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Pollyanna and Evil Public Schools

By
Tom Deighan
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Local rivalries abound in public schools, where parents and students rally around their local mascots. Likewise, collegiate supporters bleed the colors of their alma mater.  Such wholesome rivalries create a sense of community and an opportunity to cheer on our kids and the corresponding cartoon characters. On a national scale, however, the rivalry is not nearly as good natured. We are told to see our local public schools exclusively through our Cable News Goggles, and when we do that, we can only see Pollyanna Public Schools or Evil Public Schools.  

The Pollyanna Public Schools (PPS) hero myth paints all public schools as perfectly motivated institutions in need of no improvement or innovation, regardless of the facts or outcomes. The only thing Pollyanna Public Schools need is more funding to achieve educational utopia. The Pollyanna Public School crowd demonizes all public-school critics as greedily motivated to destroy public schools at all costs. PPS heroes stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that anything is systemically wrong within public schools, even in the most egregious situations. 

The Evil Public Schools (EPS) villain myth, on the other hand, paints all public schools as corrupt and incompetent institutions with no redeemable qualities or outcomes, regardless of the impossible challenges or expectations they face. The only option for the EPS antagonist is to dismantle public schools entirely and give more public funds to private entities. The Evil Public Schools crowd asserts that public school supporters are only motivated by greed and protecting existing educational power structures at all costs. The EPS villain stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that the school district does anything right, even when presented with truly stellar examples.  

Predictably, both sides faithfully scream, “Keep politics out of education!” And both sides profess to be fighting “For the Kids!” Nevertheless, both sides willingly ignore the obvious complexities of kid-level situations because nuance does not lend itself to high drama.  Few educators, however, have any Pollyannish delusions about their public schools, and likewise, few parents think their local educators are evil. Our modern Cable News Goggles focus almost exclusively on the extremes, incessantly keeping parents and educators on edge. It sure seems like we are being forced to choose between either a progressive march toward Marxism or a progressive march toward crony capitalism. 

Unfortunately, the kid-level voices of common-sense parents and educators disappear in the din of extremists. Ultimately, the PPS and EPS perspectives are simply two sides of the same political coin, for neither side has much of a message besides demonizing each other and asking for more money, without accountability.  One side refuses to consider any model wherein money follows the kid.  The other side rejects the idea of any public rules following the money as it is passed without oversight to private entities.  

Critics of public schools have many valid points, especially after the issues that developed during the pandemic.  Champions of public schools also have valid points, and most educators are dedicated, selfless professionals. Yet, the endless back-and-forth between PPS and EPS has resulted in stacks of legislation unrelated to the three R’s and seemingly designed to control kid-level options.  On one hand, legislation forces people to celebrate what they should tolerate in a free society, and on the other hand, legislation restricts people from tolerating much individual freedom at all. 

Local parents working with their local educators can work miracles, but both sides will need to cede a little more local control for this to happen. The conditions, causes, or solutions are rarely simple, so let’s take off our Cable News Goggles when we look at our neighborhood schools, parents, and educators.  They probably aren’t evil or Pollyannish, but they are undoubtedly dedicated to the local mascot, and as long as we can agree about cartoon characters, we have hope.  Please pray for kid-level wisdom, and please pray for the safety of our schools this Second Sunday of the Month. 

Tom Deighan is author of Shared Ideals in Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

Toby Dawn’s Fall Fireworks Prediction

By
Tom Deighan
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The doorbell rang shortly after sunrise. Barely awake, I scurried to the door, but no one there . . . just a faint burning smell that I recognized a split second too late. Pop! Pop! Pop!  And so it started, my annual fireworks battle with my lifelong friend and childhood hero, Toby Dawn McIntyre. He loves Independence Day, and each year, he starts his surprise attacks with a bang.  

Toby has booby-trapped doors, trash cans, and even my sock drawer.  Roman candles in the grill . . . whistling chasers tossed from moving cars . . . and, somehow, underwater fireworks.  No place is safe. Once he tethered a fishing line to my back porch and hid in my neighbors’ tree as he ziplined explosive after explosive to our peaceful cookout. When our neighbors let their dogs out, however, Toby was stuck, and we had great fun with our garden hoses. Don’t worry, no one ever gets hurt except Toby Dawn.  “Eyebrows grow back, Tommy Boy!”

