Three Simple Methods To Improve Teacher Morale

Three Simple Methods To Improve Teacher Morale

by Jill Jenkins

Teaching can be a lonely, thankless job.  Frustration, isolation and insecurity can lead to low teacher morale.  Unlike other careers where sales quotas, bonuses, and title enhancements can remind employees of the quality of the work, teachers, especially those working in more demanding areas like special education or alternative education, often feel frustrated and unappreciated.  The media and government attack teachers. Angry parents berate teachers when their children don't meet their expectations.  The pay is low, the chances for advancement are limited, and the frustrations and demands are overwhelming; as a result, 70% of the new teachers hired in Utah, my state, leave the profession in five years according to the Deseret News.  Even though the low pay is a major contributing factor to the retention problem, teacher morale is also a problem.  Principals and teachers can do little to improve the salary. (That one is on the legislatures and the school boards.) They can, however, address teacher morale.  After all no one became a teacher expecting to get rich, but they all expect some respect. Three simple ways to improve moral are:

• Create A Community of Caring
• Empower Teachers To Solve Problems
• Provide Frequent Fun Faculty Social Interactions

Create A Community Of Caring

Because of the size of the faculty in high schools, teachers often feel invisible, unappreciated and unrecognized by the administration.These teachers often become less productive.  To alleviate this one of my former principals, met each staff member, interviewed and photographed each person.  He used the information he obtain to learn the staff's names and something interesting that he could stop and chat with on a personal level.  By regularly visiting each teacher's classroom, he had a feel for who in his staff were competent leaders and who needed extra help. Each morning he stood in the office and greeted his staff and often asked advice from individual teachers.  His efforts built strong relationships with his teachers and; as a result, teachers felt more compelled to work harder for him. Another principal identified struggling students and had each teacher select three students that each could provide positive interactions. Teachers and students perform better when they feel someone cares about them. By identifying the students who were falling through the cracks many students were salvaged, but teachers actually increased their positive interaction with all students and it made their job more enjoyable. Thus, increasing moral in the entire school. 

Empower Teachers To Solve Problems

When the administration tries to solve all of the school's problems alone, the teacher feel alienated.  When teachers feel part of solutions they have more buy-in and feel more respected.  When teachers see one of their own suggestions implemented, it empowers them and provides a sense of pride.  For example, one of my principals implemented one of my suggestions of focusing on the positive instead of the negative by printing out business cards that we called Paws Cards: Catch Kids Doing the Right Thing.   When a student was discovered behaving appropriately or getting a good score, the teacher presented him with a Paws Card.  He took the card to the office and the secretaries recorded his name, gave him praise and small piece of candy.  Later, the school added the students' names into a weekly drawing. The winner of the drawing won a fabulous prize donated by a local company.  The concept is teachers spend too much time focusing on students who misbehave and ignore those who behave.  If teacher spend more time rewarding good behavior, those who misbehave might learn that by behaving they earn even more attention than by misbehaving. Fifteen years later, the school was still using the Paw's Card.  The same idea can apply to teachers: Catch kids doing something right can be catch teachers doing something right. 

If administrators put teaches into teams to brainstorm solutions to problems every school faces: truancy, tardiness, vandalism, poor attendance, unproductive attitudes, or alienation, teachers may develop an effective solution and feel more connected to the school.  At one high school where I taught, students gathered in small groups in corners of halls and in staircases to smoke and exchange drugs during class time.  The faculty was so frustrated that one science teacher grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed a group of students smoking in a staircase adjacent to his room.  The faculty met in small problem solving groups to develop a plan. The solution was simple. Each faculty member sacrificed one consultation period a week.  Each teacher was assigned a partner and wandered the halls on hall patrol.  The high visible patrol made most students return to class without issue.  The more defiant elements were either written up by the team to be counseled and discipline by a vice principal at a later time, or escorted to the vice principal's office for immediate action.  An unintended consequence of the highly effective solution was faculty members who may have never collaborated were working together. I, an English teacher was paired with Keith Tolstrup, a tall shop teacher. We remained friends until his death and I even became friends with his daughter who was about my age. He served not only as a deterrent to wandering students, but a fatherly mentor to me.

Good solutions develop when teachers work together with administrators to solve problems and morale improves.  Furthermore, some of the burdens of the administration are spread to the willing minds of the teachers. It takes an entire community to raise a child.

