“All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be some place else.”
― John Wayne

“Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.”
― Abraham Lincoln

It’s a rainy Veteran’s Day, but I’m hoping you are finding the time to share a few thank you’s – both public and private – to those who sacrificed to keep us free. I grew up a military brat; a member of a family to whom service was a tradition. My father and uncles were Air Force, as well as my sister. Both my niece and nephew currently serve, he in the Air Force and she in the Army. Priscilla’s family is also heavily populated with those who have served. To those, and all of America’s veterans, I offer a hearty thank you.

Schools are closed and therefore things are a little quiet as we head into the holiday season. I’ve been meaning to share an ongoing conversation with my daughter and now seems an appropriate time to do. It’s a conversation that reminds me that to every action there is a reaction, and we should always be aware of unintended consequences.

“Daddy, am I Dutch?” she asked me one day as we were driving home from school.

“You come from Dutch and German heritage, but you are American”, I replied.

“I don’t want to be American daddy. American is boring.”

“Slow down. What makes you say that? American is anything but boring. You should be proud to be American.”

“I am,” she said resignedly, “It’s just that my friends are just so proud of their heritage and American just seems boring. I want to be proud of my heritage just like they are.”

This was an eye-opener of a conversation for me. As I mentioned previously, I am a military brat. The son of a Russian refugee to Germany. Diversity has been central to my life since birth and exposing my children to families from different backgrounds has been a primary tenet of mine. But what if in the pursuit of diversity, I’ve inadvertently lowered the value of being an American, something I am fiercely proud of.

In this age of Trump, nationalism, and patriotism has morphed into something ugly. Celebrating the greatness of America is viewed as the celebration of the oppression of others and as a focus on “I” as opposed to “we”. We can not let that become the prevailing narrative. It’s important that we value our shared culture every bit as much as our individual cultures. We can’t be quick to celebrate and praise other cultures while being proud of our American heritage is seen as an endorsement of the country’s worst angels.

We celebrate the movie “Black Panther” while ignoring the deep and contradictory history of Africa. We enjoy the pageantry of Hispanic culture yet never discuss the darker portions of its own history. The same holds true for Muslim and Asian cultures as well. I’m willing to bet all of us have been to some sort of multi-cultural festival in the last year, but how many have been to a festival celebrating American Culture? How many of us in celebrating those other cultures also take the time to examine their shortcomings?

I’m not downplaying the importance of recognizing and celebrating diversity, but I do believe that in the end, we have to take pride in our shared heritage as Americans. Yes, America has done some horrendous things in the past, but we have also accomplished things no other country has been able to do. We’ve created a republic, that continues to exist despite overwhelming odds against it. We’ve fought bad wars, but we also ensured that Europe survived. We settled a raw and dangerous country and turned it into a land of opportunity that is the envy of the world.

It’s important that we recognize our mistakes, but not for the purpose of permanent penance, but rather that we can avoid them in the future in order to continue to progress towards fulfilling our promise. There is no other country like America, and while we should recognize and honor other cultures, it is equally as important to honor and celebrate our own heritage and culture. This Veteran’s Day might be a good time to remember that and to make sure our children know it as well.

We need to remember that a whole bunch of people believed that what this country stood for, and what it means to the world, was worth dying for. There is nothing boring about that.

EXPERIMENT TIME

On Friday I mentioned an upcoming experiment that MNPS will be partnering with Florida State University to conduct. Over the summer I gave you a brief outline of what was coming. Here’s a little refresher of what that study is proposed to look like:

Twenty-five MNPS schools (see list of participating schools attached) will be involved in this study. Schools were selected based on interest and/or student achievement data. Because this study is an experiment, 13 schools will be randomly assigned to the Treatment condition and 12 schools will be randomly assigned to the Control condition in November 2018. The study will roll outslowly with Kindergarten teachers in the Treatment Group of schools implementing CKLA’s Knowledge Strand this school year(2018-2019); 1st grade teachers will implement the curriculum in 2019-2020, and 2nd grade teachers will implement the curriculum in 2020-2021. Kindergarten teachers in the Control Group will implement the CKLA Knowledge Strand in 2019-2020; 1st grade teachers will implement the curriculum in 2020-2021, and 2nd grade teachers will implement the curriculum in 2021-2022. On- going professional development and ALL materials will be provided to each teacher at no cost to the school or district.

