Comments

In the event that you do get a meeting, I'd recommend that you do everything you can to control the agenda very tightly. I'd be willing to bet that the administration will be trying to do the same thing.

I'd particularly watch out for an attempt to appoint a biased moderator who is really a controller.

-- DougSundseth - 17 Nov 2006

Very cool, Catherine!

When people get to talking there are many possibilities. Many times it just takes the first fearless person to break the ice and then WATCH OUT!

-- TexasDesert - 17 Nov 2006

"I'd particularly watch out for an attempt to appoint a biased moderator who is really a controller."

Delphi.

They call them facilitators. They use divide and conquer techniques. Their goal is consensus or balance, and we know what that means. Talk in generalities, but they get to decide the details.

The format should be customer versus supplier. Consensus is not the goal. If there is any consensus necessary, it's among the parents, not between the parents and the schools.

-- SteveH - 17 Nov 2006

WooHoo! Way to go Catherine! It looks like this might let the cat out of the bag. So many parents are in the dark.....

-- DeeHodson^? - 17 Nov 2006

Hi Dee!

Thanks!

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Nov 2006

The format should be customer versus supplier. Consensus is not the goal. If there is any consensus necessary, it's among the parents, not between the parents and the schools.

Good advice.

Who knows if a meeting will happen?

I tend to think it will.....if only because I'll be relentless in publicizing the fact that it hasn't.....

They won't have a facilitator.

They'll do the usual.

The Board and the administration will sit behind The Big Table Up Front, they'll do the talking, we'll sit in the audience, raise our hands, and ask polite questions.

Then they'll send out an email thanking us for our "input."

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Nov 2006

I've been telling them they need to take a "listening tour" of Irvington.

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Nov 2006

So far that doesn't seem to have made much of an impression.

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Nov 2006

When people get to talking there are many possibilities.

Well, that's my feeling.

The district has maintained power by restricting information and communication.

Restrictions on communication are now faltering, thanks to the listserv. I expect that process to grow.

Restrictions on information are already faltering, again thanks to the listserv.

Just in the 6 weeks the listserv has been in existence I've learned far more about the district than I knew going in.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the ability of a listserv to "aggregate information" is its most powerful feature.

-- CatherineJohnson - 17 Nov 2006

You should start with a separate meeting of parents to come up with your own consensus and agenda. You need to define the process. They may not do anything, but it's better than the "Thank you for your input approach".

What, specifically, do you want the school to do? As in any situation, criticism without a plan is not going to work. If enough people get together, perhaps you can strongly recommend a separate curriculum track. (not a separate ability track) In a case like this, you do not have to prove that one curriculum is better than another. You just have to prove a very strong demand. If there is enough demand, then any difficulties of resources will be minimized.

You will stand a much better chance if the argument is about resources and cost, rather than which curriculum is better. If the parent group is willing to help out - say, providing a Singapore Math support group after school - then you are being much more constructive. If the parents are serious enough, they might even provide a fund to help pay for extra training and conversion costs. As an interesting side note, many of the private school parents in our town would be willing to pay extra (above property taxes) to be able to get a better (or separate) curriculum in our public schools.

If there is enough demand, and you can eliminate cost and support issues, then the schools will be reduced to arguing that all kids have to do what they want; that their math curriculum is better than a curriculum like Singapore Math. Mostly, they will have to argue that they know what's best for your kids.

-- SteveH - 17 Nov 2006

"They'll do the usual."

If you allow this you will have lost before the first word is spoken. There's a reason that the layout of the room and control of order of speaking is a big topic in lots of negotiations; if you concede it without a fight, you have conceded too much.

-- DougSundseth - 17 Nov 2006

You should start with a separate meeting of parents to come up with your own consensus and agenda. You need to define the process. They may not do anything, but it's better than the "Thank you for your input approach".

definitely

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

We get HUGE amounts of thanks for our input!

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

Mostly, they will have to argue that they know what's best for your kids.

They have no problem saying this directly, openly, explicitly.

They've said it many times.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

That said, I do think the possibility of demanding a "Singapore" track, or a Saxon track, or both, is quite interesting.

I've wanted this for a very long time, but it's radically at odds with the culture of the school, which is to "reduce opportunities for learning," not expand them.

The central focus of the district is on keeping kids out of things - making cuts to the Phase 4 track, restricting the number of kids "invited" to take Regents science, restricting the number of kids "admitted" to Honors classes....Top Secret, opaque selection processes, zero transparency, forcing children to jump through hoop after hoop and then rejecting them anyway - Darwin on the Hudson.

So.....my question is whether the concept of adding a new, innovative, academic offering that allows parents to make a choice is so far off the beaten track that it simply won't make sense.

I'm not saying that quite right, but you probably know what I mean.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

I fear we may be at the point at which we have to talk directly about power.

They have it; they abuse it.

Parents need a vote & a veto.

And choice.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

If you allow this you will have lost before the first word is spoken. There's a reason that the layout of the room and control of order of speaking is a big topic in lots of negotiations; if you concede it without a fight, you have conceded too much.

Yes, absolutely.

The woman who's leading this effort is an attorney; she's aggressive & tough.

She's an interesting case, because she is steadfastly refusing to hire a tutor OR to reteach math at home herself.

Anyway, she's going to be in charge, and I'm going to be along for the ride.

I'm sure she knows all this, and Ed and I will lobby for a different format from the usual sit-in-chairs-raising-hands-and-asking-questions Irvington Input Fest.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

Many times it just takes the first fearless person to break the ice

I'm not (really) fearless!

Unfortunately, I forget this fact in the heat of the moment.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006

Be sure and read Ken's D-ed Reckoning post titled "On the responsibilities of school districts." It's a quote from Engelmann, and it seems particularly relevant.

-- KarenA - 19 Nov 2006

It's wonderful!

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Nov 2006