Behavior issues often drive inexperience teachers from the classroom; however if teachers met with other teachers to discuss discipline techniques and students problems, the inexperienced teachers would feel less isolated and develop positive skills when dealing with difficult students or communicating with difficult parents. These support teams would be more effective use of faculty meeting since most of the information disseminated in faculty meeting could be presented in an email or a memo.



 Frequent Fun Faculty Social Interactions

Finally teachers need a break from the drudgery and need to interact socially.  Frequent social interaction is important.  Have  your faculty create a Faculty Follies, the students will love it and the teachers will be forced to work together at something silly while enjoying themselves.  Create pot luck lunches.  When I taught at one high school, a group of us regularly went to dinner,out to cocktails, to movies or even cross-country skiing.  Venting or just doing something unrelated to school releases pressure in a faculty.  Cook breakfast for your staff like my last principal or bring in a photographer for some crazy shots of the staff barbequing or playing tug-a-war with the kids. 

The Magnificent Five: Students Who Prove That Public Education Is Worth Saving

The Magnificent Five:

 Students Who Prove That Public Education Is Worth Saving

by Jill Jenkins

 

As a retired teacher with 39 years of experience in public schools it has been my privilege to interact with many incredible young people.  The spirit, resilient, and perseverance of many students astonishes me.  Since some in the political arena who have never set foot in a public school or met these amazing students would like to destroy the public schools with a financially handicapping voucher system. Even though many average students would not be negatively affected by vouchers, the most vulnerable students would.  I would like to introduce them to five of my former students who have greatly benefitted from public education dispelling the myths that public education is a cesspool as Ms. DeVos would have you to believe.  Using public school money for a voucher system in Michigan has ravaged the public schools in Detroit leaving the schools in such vile physical conditions that the teachers willingly walked off the job to draw public attention.  As a result, I feel compelled to show the world the spirit of American young hoping the public might recognize its value.  The names of these five students have been changed, but the stories are true.

A.V.I.D. helped LaShondra

While teaching in San Bernardino, the administration recognized that although 90% of the students were Black or Hispanic, less than 10% or that population were enrolled in honors or advanced placement classes. Analysis of this situation led the administration to conclude that many of these students were from either single parent homes or economically deprived households where both parents worked long house to support their family making it difficult to monitor their children's schoolwork.  The solution was to identify bright students from these subgroups who were not performing to their expectations, enroll them in honors or advanced placement classes and support them with a study skills classes. The program was originally called Century Club, but after evaluating the study skills methodology in the A.V.I.D. program (A Visa In Determination), it was changed to AVID. LaShondra was one of the students selected.  She was bright, but sheathed in anger.  Sometimes she exploded at classmates, but most of the time she seemed to be smoldering in insolence.  Each morning I arrived an hour before students to prepare my classroom and lessons.  One morning, LaShondra was sitting on the floor in the hall outside my door waiting to talk.  She told me how she grew up in Florida with a single mother who was addicted to heroine. When her mother needed drugs, she would sell whatever furniture or assets the family owned.  When the assets were gone, she would bring men home and exchange sexual favors for drugs.  When LaShondra was as young as ten, her mother would bring men home to sleep with her daughter in exchange for drugs. LaShondra's mother would disappear for days at a time leaving LaShondra to care and feed her five siblings.  One day LaShondra's mother did not return.  Days turned into weeks.  Soon there was no money, no food and the rent was due.  Frantically, LaShondra telephoned an aunt who lived across the state.  Her aunt retrieved LaShondra and her siblings, contacted each child's biological father and sent each to live in different homes across the country.  LaShondra was sent to San Bernardino to live with a father and step-mother who had four small children.  She had never met her father and had only heard terrifying stories from her mother.  She has frightened, but discovered they were a loving family.  LaShondra was frightened and lonely for the siblings she had raised and wanted to know where they were and where her mother was.  I took LaShondra to the school counselor and sat with her while she shared her story again.  The counselor helped her share her story with her parents who helped her locate and contact her lost siblings.  Unfortunately, they discovered LaShondra's mother had died of an overdose. Regardless, with the help of her parents, LaShondra began to heal.  She became a happy, successful student who went on to have a successful career in the military like her biological father.  Public schools can not solve the social problems students face, but they can help students develop skills to cope.  Without proper funding to public schools, schools would be forced to eliminate programs like AVID, a program that played a key role in helping LaShondra.