As I celebrate Independence Day, however, I worry about the political fireworks ahead this fall. Predictably, new and terrifying strains of COVID are surfacing, but this year it is exacerbated by an incredibly divisive political season.  The familiar mask-or-no-mask battleline is already forming, and if history repeats itself, we can expect renewed calls for schools to close sometime later this month. (Just a hundred weeks or so to flatten the curve.) I am not sure if this slow fuse leads to a lady finger or an M-80, but if history repeats itself, the start of school will be the opening salvo. For the kids! 

The topic of education has never been more relevant or more divisive. Parents are being told to put on their Gotham City Shades, assured that everything bad they hear about in faraway big cities is also happening in their evil neighborhood schools.  Educators are being told to irrationally resist any changes in public schools, because of course, all public schools are perfect (or would be if we had more funding.) 

Meanwhile, rational parents and educators know better, despite the dire warnings of the Evil Public Schools or the Pollyanna Public Schools crowds. The radical one-percent of extremists, from both sides, continue to set just about everything on fire.  “I warned you about those Flaming Pennies;” Toby reminds me often, “they will burn the world down this election season to make a point!”  Common sense parents and educators, however, are starting to recognize much of these arguments as duds, because neither message describes many of our schools.  

I recently received fifteen fliers about candidates in one day, but none of them were sent by the candidates. In a year of unprecedented dark money impacting state and local elections, I have been fearful about the fireworks to come, but Oklahoman’s have impressed me.  We are stubborn, and we do not like faraway activists telling us how to vote.  A few high-profile dark money campaigns were effective, but overall, Oklahomans have made up their own darned mind.  Nothing makes an Okie bow-up faster than someone from Gotham City telling us how to vote, even if we agree.  

Yes, the fireworks will begin full force with the start of school, leading to a grand finale in November, but maybe, this season will reveal a brighter and more hopeful brand of fireworks: Oklahomans lighting up all this dark money with common sense and thoughtful determination. Oklahomans are too smart to vote locally while wearing their Cable News Goggles or Gotham City Shades. 

According to Toby Dawn McIntyre, “Anyone can blow stuff up, but only a skillful person can use fireworks to bring people together.”  Of course, this wisdom comes from a large red-haired man with only one eyebrow.  Nevertheless, as Fourth of July fireworks fade away, get ready for the real light show as school starts. All this dark money will surely make the fireworks brighter and more dazzling. Lets’ just hope all these flaming pennies don’t light some really destructive fires in our state, for they won’t be around to clean up the mess.     

Tom Deighan is author of Shared Ideals in Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

The Omicron Transforming Robot and Open Schools

By
Tom Deighan
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When I heard that Omicron was coming to the United States, I was excited to hear that the next Transformers movie would be released early, but news of the latest giant robot from Cybertron generated more questions than answers.  Would Omicron ally with Optimus Prime and the good guys, or would Omicron join the evil Decepticons?  Would it hide as a cool car, semi-truck, or maybe even an airplane? Eat your heart out, Marvel Universe. Your puny Iron Man will be trembling in his shiny little boots! 

But sadly, Omicron was just another COVID variant, and I blame any confusion on the World Health Organization for picking a name that sounds like a giant robot.  Come on, Man! Nevertheless, it did make me think of all the cool Transformers we discovered during the COVID age. 

Zoomicron appeared early in the pandemic, and it hides in the form of an unassuming dining room table. As a Transformer, however, Zoomicron is the only robot wearing a business suit with pajama bottoms.  Never far away is Pelotonicron, the most useless of Transformers, who can often be seen on Zoomicron’s screen.  Pelotonicron hides in plain sight as a very expensive piece of exercise equipment, but as a robot, Pelotonicron spins and spins but never gets anywhere.  Together, they are a frightening duo.

Of course, the most mysterious new Transformers are Injecticron and Masquicron.  We do not know if they align with the noble Optimus Prime or the evil Megatron, but that certainly depends largely on whichever cable news channels people watch.  Injecticron and Masquicron are also relatively tiny for Transformers, so be wary of anything pokey or with elastic ear straps because it might just be a robot.  Clearly, post-pandemic Transformers have potential, and if your local theater is closed, they could introduce Streamicron, another pandemic Transformer with obvious branding issues.

