masking, missed school days, charter schools and math education

Fellow Trustees,

I left Wednesday’s board meeting with some weary thoughts.

1. Mask wearing
The worst of COVID may be behind us. The state may end its mask mandate soon. However, this pandemic may become endemic.

Masking, one of many mitigation strategies, is a way for us to protect each other, decrease spread, and keep schools open. As the weather gets warmer and temperatures rise, it becomes harder and harder to implement enforceable and sound mask-wearing policies. The very same set of safety protocols we put in place may be the reason that some parents decide to send their kids back to school while others withdraw their kids from the in-person experience. We can alleviate some concerns (I believe we are already doing so).

Sanitary issue: supply of disposable masks
Special needs: clear masks or cloth masks with a clear plastic panel
Strenuous activities: adult supervision with momentary removal and distancing

But like seat belts and vaccination, to overcome the objection of mask-wearing at schools because of discomfort, freedom, or skepticism, we need consistent and effective public messaging and concerted good practices. There is a fine line between fearless and reckless.

Adult behavior => student outcome. It starts from the board.

How closely we should follow directives from the CDC or the local health department is a decision for this board. That power resides with us, for good or bad. But I hope we as a board will make the decision objectively based on solid research and science, not vocal community members and ideology.

2. Loss of instruction time
Approval of waivers for missed school days should NOT be on the consent agenda. Not because other school districts quickly chose to do so, not because we won’t lose any school funding, not because ACC summer classes usually start in June, and not because Spring Break is sacred.

I cast the lonely symbolic dissenting vote after our short discussion, as a hard-hearted person. I will not wave my hands so readily. I am eager to see what we have in preparation for the 4th nine weeks and summer.

Again: adult behavior => student outcome.

3. Charter schools and extracurricular activities
During our budgeting discussion, it was briefly mentioned that we, as a public school district, have strength in offering extracurricular activities that charter schools can’t; for example, fine arts and sports. But charter school students can still participate in the city’s youth orchestra, soccer clubs, and dance studios. The only activities I can think of that they truly miss out on are football and marching band. But is that what public schools are about?

The responsibility of public schools indeed extends beyond purely academic learning to nurture the physical and emotional well-being of children. We go out of our way to accommodate sports teams’ needs, strive for excellence, and tout accomplishments in sports.

But we cannot disparage academic learning. We should compete against charter schools in the quality of learning, not state-of-the-art sports facilities and programs. I was the captain of both soccer and basketball teams when I was in high school. We weren’t good. We played on the dirt ground with no nets. There were no coaches or cheerleaders. But we learned a life lesson all the same.

I am wary of this weight chart (overly simplified).

Sports: *****
Academics: ***
STEM education (since the 90’s): *
Football (as in Texas): **********

When we discuss extracurricular activities, we should include science bowl and robotics competitions. If we, as adults, believe that a sports scholarship is the only ticket to college for some students, we are perpetuating the achievement gap.

Adult behavior => student outcome.

4. Math education
I read “‘Reading and Writing to Learn’ in math K-5” on a slide of the progress report.

As a parent, I am keenly aware of the nationwide movement to modernize math classes. I do believe “higher-order thinking” and “project-based learning” are valuable. However, the fragmented, spiraling structure and occasionally incoherent and verbose instructional content of math classes at elementary levels and changes to algebra curriculum makes me wary.

The lofty goal of making math education engaging and practical should NOT be the rationalization for expecting and demanding less. Data science needs a solid foundation in algebra. I would caution against any claims that start with “Research has shown …” The most reliable type of research in education (as in medicine) tends to be ‘epidemiological research’, that is, studies of definitely observable effects exhibited by large populations of subjects over considerable periods of time. Again, I hope we are not putting ideology ahead of empirical evidence when making educational decisions.

I have trouble finding the right words for all of the issues above, as always. But I wish I get my message across to you in the right way.