Alternative Education

I taught at an Alternative School in Livermore, California where most of our students were failing in regular school and many would have dropped out without the emotional support of the smaller setting.  Some felt isolated because of their sexual orientation .  Some felt isolation because they had been physically, emotionally or sexually abused. Some had one or both parents incarcerated and had to accept the role as adults before they were mature themselves.  Some were fourth generation gang members. The one who stands out in my memory was Nadia.  Nadia was not outgoing or angry.  She did not disrupt class or miss school.  She was silent.  She sat like a stone statue in class showing no emotion.  As assigned reading, the class was discussing Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine where the narrator is saying goodbye to his childhood.  As a writing assignment, I asked my students to think of something or someone important to them that they have had to part with and write a farewell letter expressing what they have lost and why it was important to them.  The next morning, Nadia and her guardian were waiting to talk to me.  Nadia's guardian explained to me that Nadia was her goddaughter and she had only recently moved to Livermore.  A few months earlier Nadia had been living in Puerto Rico with both of her parents.  Her parents had contacted a AIDS and had both died within a month of each other. Nadia had never met her godmother and had had a difficult time articulating her grief, but the assignment had allowed her to express her sorrow.  Her concern was that Nadia's paper was so touching and personal that she felt uncomfortable sharing it with the rest of the class. I told her that I was happy she had made the assignment meaningful to her and I would respect her wishes. Alternative schools allow teachers the freedom to help struggling students in ways that meet their individual needs.  Vouchers would make the expense of providing alternative program an impossibility.



Students With Disabilities

Throughout my career I have taught many students with disabilities: students with autism, visually impaired students who require special tools to see, student with learning disabilities and students with physical disabilities.  Two students, Juan and Bryan stand out because of their indomitable spirit. In Salt Lake City I taught Juan who had lost both arms when his parents were escaping arrest during a political topple in South American.  Juan's mother threw Juan, then two years old, out the window of a third story apartment to the waiting arms of his father.  Unfortunately, as Juan fell his outstretched arms hit high tension electrical wires severing them both above the elbows.  Juan was in the tenth grade when he attended my English class. He had not only overcome his language barrier by then, but had developed skills writing long, coherent essays with the stub of a pencil in his mouth. He carried his books, his pencils and his notebooks in a backpack. Although anyone would help him, he would accept no help retrieving his books, pencils and notebook with his chin and replacing them into the backpack in the same fashion.  Furthermore, he was always smiling and amused the class each day with his "joke of they day."

 

Like Juan, Bryan shared his amazing attitude. I met Bryan when I taught in South Jordan, Utah.  Bryan suffered from Muscular Dystrophy, a condition that slowly deteriorates the child's muscles until the muscles cannot support the heart or the lungs and the child dies.  When Bryan was in the seventh grade, he was healthy and happy. He careened around the hallways in his electric wheelchair at high speeds and worried teachers that he would crash when spinning around a corner.  As a ninth grade student he was gaunt and pale, but he still raced down the hall.  Even though Bryan qualified for an assistant like Juan, he refused the help.  The school counselor advised me to help him get his books, notebook and pencil out of his backpack and place the pencil in his hand which I did each day. He preferred a student help him, so I buddied him with an attractive girl who put his materials away the last five minutes of class.  Bryan's ability to speak loudly was diminished by ninth grade; however, since the school had installed an audio enhancement system in my class, I had two microphones: one that I wore and one that students passed around.  I or a student held it for Bryan when he shared his imaginative stories and poetry with the class.  Recently, I learned of Bryan's death at 18.  A former colleague sent me his obituary.  In it, his parents had shared a poem he had written in my class where Bryan referred to himself as:  "I am the calm and caring cripple ninja." He was.  Despite Bryan's refusal of helps, others need it.  If public education funding is reduced by vouchers providing help may be impossible.

Language Barriers





Many of my past student have suffered trying to learn English in school districts that provide little or no ESL support.  San Bernardino was the exception.  They not only provided ESL teachers and classes to support students, but those teachers were a great resources to the other teachers. (Thanks Bobbi Houtchen.)  As a result, many students who might still be struggling became star students in academic areas. Benito was a student who excelled in all of his classes.  He was bright and articulate and often told me that it would be wonderful if he taught advanced classes in other languages to help those just arriving in the United States.  When the time came for him to take his A.P. tests, his family did not have the money, so all of his teachers chipped in and paid his fees.  When the time came for him to apply for colleges, his mother had thrown away the family's documentation during a domestic dispute, so the principal paid for an immigration attorney to get the documentation Benito needed and hired him as tutor at the school to help with his tuition. 