As a superintendent, I am sorely disappointed that Omicron is not a hot new Christmas toy, but I am more disappointed at talk that schools should consider closing again. Before we even start a discussion, however, let’s acknowledge that no one knew what to do three years ago, so anyone without COVID sin should cast the first robot.  Secondly, we must accept the possibility that Omicron could destroy us all.  Nevertheless, we now know that the early studies suggesting that schools should be open were correct.  At this point, the issue of in-person schooling should be settled, not only in relations to the disease but also regarding the impact on students’ learning, physical health, and mental health.

We did not hear much about schools like Duncan that managed to offer full-time, in-person learning during the COVID saga, but a recent CDC study, “COVID-19–Related School Closures and Learning Modality Changes — United States, August 1–September 17, 2021”, suggests that upwards of 96% of all school districts in the United States started this school year with full, in-person learning. Unfortunately, schools who stayed open throughout the pandemic have not received much attention lately, but I suspect that the majority of our nation’s parents and educators now want open schools. 

Therefore, as Omicron or other fearful robots invade, let’s resist the urge to further transform the lives of students out of fear and speculation. We know a lot more than we once did, and although we may be scared, we should no longer speculate as much. Omicron and the other COVID transformers may doom us all this time around, but so far . . . so far . . . the predictions of humanity’s total annihilation have been mostly wrong. This time around, I hope our nation’s schools can confidently move forward based on what we have learned, rather than what we fear.  

Whatever happens, the next Transformers movie is predicted to appear in 2023, and although it may not feature Omicron or the others, I hear that they have recruited Chaka Khan for the soundtrack (Chakacron?).  I don’t know about you, but I will pay good money for any movie that includes giant robots dancing to “What Cha’ Gonna Do For me?”  That’s a guaranteed recipe for success, even during a pandemic.

Tom Deighan is superintendent of Duncan Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

More Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Needed

By
Tom Deighan
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The specter of a school shooting always lurks in the back of parents’ and educators’ minds, but this week, it openly torments us. Adequate prayers cannot be uttered at a time like this, but we pray, nonetheless.  In the days and weeks ahead, we will learn more details, but we will also lose focus and interest as well.  Before that happens, we must seize our current state of crystal clarity and chart a different course regarding school safety, juvenile justice, and juvenile mental health.      

First, we must recognize who is to blame for this school shooting. Yes, the Uvalde shooter was troubled, bullied, and disadvantaged, but so are billions of children who do not do such things.  This young man was simply evil.  Yes, he was once a good boy, but in the end, he proved to be pure evil. Yes, he watched bad movies, listened to bad music, and visited bad websites, but unlike the countless others who also do those things, he chose to do evil. Yes, in hindsight, everyone could have done more for him, but he alone is responsible for his evil acts, not everyone and everything else who could not see the future.  Evil people will always have somewhat of an advantage because normal people do not think the way they think.  Evil people have an even greater advantage, however, when we are unwilling to recognize evil, or we keep blaming evil actions on everyone but the evil person. He and he alone is responsible for this. 

Our responsibilities lie in trying to prevent this in the future, while this is fresh on our mind. We must commit to quickly rebuilding our juvenile justice and mental health systems. Almost without exception, people who were close to school shooters recognized the evil tendencies, but they rarely had any options because we have completely dismantled our juvenile justice and mental health systems in recent decades. Schools are clearly not equipped to serve the modern variants of violent or disturbed children, but schools are often legally required to keep violent and disturbed children in school with everyone else. 

We recognize the right of all students to attend school free of harmful adults. The same right should apply regarding a school free of violent or disturbed children.  We know that the earlier we identify and serve them appropriately, the better chance we have of helping them, and this cannot always happen in school.  I don’t know if the Uvalde shooter had such services available, but they are almost non-existent in Oklahoma. We desperately need a robust juvenile justice and mental health system for kids who pose a threat to other children, so they can get the help they need at early ages.  

Thankfully, few children turn evil, but those who are struggling deserve the appropriate mental health services, and often that means long-term, in-patient mental health care, especially for the violent or disturbed. School shootings are extremely rare, but the numbers of violent and disturbed children are growing, and they should not attend school with everyone else until they have received the services they need.  Such children are suffering greatly, and they also have a disproportionate impact on the schools they attend – even if they do not turn into shooters. No one wishes to institutionalize any child, but without that option, we are institutionalizing whole schools.   

