Community Life, preferring instead a top down 'we-know-what's-best'** style that is reflected in the anti-teacher, pro-staff culture of the last 100 days.
The lack of a response from the School Board to the Teachers Resolution brought reaction from a teacher who wished to remain anonymous, "I would have expected the Board to contact the teachers [after the reading of the Resolution] to at least inquire as to the issues." This teacher expected too much from the Emery School Board obviously.
And so the Emery School Board has made their choice. They have sided, unnecessarily, with the staff, to their discredit.
Manifest in this anti-teacher culture at Emery Unified is a pervasive public relations campaign to feign the empowerment of teachers and parents. But we now know that is like the Republican Party positing themselves as the "party of low taxes", all the while they push the meme of the shame of the 47% of Americans who pay no income tax...the fix being of course (quietly mentioned to their wealthy base) is to raise taxes on these poor and middle class people. Republicans in Washington DC and officials at Emery Unified should both be forced to use asterisks when they make their fatuous statements for mass public consumption...as in, "We support our teachers as our family"*
From this point forward, whenever this Board talks smack about supporting ALL the players at our public schools, when they use democratically coded language as they're so often wont to do, talk of empowering stakeholders*** and such to win support for the Center of Community Life, we ask parents, care givers and Emeryville citizens to remember this vote of no confidence in our teachers and ultimately no confidence in our children. This episode has been an expression of a thoroughly top down culture.
*not so much
**when pigs fly
***normally, yes...but today the van broke down
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