 

When I hear people defame public education as cesspools or insult public educators as uncaring, indolent slugs, I become outraged.  Public schools and public educators work very hard to provide a quality education to all students.  If public schools lose funding programs like AVID, Alternative Education, aids for students with disabilities, special education and ESL classes will disappear.  Students like LaShondra, Nadia, Juan, Bryan and Benito will suffer.  Millions of students will not be given the quality education they deserve and as a result will not live the quality of life that they are capable of living.

HB 610: The Good Old Days Are Here Again?

HB 610: The Good Old Days Are Here Again?

Or The Fleecing of Public Schools.

 

By Jill Jenkins

My first day of school in 1959 wearing a dress my mother made me accompanied by my older brother John.

Nostalgia is fun sometimes remembering how wonderful life was in the 1950's and 1960's. I started school in 1959 wearing a dress made by my mother and carrying a brown paper bag filled with three waxed bags: one containing a tuna fish sandwich, one containing a handful of Clover Club Potato Chips, and one containing three Oreo cookies. I was lucky. Not everyone in my school had breakfast before school; not everyone ate anything for lunch; and not everyone in my school looked forward to a warm meal when their father came home from work.  Many of the legislatures and the president believe that returning to the good old days is the right thing to do. They are thinking of the lucky ones, but do their plans help those less fortunate?

HB 610 would destroy much of the progress that the war on poverty legislation passed during Lyndon Johnson's presidency made in 1965.  Despite, Bill O'Reilly statement that poverty hasn't really changed since 1965 despite the trillions spent according to the article,"Bill O'Reilly says poverty hasn't budged since 1965 despite 'trillions' spent" in PolitiFact., the facts show a different story.   According to Pew Research considerably fewer people live below the poverty level than did in 1965, especially in the deep South.  The chart below:

This graph shows that significant gains have been made.  The 1950's and 1960's might have been alluring for those who were White, male, and rich, but for the poor, Black, Hispanic or female, there were few opportunities.  My brother-in-law, Aaron Lobato, tells the story of his father, Silas Lobato, bringing Louis Armstrong home to dinner, because Louis Armstong who was performing at the Hotel Utah walked into his barber shop looking for a barber who would cut the hair of a Black man.  After Silas cut his hair, Louis inquired where he might find a restaurant that served Black men, so Silas brought him home.  Even though, Louis Armstrong was a successful and famous musician during that time, he was treated like a second class citizen: able to entertain the White audiences of the Hotel Utah, but unable to eat or get his hair cut there.  This is unbelievable today. Not only was their a greater level of prejudice, but there was a difference in the quality of education available for those with less means. There is a direct connect between the quality of education and the amount of education a person receives and the persons' ability to break out of the poverty cycle.  Helping people break the cycle of poverty improves the lives of everyone as more people earn more money, pay more taxes and have fewer reasons to participate in crime as a means of support. Nevertheless, the President and the legislature want to return us to these less accepting and uplifting times.

My brother-in-law Aaron Lobato.

First, many low income children depend on free or reduced lunches everyday.  If these children are not fed, they can not perform at their highest levels in school.  This proposed legislation would abolish funding of federally funded "No Hungry Kids Act" and do away with nutrition guidelines for cafeterias. This would significantly diminish the opportunities for success for these hungry students.  Eliminating the nutrition rules for school cafeterias means school might have the option of selling foods and beverages that benefit the school financially but not the nutritional needs of the students. I have worked in schools that placed soda machines throughout the schools to increase sales and received kick backs from the beverage distribution companies.  When schools are allowed to receive "kick-backs" from beverage companies, students begin to drink an abnormal amount of sugary beverages.  The schools make a profit to pay for activities, but the students' behavior becomes outrageous, and their ability to concentrate reduced.  No one wins. 
  

My step-son Braden sitting before a collection of pies.  If there are no rules for the cafeteria, why not.

