Part 1
“Everything
flows." "No man ever steps in the same river twice." Heraclitus
The 2023 film The Holdovers
used my old high school, Deerfield Academy, as a setting for the fictional
school of Barton Academy. I knew the source of one line. After being admonished
by the headmaster for being too traditional, our main character, the grumpy old
teacher, snaps back: “This school was founded in 1797. I thought tradition was
our stock in trade.”
Deerfield was founded in 1797. Fortunately, that is where the
similarity to the school I attended came to an end.
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#270 touches on
a theme of #161 – the value of having a clear mission. It featured a section
on how the mission at Deerfield remained largely the same over 50 years.[i]
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But that quote speaks to a question I have about tradition
and innovation in our schools. About continuity and change.
A recent Deerfield alumni magazine includes
a black and white photo, faded by now, of Jim Smith, our football coach from my
day, doffing his cap, being carried on the shoulders of his players after a big
win. It is from a game in the fall of 1967. Above it, four words – “Things
change over time.”
On the opposite page, a color photo of the current coach, fist raised after a victory, surrounded by his players—their helmets off, smiles all around. Above it, eight words. “But the heart and soul of Deerfield endure.”
What lasts, in our schools?
More pressing for me, focused on public education in Colorado,
what endures?
Are we forever “stepping into a different river,” forever
redesigning – creating anew – our schools?
Does K-12 public education have an abiding purpose?
(Those who have read my series in Another View under
the heading, “The Business of Education – is Education,” know I worry that the
business community seeks to alter the mission of public education. Several
bills making their way through the 2024 Colorado legislature provide more evidence
of this distressing trend. A topic I will return to later this spring.)
Tradition is
not my chief concern. It is present in both private and public schools, even
fairly new ones. I am more interested this question: do we in education have
any core beliefs, and a larger sense of purpose, that are constant? Are there a
few values and goals that guide us, that do not change with the latest
legislation—or with the new school board, superintendent, or principal?
I can hear
some saying: good luck with that! They will insist that public education
is, by definition, in constant churn, and that is how it must be. Public schools
will never be stuffy private schools that presume to have an eternal purpose, or
some kind of transcendent ethos that survives for over 200 years—as if that is
even possible. Our public schools expect to respond to the times.
They reflect what the public of that era wants and needs. They live by the observation
from the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus: “All is flux.”
Two
examples: We witnessed Denver Public Schools proceed in one direction over a
decade, 2008-2018 – the portfolio model; we then experienced whiplash as a new
board pulled a U-turn. More recently we watched how, in less than three years, the
Jefferson County district has closed nearly 20 schools.[ii]
Nothing is permanent.
And yet I wonder
if public education has made change our North Star. Of late, it is accompanied
by that overused sales pitch, innovation. Districts and schools stake
out a new strategy, even if there is little evidence for this “promising
innovation.” The point is to show “we are thinking outside the box.” To borrow
from Ezra Pound’s dictum, to “make it new.”
Something
feels amiss. Is there nothing we can hold to? Are there no fixed points?
I sense that
public education is so desperate to appear innovative that anything written ten
years ago (a mission statement, for example; our academic standards, for
another) is irrelevant. Some leaders come across as condescending, perhaps a
little arrogant, in dismissing long-held ideas or principles. As if anything
that claims to “last” is out-of-date, unfit for schools today.
This year I visited two K-12 rural districts. In each case, all
in one K-12 school building. The superintendent has been there a long
time in both communities. Continuity in leadership matters. That is surely one reason
I came away feeling, in these two schools at least, all is not flux.
But the
continuity I sensed was deeper than that. Both districts have a few core
“pillars.” That is the term the Wray School District RD-2 (740 students)
uses for its priorities.
#1 - Create
and sustain a master plan for facilities and financial needs.
#2 -
Recruit, develop and retain high quality staff.
#3 - Create
and promote positive school climate and culture.