We need a system to serve disturbed or violent children before they turn evil for their sake and for the sake of schools struggling to deal with them. This is a very difficult discussion, and not very politically correct for a superintendent, but we clearly need to adopt new strategies for this growing segment of students. They deserve to be helped, and our schools deserve to be safe, but we do not currently have the system to serve them.  While this wound is fresh, let’s commit to create that system.  And although our prayers seem inadequate, keep praying for our brothers and sisters in Uvalde.   

Tom Deighan is author of Shared Ideals in Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

What’s Next, For the Kids?

By
Tom Deighan
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In recent years, satire and parody from comedy sites like The Onion and The Babylon Bee have proven to be prophetic, as many “jokes” later became true. Parody, satire, and old-fashioned comedy are now dangerous for many reasons. First, they may get you cancelled, and secondly, your silly joke may become reality.  

I used to joke that politicians’ worn-out battle cry “for the kids” had been used to promote everything imaginable. Under that slogan, Oklahoma has championed issues like liquor by the drink, horse racing, the lottery, and medical marijuana. The only thing  left, I foolishly surmised, was legalized drugs and prostitution, “For The Kids!”  Our proposed state question for recreational weed lists education as its first beneficiary. So far, I was only half prophetic.  

The surreal is now real, not unlike professional wrestling, which is why I call this new reality the “educational smackdown”. It’s all theatrics, and level-headed parents and educators are forced to choose between two elitist mindsets: Pollyanna Public Schools (PPS) and Evil Public Schools (EPS). Meanwhile, neither side accepts any responsibility for their antics, leaving us with very stark choices in the upcoming elections. Now that primaries are over, I wonder if either side will pivot to reflect the beliefs of common-sense parents and educators. 

To capture the hearts and minds of sensible parents and educators, the PPS crowd must admit that radical agendas have been pushed into schools for decades. Age-inappropriate issues, hostility towards people of faith, and out-of-touch national unions have alienated many from public schools. We need to own that as educators. To win back rational parents and educators, the PPS crowd needs to get real. We have usurped the parent-educator partnership in favor of faraway activist agendas. 

Likewise, the EPS crowd cannot continue to pretend that everything in public schools is deplorable. Local schools accomplish miracles every day, and local communities know it. Clearly, the new strategy of replacing one form of indoctrination with another doesn’t work; neither does focusing on isolated examples of bad behavior while ignoring their own complicity in crippling public schools. We can do better than taxpayer funded barbeque grills or vague teaching laws that proponents cannot even follow in their own classrooms. We trust the doctor-patient relationship; let’s trust the parent-educator partnership, too. 

Case in point: as data emerges from the pandemic, both sides are outraged, but neither side will admit their part in the dumpster fire. Sensible parents and educators struggled to survive it while flaming pennies (the radical one-percenters on both sides) set their schools ablaze. One side openly advocated to close schools while the other side created knee-jerk rules that forced schools to close. In retrospect, both sides needed closed schools for their own contradicting political purposes, and the proof is now in the pudding. As a superintendent during all this, I navigated both sides to keep my schools open, but in the end, no one won.

We now need leaders with the courage to represent everyday parents and common-sense educators, but so far, we are only faced with extreme choices offered with faux outrage, bluster, and backroom deals of elitists in a pretend educational smackdown. We need a leader willing to betray their own orthodoxies to serve sensible, everyday, common-sense parents and educators – leaders willing to honestly resist the extremes of their respective political cults. Eighty percent of parents and eighty percent of educators agree on eighty percent of kid-level issues, and this 80/80/80 rule works every day in your neighborhood schools. May the forgotten and ignored majority of parents and educators rise. 

Most importantly, however, we must stop all jokes, parodies, and satire. Let’s call on the government and big tech to immediately shut down, de-platform, and block sites like The Onion and Babylon Bee, because we can no longer discern pretend from reality. Besides, God only knows what will happen next . . . for the kids!

Tom Deighan is a public educator and author of Shared Ideals in Public Schools. You may email him at deighantom@gmail.com.