Second, this legislation eliminates ESL classes, AP classes, honors classes.  Students who do not speak English as their native language have little opportunity assimilate successfully into our society without ESL classes.  Placing students who have little or no language skills in class filled with English speaking students frustrates that students and slows the progress of the other students when the teacher is pulled aside to assist that student with no or limited English skills.  Everyone loses.   The quality of their education is significantly hampered.  I know Trump believes he is going to send everyone back to Mexico, but our population is diverse.  Many schools have students who speak 17-20 different languages.  The population in the United States is much more diverse than it was after World War II so returning to classrooms of that era is counterproductive.  Meeting the needs of all students is important, not just those who are average.  Students who are intellectually gifted, those who have learning disabilities, and those who have language barriers all have differing educational needs, but all of their needs should be addressed.

My grandchildren, Elias and Isaac and my sister grandchildren, Damion and Natasha

Lyndon Johnson's 1965 Education Act also required schools to provide quality instruction, curriculum, accountability and educational opportunities for educators to improve their skills.  All of that seems like a logical, but all of this disappears in HB 610.  Perhaps the legislatures are unaware  that quality instruction by well prepared teachers increases the likelihood that children will have an effective educational experience or perhaps they don't care.

What does this bill offer us?  State Block Grants to be used as vouchers.  Essentially, this bill would replace public schools with a publicized program of education with no accountability or quality requirements. They are hoping their rich friends who start "for profit schools" can become richer from the public school coffers like they did from the "for profit" colleges that sent millions into debt for sub-quality educations like those at Trump University. This isn't back to the "good old days,"  but for whom? No, the students. This is moving tax dollars from the education of the poor, the intellectually handicapped, and those with language barriers into the pockets of the greedy businessmen. Some want to use these vouchers to provide tax dollars to those who wish to homeschool their children, because they feel their children should not be exposed to the immoral attitudes in public schools.  Isn't stealing funding from poor children a greater moral issue?  Making money while depleting the schools ability to provide for the poor, the handicapped and the gifted is like hawk devouring carrion on the highway is not the answer. This is opening the door for shysters to devour the educational funds by providing low quality education and leaving all of those students most difficult to teach in the dust.  That is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind when they set up a program of free, public schools.
.

My daughter, Jeanette and her friend, Carly graduating from 8th grade.

Either states are going to be buried in debt trying to pay for the programs that the federal government is dumping on them, or students who do not speak English, who have a learning or a behavioral disability, or those who are intellectually gifted will all suffer.  Students from low-income families who come to school hungry will stay hungry and poor.  The American tax-payer will be fleeced by the Trump Elementary and High School Program and the affluent homeschoolers.  Call your congressman before it is too late.  The good old day are coming again!



Why We Need The Department of Education

Why We Need The Department Of Education

by Jill Jenkins

Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican from Utah, and Representative Thomas Massive, Republican from Kentucky, are co-sponsoring a bill to dissolve the Department of Education. Some of my friends seem unconcerned about the ramifications of this bill, because they have no ideas how this might affect their state.  Their knowledge of the Department of Education is limited to some misconceptions about The Common Core. People from lower-socioeconomic or middle socioeconomic groups should be concerned because dissolving the Department of Education will eliminate the federal dollars supporting education, free and reduced lunch programs, transportation of special needs students and the likelihood of receiving low interest loans or grants making it impossible for many children to afford college.  People who have children with learning disabilities, behavior or cognitive disabilities, are visually or hearing impaired or have any other disability should be concerned because the funds supporting students with disabilities will disappear.  In fact, the funds available to ensure children with disabilities of any kind whether they providing additional teaching aides, educational resources, transportation or any resource that meet the child's individual needs would vanish.  Students who are new to this country and have limited or no skills speaking English would not have the available resources to learn English making assimilation difficult, not just for the child, but for the entire family as parents often depend on the language skills their children develop in school to succeed in the community.  Female students who are athletic will find competitive sports programs for them disappear.  Lets face it, female basketball games attract fewer audience members than male basketball and male football games. Larger crowds mean more money for the schools.  Schools operate on profits. Children of the more mobile population who might change schools by moving frequently from state to state, or who wish to attend a college outside the borders of their birth state might find themselves lacking skills or be deemed unqualified.  There are huge consequences of eliminating the Department of Education 

