Well I’ve seen it all folks. I. Have. Seen. It. All.
Evanston-Skokie residents, do yourself a favor and watch the most recent school board meeting that took place on Monday, May 19th.
You will see what amounted to one of the most bizarre and outrageous PR stunts in recent memory. And there have been some brazen ones.
For those of you who are not familiar with the scope and sequence of a typical board meeting, allow me to explain. Typically we start off with the board members and administration entering about fifteen to twenty, sometimes thirty minutes late. After that comes the land acknowledgment, which is followed by the high-five award recipients. Then we move on to a statement read by the superintendent. On Monday though, the superintendent ceded her time to Haven Middle School’s leader and his assistant.
This meant that public comment was delayed for over an hour, while these two individuals presented data about their FABULOUS school, which apparently has no perceivable flaws and also, amazingly, only—one—teacher..? Because that’s how many educators were mentioned during their presentation, one.
Meanwhile, a low-grade mutiny brewed in the audience. Approximately 0% of all audiences like it when public comments are delayed. And this audience was no exception.
There were a smattering of educators and community folks who had gathered: Teachers who wanted to speak about their fears around this Haven endorsement debacle, more on that later. There were Bessie Rhodes parents who wanted to speak about their fear that the transition to close the school will go even more sideways than it already has. And several community members planned to speak in favor of including at least two strands of ACC (African Centered Curriculum) at the new fifth ward school.
Well, no can do friends, NO CAN DO. Because first we all had to sit through a super awkward smoke and mirrors presentation from two building leaders and listen to questions from the board. Actually the questions were legitimately great, but I digress. Like I said, watch the meeting.
The Haven principal was given a prime time slot at the board meeting, before public comment, in which he showed the board data, in an attempt to ultimately prove he deserves carte-blanche to… force teachers to teach about things they don’t know about?
Read that again.
This is why the educators are upset; here is the crux of the issue: Next year, at Haven Middle School, 38% of the secondary educators are slated to teach a content area they are not endorsed in.
In addition, 67% of the staff will be teaching either new content areas or new grade levels.
Listen to the speeches if you are interested in all this. They were both well researched and effective. Also, give a listen to the questions posed by the board members. That part was impressive.
Lastly, if you’ve ever read my newsletter before, you know how I feel about secondary education and endorsements. You might know I happen to think endorsements matter, because we are professionals and should be treated as such.
I’m tired, and it’s May. This mommy needs a good night sleep. That means I don’t want to toss and turn, but my mind continues to race thinking about all of these shenanigans.
But listen, a word to the wise before I power down, probably don’t delay public comment at any public meeting. Just don’t do it. It’s a bad look. It has a real silencing effect.
Whether or not that was administration’s intent, it certainly felt like they were trying to get people to give up on their comments and go home. And impact over intent, always.