In Oklahoma, The School is the Community

By
Tom Deighan
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This is the final in a series of ten summertime articles that stubbornly insist that 80% of parents and 80% of educators actually agree on 80% of all issues (my 80/80/80 rule). Unfortunately, schools have become ground-zero for the culture wars, and national leaders from both sides seem to be strategically pitting parents against educators. Please remember that these talking heads know nothing about your local community, and in Oklahoma, your local public school is the community. 

Visit any local school basketball game, bingo night, or band concert and you will know that community. Want to know your neighbors or fellow worshippers? Visit the school cafeteria during lunch, and for a truly deep dive, substitute!  Because in Oklahoma, the local school is not only a perfect reflection of the local community, it is the community. This is just as true for inner city neighborhoods as it is for rural schools miles away from any town. Unfortunately, we are being inundated with stories about extreme agendas (from both sides) that terrify many parents, educators, and communities in Oklahoma. 

One extreme seems to think all parents are incompetent, so parents should sit down and shut up when radical ideologues attempt to usurp or undermine parental rights. Educators with such radical views exist, but they do not represent most Oklahoma educators. Radical agendas are nothing new to public schools, so many of us educators are thankful that people are engaging. Please don’t assume that a few national leaders represent the views of your neighbor or pew partner who works in your public school.   

The other extreme seems to think that all educators are incompetent (or evil), so public schools should be entirely dismantled and the funds funneled to for-profit companies. I have never met a parent who thinks their local school is perfect, but I also cannot remember ever meeting one who wants their local school closed or managed by a corporation. Most Oklahomans scratch their heads about those districts on the news because they know their local school staff so well. 

Remember, your local school is not only a mirror of your local children but also local adults who work there. The 80/80/80 applies to communities, too, but the media focuses relentlessly on the 10% of extreme issues on the left and the right. They dismiss sensible people who keep things running and interact without demonizing each other as part of the problem, but I do not believe Oklahomans must choose between Marxism or crony capitalism. Most Oklahomans widely agree on issues such as the preeminence of the parent, adult-ready graduates, safety and security, social engineering, equal rights and equal opportunity, public money/public rules, and local control. This summer’s articles on those topics are archived at www.mostlyeducational.com if you wish to read them. 

I am not naïve. Some of this nationwide craziness is certainly happening in Oklahoma, but most Oklahoma school districts welcome parents and community members with questions, so just talk to your superintendent, principal, or teacher if you have any doubts. Virtually everything in Oklahoma schools are open records (except student and personnel records), and most are already online, so there are too many eyes on schools to hide anything for long. Besides, in my experience, neither kids nor staff can keep secrets very well. 

School starts soon in Oklahoma, and we face some weighty issues, but I pray that communities can use their dwindling local control to run the gauntlet together, as neighbors, relatives, friends, and fellow worshippers . . . with the civility that characterizes Oklahomans. Yours is likely the typical Oklahoma community and the typical Oklahoma school, so please watch battling news outlets with a critical eye. And if you have any doubts about your local school, go to a ballgame or a school board meeting. I also bet they need substitutes, if you’re interested. 

Tom Deighan is the current Superintendent of Duncan Public Schools. He may be reached at deighantom@gmail.com

Tap-Dancing Toddlers

By
Tom Deighan
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When I recently saw a YouTube video touting a tap-dancing toddler, I was intrigued. After all, toddlers can barely toddle. Unfortunately, my hopes were cruelly dashed. The kid was awesome, but he was no toddler. A quick search confirmed my suspicion that little evidence exists of real toddlers tap-dancing. The one video I found with tiny tapping tots was painfully cute, but it also proved that they need to master walking and standing first. We might as well teach them to juggle. 

No one can be an expert until they have mastered the essentials. Nevertheless, public schools have been forcing children to tap-dance and juggle long before they are developmentally ready or have sufficient time to master the fundamentals. Over the last twenty years, teaching and learning have been gradually replaced with a cultish devotion to increasingly unrealistic standardized tests. This has all been initiated at the federal level and exacerbated at the state level with broad bi-partisan support. Consequently, Uncle Sam now dictates more of a child’s school day than parents, teachers, or principals. 

States simply made it worse by adding layers upon layer to the federal requirements. Among the dozens of educational “fixes” since 2010, I cannot identify a single curriculum reform in Oklahoma that has remained unchanged for more than two years. We are not only asking our children to hunt bumblebees with bows and arrows, but they are also expected to tap dance while they are doing it — blindfolded. Even if teaching to the test worked, we would need consistency and reliability to play the game. 

