I asked last week for constructive, insightful thoughts on how the Las Cruces Public Schools board and community should proceed from here. Here are the best responses I received. Many others contained good points but also rumor or nasty personal attacks, so I could not publish them.
A couple of notes: Board Member Leonel Briseño will be on The Morning Show With Michael Swickard on KSNM-AM 570 from 9-10 a.m. today to discuss the situation. I’ll be at the board meeting, which starts at 4:45 p.m., and will stay until the end. I should be able to update my blog periodically as we await board action on the superintendent’s contract, so check back here this evening.
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We all need to listen and communicate
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Cool Hand Luke
The threat of change is perceived individually. Therefore, how we perceive the change really determines how we manage to adapt to it (The Psychology of Stress Management, click here).
Disputes in the workplace are not uncommon. A little give-and-take often leads to resolution. However, this particular dispute involves emotionally anchored perceptions. Resolution will be extremely difficult.
Every action has a cause and a consequence, something that led to it and something that followed from it. But research shows that while people think of their own actions as the consequences of what came before, they think of other people’s actions as the causes of what came later (He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t, click here).
Add to this the probability that people on all sides of this dispute harbor hidden agendas (unannounced objectives, needs, expectations, or strategies of a person or group when participating in an activity) and the expectation of community healing grows even more distant.
Is there a way out of this mess? Certainly. Here’s a starting point. I learned of “active listening” when I sat in on mediation efforts between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Ku Klux Klan in 1977 in North Alabama.
Very simply, “active listening” works like this: “Fred” makes a statement. “Mary” reflects the statement back to “Fred,” who then responds either positively (“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”) or negatively (“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”). Once “Mary” receives affirmation from “Fred” she responds to his now verified statement and the process repeats itself, i.e. “Fred” must now reflect the statement back to “Mary” for verification. It’s a labor-intensive form of dialogue, but its one great advantage – eliminating misunderstanding in face-to-face communication – is well worth the time and effort. For an excellent and detailed overview of “active listening” click here.
Can our community heal itself? Most definitely. But it will take a lot of hard work and a plenitude of good faith.
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Decision makers must support teachers
She drags out of bed at 5 a.m., gets the kids ready for school, makes breakfast, frantically dresses and slaps on some make-up. Just before running out the door to go to work at the elementary school, she glances at the paper. Page two reveals that schools aren’t making AYP and it’s the teacher’s fault. Page four quotes a legislator who calls for firing every school employee. The cartoon on the editorial page shows a duck commenting that teachers can’t even spell, so how can they teach our children? It does not evoke a smile.
She rushes out the door, clicks on the seatbelt, and turns on the radio as she drives to work. Rush is taking a call from someone who shrieks that the public schools are infested with Godless, un-American socialists posing as teachers. She turns off the station, content to focus on the road infested with red-light running maniacs on one side and little old men driving with the cruise on twelve miles an hour on the other.
She arrives at her school, walks past a security guard and policeman, and goes to her box. There, among the cafeteria menus and IEP reminders, is a contract from central office requesting that she sign and promise that she will not harass, harangue, or molest her students. Moments later, she notices a diminutive girl cowering in the corner of the hallway, obviously traumatized. She kneels down, strokes her hair, and says, “Are you all right, honey?” Lips trembling and tears welling, the girl reaches for her and latches on in hug of gratitude and desperation. With the professional behavior contract still in hand, she walks the child to the nurse’s office so that the abuse investigation can begin. She forces out a weak smile and tells the girl everything will be all right, knowing full well it won’t. She refocuses her emotions and marches down the hallway to begin her school day anew.
For a brief, shining moment, as she enters her classroom, with soft morning light streaming through the faux stained glass windows of crepe paper, the world is right. She is a teacher and in a few moments she will dispense knowledge, motivate the intractable, and help educate the masses. The crack of a knock on the door breaks the solitude. It is her friend next door who breathlessly asks, “Have you heard the news? Our principal is being fired and they are taking up the new books. And, if you don’t sign the contract the word is out we will be fired too.” Her face blanches and her bangs droop, as if pulled down by a mysterious gravitational force. With eyes glazed and sad, she forces out a faint defiant smile.
Welcome to a day in the life of a
Why cannot each decision made in our school district be about supporting teachers so they can teach children? Why cannot we base each educational decision on the simple question, “Is what we are doing best for kids?” A school district that does neither of these is a school district doomed to fail, no matter who the adult personalities are at the top echelons of governance.
Del Hansen
An earlier version of this posting incorrectly stated the time Briseño was on this morning’s radio program.