Beginning Well
September 1st, 2008The first few days of school are usually an indicator of how the year will go. A good start can make a world of difference—establishing good norms and the right tone means that problems won’t appear at all, or if they do, they’ll appear in muted form.¹
More than any year that I’ve seen, this has been done well. Brian Pickering has done a tremendous job at MRHS, and the culture and norms we’ve worked hard to establish at MC2 were picked back up from the summer in a way that I don’t recall happening last year. It might be far too soon to tell, of course, but there’s a lot of hope in the air, and that’s something I don’t recall from previous years. The kids at the rally on Thursday felt it, and there’s—for the first time in nearly four years—some pride in being a part of MRHS.
The fearful part, the dangerous part, is how fragile a hope it is. I was having a conversation on the second day of school with a group of teachers and we were having this same discussion. It was a group of people daring to believe that things would get better—until one said, “This is all going to go away if September 9th doesn’t go well.”
She (or he) was right. The district’s teachers have been offered hope, they’ve been offered a vision and they’re daring to dream—and if they can, so can the students. But it’s very hard to do the job well, with passion, with integrity, with love and dedication when it feels like the community is actively working against you.
I know that’s not how anyone wants to hear it said. The Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association themselves have even had to change their lie a little: One teacher was telling me of a conversation with Mr. Carne which began with “Oh, I support the teachers, just not this contract.”
It doesn’t work like that. The lies on the front page of their website—that this contract has “way too much pork”² is simply and painfully not true. There’s nothing resembling “pork” in this contract, unless they mean longevity—and if $400 for working and staying in the district for ten years is too much then we’ve really got to think about what kind of commitment we have to education.
It’s not like teacher’s get anything close to a cost-of-living increase. This current increase is about a .5% for the last three years. A half percent for three years where gas went from $1.10 to over $4.00. Come on…seriously?
The early retirement rant they’re on is a classic case of Taxpayer duplicity—the skill they’re really good at—when they quote the costs of the program. That’s not the cost if this contract is approved, that’s money all ready spent, yes—and this contract removes early retirement. Hypocrites! If they wanted early retirement gone, then vote for the contract.³
Finally, there’s (once again) the lie about health insurance. Health insurance cost the district $771,893.64 less last year than the “half a million down the drain” the Taxpayer’s are whining about.
But then, when you’re not interested in facts, kids, or people, I guess it doesn’t matter what you say. I suppose, when one only cares about money, it’s perfectly okay to do despicable things.
But that’s not the word I want to live in. I’m hoping I’m not alone in that.
1 This is the wisdom behind the often repeated advice “don’t smile until Christmas.” It’s lousy advice—students want to learn from people they feel care about them and who they can care about—and it often leads teachers in the wrong direction. Spending three days impressing students you’re a martinet only breeds resentment; either build community or start doing real work. The latter will build community as well, though establishing norms is trickier… Though this is all straying from the subject and belongs in another post. ↺
2 You know there must be lying involved when someone starts floating terms around—like pork—usually associated with Washington DC politics. Someone ask the Taxpayer’s what they mean by “is” for me, please? ↺
3 Except, of course, they’re hoping for a win in court. The problem with the Taxpayer’s—and going to the court—is that it subverts the process. The process for removing early retirement should come from the voters, from the community, and not from a judge. The Taxpayers continually resort to lawsuits to force their will on the community. Lovely people, eh? The same people who complain about high taxes engage in the same behaviors which have forced medical insurance, car insurance, and all the rest so high—including the district’s legal bills. ↺