As previously stated the majority of the schools come from the NE and NW quadrants. in other words, Priority Schools. This was sold with Florida State taking on the brunt of the financial burden. Yet we recently allocated half a million dollars to TNTP – a major player in CKLA implementation – and this week it’s proposed we give another half a million dollars for CKLA implementation through Amplify, a company with quite the checkered past. It is beginning to feel as if we are the ones shouldering the burden.

In looking at things from the outside it seems as if MNPS is continuing to flounder for a plan to address the needs of our priority schools. It’s like we are following in the shoes of the Tennessee Achievement Schools District and trying to solve the issues through programming. A strategy that they proved was ineffectual. A strategy that has since been altered and due to that alteration, appears to be actually showing progress under the guidance of newly appointed director Sharon Griffen.

Griffen is a long time Memphis educator whose name ironically enough was floated as a possible candidate for the MNPS Superintendent job. Six months ago she took over the long-struggling Tennessee Achievement School District. The ASD was created by Chris Barbic in 2011 with the plan to take over the bottom 5% of schools and move them into the top 25% within 5 years. Barbic soon found out that some things are easier said than done. He left and Malika Anderson took over in 2015. Both came to the job with visions of increased rigor and promises of guiding families out of the wilderness.

Both of her predecessors missed what Griffen gets. It’s the same thing that MNPS leaders miss. Making improvements is not about rigorous curriculum, high expectations, or telling people what they should value. It’s about relationships. It’s about investing the time to earn trust. It’s about listening to stakeholders tell you what it is they value, By all accounts, Griffen is doing that work. She’s meeting people where they are; not expecting them to come to her. She’s building relationships one conversation at a time.

“One of my biggest goals was getting our communities to think differently about the district,” Griffin told Chalkbeat this month. “People only interact with the superintendent or the central office when there’s an issue. We want to meet people where they are and tell them what we are going to do for them.”

There is no way to predict whether Griffen’s approach will prove successful or not, but I do believe that she is laying the groundwork for serious improvements to occur. Her’s method is one that I wish MNPS would adopt. Everybody recognizes the power of parent involvement but few are willing to do the hard work required to see it to fruition.

Some of Griffin’s solutions rely a little heavy on charter schools for my taste, but she seems to understand the role that central should play.

“My goal is to work us out of a job,” Griffin said. “When we have empowered all of our teachers and leaders to build capacity within schools, the hope is that they won’t need us anymore.”

Just the opposite of what Dr. Joseph seems to preach. Let’s see who actually makes the most progress.

THE LESSON LEARNED FROM AUBURN

Football fans are probably familiar with the predicament that the Auburn University’s Football team finds themselves in. Let me catch the rest of you up. Gus Malzahn became Auburn’s coach in 2013 and led them to the precipice of the national championship. From 2014 to 2017 the team regressed and it became apparent that Malzahn wasn’t a very good football coach. Fans wanted him replaced, but somehow his Tigers managed to beat both Alabama and Georgia, two powerhouses, in 2017. Based on those wins, and forgetting the previous 3 seasons, Auburn gave Malzahn a contract extension through 2024 and gave him a raise from $4.725 million per year to an even $7 million average.

Now it’s 2018 and the Auburn season is a mess. Everything everybody already knew about Malzahn is being proven again. Fan’s are restless and want a change at the top. Ah, but now there is a catch. Fire him this year and the university has to pay him $32.1 million. Heck, even wait until 2021 and it will cost $16 million. In other words, Malzahn ain’t going anywhere for a long time.

