A Democrat at the School Board Association Convention

by: newschoolboardmember

Mon Oct 31, 2011 at 09:14:06 AM EDT

So, I'm a school board member.  A new one.  I got elected by writing myself in when no one would put their name on the ballot.  I got some friends to vote for me.  Made a couple of phone calls.  Knocked on 5 doors.  Made sure everyone could spell my last name right (it's long).  30 votes later, here I am.

I am also a Democrat.  A life-long Democrat.  A real Democrat.  Thus, I am a fish out of water on the board.  And a real freak at the New Jersey School Board Association's annual workshop last week in Atlantic City.  I went for two reasons: One, I needed to attend the "Governance 1" class required for new board members and; Two, Tuesday was devoted to school "reform," and I wanted to see what they were up to.

I came armed.  My friend, Marie Corfield, who is running for State Assembly for the 16th LD gave me David Sirota's essay, The Bait and Switch of School 'Reform. Our own Jersey Jazzman (who I do not know) cited Diane Ravitch's essay The Myth of Charter Schools in his 5th part of his Ed Reform 101 series .  This was a good thing.  Because both articles reinforce this fact: that kids who are poor do poorly in school.  Where you live matters when it comes to how well you do in school.  Teachers matter, sure.  But at about 20%.  Everything else matters more.

Julia Sass Ruben mentioned this fact early and often.  She reminded the audience (and Mr. Emigholz) that it is poverty that weakens children and their ability to learn.  She said that Gov. Christie's policies that cut programs and tax breaks for the poor are the real problem.  His face got redder and redder as she criticized his boss.  That was fun to watch.

In Ravitch's essay, she mentions Geoffrey Canada, who runs a couple of charters in NYC.  Not only does he spend money on the schools, he spends money on the community and parents, helping them deal with things like health care and nutrition and trying to lift them out of poverty.  I'm not saying his school works any better than a public school (he gets to kick underperforming ones out, unlike a real school), but he recognizes that POVERTY is the real problem.  Alleviating poverty costs money.  Lots of it.  Is the governor ready to spend money on alleviating poverty?  I don't think so.  Emigholz didn't mention it.  Neither did Rev. Jackson.  All they could do was repeat the phrase "school reform" and hope we wouldn't notice they weren't addressing the real problem.

Finally, the Acting Commissioner of Education, Chris Cerf, spoke.  He didn't say anything new or interesting until the end (more on that in a minute).  But he did pull the old conservative trick-cart out a straw man or a false analogy and then riff on that as if you said something profound.  In what universe does the Teachers' Union seek lifetime tenure for all teachers (including bad ones)?  None.  There is a system in place to let these bad teachers go.  But that didn't stop Cerf from complaining about something that doesn't exist.  In what universe lives the person who thinks that all schools are fine and don't need fixing?  None, again.  But that was another of his points.  It should be noted, that he got no applause at all for the bulk of his speech.  He did get half the audience to applaud (weakly) when he came out in support of tenure reform.  Really-the right side clapped for him, and the left side (where I sat) didn't.  It was odd! Yeah-tenure reform.  Gird your loins, teachers.  They want to bust the union, and this is the way they will do it.

Cerf's, and one presumes Christie's, newest plan is to create 7 regional panels to oversee the school boards.  These panels will have the authority to look into a district's books to determine if it is spending money the right way (which way is that?).  The man behind me started making "oh no you don't" ooo-hoo noises.  I leaned back and we "high-fived" each other.  I don't know what these panels will look like.  But I'm nervous.  Not for me.  I live in a cushy suburban district with a high success rate.  Eventually, the charters will arrive here.  But not now.  I'm worried about Camden and Newark.  Gov. Christie and Comm. Cerf want to bring charters into those districts now.  Getting their hands on the financing will be one way to do that.

The forces against kids and teachers are organized, and they mean business.  We need to fight back.  My advice? Vote for better Dems for the state house and Congress.  Support your local teachers' union.  Pay attention at school board meetings.  And listen to everything Jersey Jazzman says.  He knows.