Eliminating the Department of Education would be devastating to the poor and middle classes. The affluent members of our society prepare their children for academic and athletic scholarships by providing their children with private schools, private tutors, voice lessons, violin and piano lessons, summer camps and a rich environment of travel, books, music and experiences.  Many of the middle and lower socioeconomic groups live from paycheck to paycheck struggling to provide food, clothing and shelter for their children.  For these students what happens in school is their sole enriching experience. It is not a level playing field.  As a result, it is much less likely that an academic or athletic scholarship will be available for them.  Pell Grants and Federally Insured Student Loans are the essential ingredient to affording them access to post-secondary education.  This is important because college is a staircase to social mobility.  Paying for college tuition is not a problem for the affluent, but it is impossible for many of the poor and middle class.  According to an article appearing the KSL.com entitled "Chaffetz on co-sponsoring bill: "We Simply Don't Need the Department of Education" Chaffetz states states or private lenders could step in.  States are already have difficulties financing education and it seems unlikely private lenders would lend funds to students who have no assets and whose parents are struggling financially. Without a college degree, "the rich get rich and the poor get poorer."  We simply do need the Department of Education.

What about the financial effects on school districts? According to The Salt Lake Tribune's article "Millions in Federal Support for Utah Schools Teeters on Fiscal Cliff" by Ray Parker published December 28, 2012 in Utah, Ogden School District that has a high percentage of lower socioeconomic students receives about 20% of its budget from federal monies.  While the more affluent Canyon School District receives about 8% of its budget from the federal government.  The state's average is about 10% of each districts budget comes from the federal government which means millions of dollars that the state would have to compensate. Most of it would come from the areas least able to provide.


What do districts use this money for?  The funds are used for identifying and teaching students with disabilities: autism, learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, physical disabilities, visual and hearing impaired. They provide special transportations and aides to help with students with disabilities.  The funds provide language classes and tutors for students with little or no English proficiency.  For students below the poverty level the funds provide free or reduced priced meals. For girls wishing access to competitive sports, track, basketball and baseball teams are funded.  The Department of Education collects and shares data on educational outcomes and provided workshops for educators to continually improve instruction to all subgroups.  The department provides accreditation for colleges and public schools to insure quality education and equal access to everyone. These are only some of the resources that the Department of Education funds.  If these costs were passed on to the states, it is unlikely they could shoulder the burden. As a result, those who need the most assistance would not get the help they need.  Eliminating the Department of Education would handicap the handicapped.

In the past people raised their families in the same neighborhoods where their grandparents raised their children, but times have changed.  Economics conditions have created a more mobile society. Many children who begin their education in one state move five or six times before they graduate from college. Our communities are more diverse and they move more often.  As a result, schools need to have curriculums and learning expectations that correspond with the curriculums and learning expectations found in other states. The Department of Education not only provides this, but collects and provides data to states allowing them analyze how well they are meeting the educational needs of each subgroup: racial, economic, or learning disabled.  If they have disparaging gap, not seen in surrounding states, they can learn and develop more effective methods of improving the education of that subgroup. States could collect their data on their population, but without comparing it to other states, they would by unmotivated and unlikely to avail themselves to resources to improve.  This would make life difficult for a mobile population.  Moving from one state to another could impede the child's education.  If the child decides to attend a college outside the borders of his state, he may be unprepared and unqualified.  Since I worked as both a presenter for the Office of Education and a educator at their workshops for educators, I can assure you the exchange of techniques and ideas bring fresh ideas and tactics to educators and improve schools. Schools and teachers become more effective and everyone wins.

Jason Chaffetz and Thomas Massive are wrong.  Eliminating the Department of Education may save some money for the federal government, but it would burden the states financially. It would hurt the most vulnerable: those with disabilities; those learning English; those hungry children whose parents struggle to provide for them and competitive sports for strong women.  Eliminating the Department of Education would dash the dreams of a bright future with a college education for those poor and middle class students.  Eliminating the office of education would be a travesty.  "A mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Don't let Jason Chaffetz and Thomas Massive destroy the future for these children. 

Should Betsy DeVos Be Confirmed as Secretary of Education?