The lesson to be learned here? Be careful in handing out contracts lest you tie your hands in the future. What you know now, is most likely what you’ll know in 2 years. Don’t get blinded by shiny things. I wonder if Dr. Joseph has a picture of Gus Malzahn on his office wall.

QUICK HITS

The parent of any child that receives services through the exceptional education is eligible to attend the meetings of the exceptional ed department’s parent advisory committee. There is a meeting this Wednesday at Robertson Academy from 11:30 to 12:30. Its a great way to spend a lunch hour.

You’ve utilized book-mobiles, mobile groomers, and food trucks, now there is a new mobile service, mobile pre-schools. Rural school districts have experimented with the concept but now they are coming to parts of Denver. Per a new report in Chalkbeat:

The rolling preschools, which travel to apartment complexes or mobile home parks a couple of times per week, are seen as an innovative way to reach children who can’t access traditional bricks-and-mortar preschools.

I must say I am fascinated by the concept, and it seems like a good way to help bring pre-k education to families that might not be able to participate in brick and mortar preschools. The mobile classrooms are not without their own challenges though. They are expensive and…

Ensuring basic sanitation can be a stumbling block, too. Since Dutmar has one Magic Bus without a bathroom, it must be parked near a public restroom. Especially in the winter, bundling up wiggly children just for a bathroom break eats up a lot of time, she said. The good news is the foundation just finished its fund-raising campaign for a second Magic Bus motor home, which will arrive bathroom-equipped next summer.

An independent investigation has exonerated Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney. This is in relation to an incident that took place last February where Looney was charged with assaulting a student and a parent at Franklin High School after police were called to handle a psychological episode. A judge dismissed the two assault charges in April. The new investigation goes even further.

“This review determined that Dr. Looney was acting within the scope of his legal authority,” City Administrator Eric Stuckey said. “Moreover, the City respects the conclusion reached by Williamson County Judge Tom Taylor dismissing the charges and recognizes that all records relating to the incident were expunged by order of the court.  As a result, no formal report relating to this internal investigation will be published. The evidence suggests that all school personnel and first responders acted in good faith and were seeking to provide a student with the care she needed.” 

Hopefully, this closes the book on a rather bizarre incident.

In all the hoopla over the last week, I forgot to congratulate one of my favorite people on a big win. Gloria Johnson is heading back to the statehouse and we all are going to be better for it.

Stan Lee has left the building. He will be sorely missed. I urge you to read a piece he did for the Atlantic where he offered a powerful definition of the American idea. Thank you, Stan the Man.

And as one great one exits the building another enters. Congratulations to Katie and David Jones as they welcome the newest addition to the Oliver family.

POLL RESULTS

As always, Monday’s mean results and here the results from this week’s poll questions.

The first question asked for your feeling on how education will fare under newly elected Governor Lee. Not surprisingly most of you, 43%, are taking the wait and see approach. However, 28% of you are predicting a trainwreck. While 18% of you thought it can’t be worse than it already is. Only 3% of you think it’s going to be fantastic. Here are the write-ins.

Question two asked you to grade the Joseph administration on its encouragement of parental involvement. The results do not present a ringing endorsement for Dr. Joseph. 56% of you responded that it was a shame that you couldn’t score him lower than a 50. 20% of you scored the doctor a “D”. That means that over 75% of respondents gave a failing mark to the district. The highest grade received was a single “B”. Clearly, work needs to be done. Here are the write-ins.

The last question asked whether the district should renew the Teach For America contract when it comes up in a few weeks. 41% of you said under absolutely no circumstances with 30% of you indicating that the money could be put to better use elsewhere. If you are a board member and you are wondering how to vote, that’s over 70% that say “no”. Only 3% felt that TFA offered great teachers. Here are the write-ins.

And that is a wrap. As always, you can contact me at norinrad10@yahoo.com. Make sure you check out the Dad Gone Wild Facebook page. if you think what I write has value, please support me through Patreon. Peace out.

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