#4 - Provide instructional resources based on all students’ needs that reflects the values of the Wray School District.
At the
Elbert School District (280 students), one word provides focus: ROCK.[iii]
It captures four themes: R— respect; O – ownership. C – compassion; K –
Knowledge. Superintendent Kelli Thompson tells me: “It’s a building block
throughout the year.” Each quarter is devoted to one of the four themes. Attention
to these values is pervasive: for the faculty (see the page, Elbert Teachers
ROCK), and for the students—weekly awards are handed out to those who best
exhibit the school’s values. They are “ROCK stars”!
Hardly cutting edge, you say? No “theory of change”? Almost
quaint? But clear – agreed? Exactly what a school and its community can
rally around. And not in need of a rewrite every year.
Department
of Defense schools offer another example of schools less subject to the latest
“strategic vision” flaunted by a school district. A New York Times
article last fall, “Who runs America’s best schools? Maybe the military” (Nov.
10, 2023), examined the success of DoD schools. The Times highlighted
features that make these schools less vulnerable to frequent churn.
“…as educators around the country are trying desperately to turn around pandemic losses, the defense department’s academic results show what is possible, even for students dealing with personal challenges.
“How does the military do it? In large part by operating a school system that is insulated from any of the problems plaguing American education.… They have a centralized structure that is not subject to the whims of school boards or mayors.”
The Times’
piece was not all laudatory. It stressed, though, one advantage.
“Defense Department schools are not immune
to the conflicts, including charged debates over race, gender, and identity.
“But the schools are inherently less
political – big decisions come from headquarters –
and therefore less tumultuous.”
One more
example. On the surface, charter schools are the exact opposite of DoD schools.
Considerable autonomy is essential to their DNA; “decisions from headquarters”
is the last thing they want. Charters seek to operate free of many district
requirements and initiatives.
Which is what they have in common with DoD schools. Charters are allowed to operate “insulated” from the current priorities of the central office. Their semi-autonomous structure gives them a better chance to stay true to their mission. Their waivers allow them to resist “change orders” from the outside. And their board–not a district board serving tens of thousands of students—is there to see that their school pursues its own North Star.
**
My follow-up
to this will be a visit to the school in Massachusetts where I first taught
nearly 50 years ago. Founded in 1922. Today’s Headmaster was a 7th
grader when I started there; his grandfather ran the school from 1928 to 1965; the
next head, his father, hired me. Another school rich in tradition. But one that
also adapts, in order to serve this generation of students.
How does such a school find the right balance of what is
constant, and what must change? AV #271, Part 2, might offer a few ideas.
Endnotes
[i] AV #161 - Schools with a mission (May 2017)
What if all public schools (not just charters) were
asked to define what they are about?
A public school, almost by
definition—some will argue—cannot have a mission that survives even a decade,
let alone 50 years…. Always adjusting to
the public’s demands–to current trends, changing demographics … Nothing lasts.
What if this is a key reason why many
public schools struggle? A guiding
principle for our strongest private schools, adopted by the charter school
world these past 25 years, is that schools need a clear set of beliefs and
goals to commit to, and by which to set their course. Hardly “innovative,” but sound. What if every public school had a clear
mission, one that—in its most essential ways—will endure?
Addendum A - Deerfield Academy’s “evolving
mission”: new words, even new ideas, and yet - much the same.
[ii] https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2023/8/24/23844851/jeffco-secondary-school-closure-recommendations-arvada-coal-creek-declining-enrollment/
[iii] file:///C:/Users/peter/Downloads/SKM_850i24040315290%20(1).pdf
Three pages:
1.
Elbert graduates ROCK
2.
Everyone can support our BULLDOG pride!
On
this page we see key values under these four headings:
R - Respect - Yourself, Others, and our Faculty!
O - Ownership - Treat it like you own it!!
C - Compassion – Treat others the way you want to be treated!
K - Knowledge – The key to making yourself
better!
3.
Elbert Teachers ROCK
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