Should Betsy DeVos Be Confirmed As Secretary of Education?

by Jill Jenkins

On January 31, 2017 Betsy DeVos' position as Secretary of Education will be confirmed or denied by a committee. Should Betsy DeVos become our next Secretary of Education?  As a retired educator, I must say "no." Betsy DeVos has three shortcomings that would make it difficult for her to be an effective leader of the Department of Education: first, she has no experience in public education and little or no knowledge about the laws connected to public education; second, her approach to education in Michigan has been devastating; and third, she has ethical questions involving her investments in educational connected companies.  The Secretary of Education is an important position and should be held by a well respected person well equipped with experience and knowledge of the laws and problems public education faces.  It should not be a gift to billionaire who has used her money to foist her own opinions on education with her unlimited resources.

Betsy Devos' lack of experience and knowledge of public education and the laws connected to it would hamper her ability to be an effective leader of the Department of Education. She has never been a teacher, an administrator or served on the school board or worked in any capacity in public education.  She has never been a parent whose children were served by public education.  Furthermore, the evidence in her hearing indicate she lacks basic knowledge of policies and procedures connected to public education.   According to the Washington Post's article, "In Senate Hearings DeVos Stroked Activities Fears That She Will Ignore Education Civil Rights" by Emma Brooks, Mariah Ballngit and Nick Anderson on January 18, 2017,

when she was asked specific questions about laws protecting children with disabilities, she lacked knowledge about the requirements and felt that federal money connected to IDEAS could be transferred to whichever private school the parents selected; however, she felt the regulations connected to IDEAS should not be required of those private or charter schools.  The same article revealed that she seemed unprepared and ignorant of most federal laws and requirements on public schools.  She would not answer that she would support rules to protect civil rights of students or support the new laws protecting college students who are victims of sexual assaults.  To most of us in education, keeping our students safe is paramount.  Following the guidelines by the federal government to protect children with disabilities ensures that all children receive a quality education. Ms. DeVos does not seem to understand or care about that fundamental obligation in public education.

How did Betsy's voucher program improve education in Michigan.  According to the Washington Post's article, "A Sobering Look At What Betsy DeVos Did To Education In Michigan--and What She Might Do As Secretary of Education" by Valerie Strauss on December 8, 2016 , "parents had many choices but not many of quality."  The article went on to say, "in Brightmore, the only high school left is Detroit Community Schools, a charter boasting more than a decade of abysmal test scores and until recently a superintendent who earned $130,000 a year despite a dearth of educational experience or credentials."  Betsy DeVos' answer to low test scores is to eliminate the Common Core and its tests.  Using public tax money to pay for private schools and charter schools wastes resources for those who need it most and has not improved education anywhere. Public schools address the educational needs of students including those with limited English skills, Special Education students and those with emotional and behavioral issues.  In short, public education meets the individual needs of all students.  While Charter and Private Schools choose to educate the best of the best.  As a parent, I chose to send my daughter to private and parochial schools; however, as an educator I saw the necessity of keeping the tax dollars in the public schools to serve students of all educational and financial groups.

What does this billionaire have to gain from this position? Plenty. Although not all of her financial records were forthcoming according to The Washington Posts' article of January 24, 2017 "Betsy DeVos's Ethics Review Raises Further Questions For Democrats and Watchdogs" by Emma Brown and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel  her disclosures do not list the holdings in two trusts, but in the third trust there are some investments that raise ethical questions. "She has indirect stakes in Sextant Education with operates for-profit colleges through its parent company AEA Investors." This trust also holds interest in Discovery Communications which not only owns television programs, but sells educational materials to schools.  These are not small investments and they pay high dividends according to the article.  She has invested on million dollars in AEA which returns dividends to her from $100,000 to one million dollars yearly.  Furthermore, according to this article her million plus investment in Discovery Communications yields $50,000 to $100,000 in dividends annually.  Despite the ethic committee signing off on her agreement, it leaves doubt that her financial gains through these investments would not influence her decisions as Secretary of Education.  When considering the blight for-profit colleges have put on the financial system by preying on low-income students with promises of a brighter futures while burdening them with inadequate training and burying them with student loan debt, it makes me cringe that anyone connected to the for-profit private college nightmare might be considered with the highest position in education.  

"Education is here placed among the articles of public care, not that it would be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal; but a public institution can alone supply those science which though rarely called for are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country and some of them its preservation."   Thomas Jefferson in 6th Annual Message .  Our founding fathers' felt free, public education was the basis of a strong democracy.  Selecting a highly qualified Secretary of Education who uses proven methods without the interference of personal financial gain should be important for the nation.  Betsy DeVos is not that person.