Unfortunately, when a teacher knows that third graders have not yet mastered basic multiplication, they are compelled to move on to Algebra. I would love all my third graders to do Algebra (and many can), but my fourth-grade teachers really need them to multiply first, so they can master division. Just ask middle and high school teachers what they must reteach as a result. State and federal mandates force teachers to cover so much stuff that they can no longer teach the essentials to mastery. 

After 20 years of this federal culture and after over a decade of insanity in Oklahoma’s curriculum,  teachers have been reduced to implementers and children to bubblers. Education has become a conveyor belt driven by far-away bureaucratic and corporate agendas. According to such results, one may propose that Oklahoma’s children cannot learn, but that is preposterous. No, we are told that Oklahoma teachers cannot teach, so we need to add more regulation, more rigor, more mandates, and to speed up the conveyor belt. 

Not only are Oklahoma public school children capable of learning – regardless of their background – Oklahoma teachers are more than capable of teaching. Both, however, must be afforded the freedom and time to master the right things. Good coaches know that they need kids who can dribble and shoot lay-ups before teaching fade-away jump shots. Teachers and parents likewise understand that children must master certain essential skills before we expect them to juggle chainsaws and tap dance like Gregory Hines. I am a career public educator, and I have dutifully tried to follow the standardized script, but I can no longer pretend it’s reliable or valid enough to do so.  

Yes, we must still take these tests, just as we must pay taxes, but we must also recognize them primarily as political tools. They reveal little about a child’s college or career readiness or a teacher’s ability to teach. At best, they should be isolated events in the spring, so we can focus mainly on graduating students ready for the real world. Our teachers and children deserve the freedom, time, and support to master those essential grade skills that truly prepare them for college and career success. Our kids can learn and our teachers can teach, but we need to have the courage to trust them more than bureaucrats and corporations. If we do this, I believe we will have more kids tap-dancing and juggling than ever before, not because they have chased the standardized bumblebee but because they first learned to master walking and throwing and running and catching. And if you get time, search YouTube for tap-dancing toddlers to see some really cute stuff.  

Oklahoma Schools Cannot Manage a Pandemic

By
Tom Deighan
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When state or federal entities create impossible situations due to unfunded mandates, unpredictability, or conflicting laws, public schools have always managed to figure things out. Inevitably, the central-planned solutions become politically impossible messes that school boards, parents, and educators are expected to unravel. As we have seen since this pandemic started, local control is a very convenient scapegoat when one-size-fits-all solutions hurt more than they help, but we may have finally tied ourselves up in a knot that local schools cannot untangle.

Beginning with the state-wide closures in the spring of 2019 and continuing through the 2020-21 school year, school districts were expected to either carry heavier and heavier loads managing COVID or just give up and close. We figured them out, however, navigating state and federal contradictions at the local level. Districts like Duncan swam upstream to keep schools open despite quarantining 2,500 students and staff. We made tough decisions locally to keep our schools open, despite our hands being tied. 

Last year, schools like Duncan assisted in duly authorized quarantining, contact tracing, isolation orders, and close contact notifications based on very explicit communications that schools must follow these orders.  We were either directly notified or confirmed regarding every COVID case in our schools. Then, under the direction of duly authorized experts, we provided information to assist in their final determinations.  Public school staff did most of the legwork and delivered most of the orders, but we never acted unilaterally, for we do not have the expertise or authority to do any of those things. We truly appreciated the partnership with local health authorities as we worked together to keep schools open safely. It was exhausting, but at the end of the year, we felt like we fought the good fight together.

But this year, schools are being “expected” to issue quarantining, contact tracing, and isolation orders unilaterally, based solely on personal, self-reported, and unverifiable health information. We are no longer officially notified of confirmed COVID-positive people in our buildings. Authorities no longer identify specific individuals or groups for quarantine, contact tracing, or isolation. They no longer prescribe the terms or duration of those quarantines. This year, schools have been told that we are on our own. Schools are now expected to do those things that have traditionally been beyond our authority, and we understand that we may lose funding if we do not. So, which laws do we break? 

If schools follow current recommendations, we will be violating SB658, but this is not about masks anymore. We are expected to quarantine, which requires our knowing a person’s vaccination status, but SB658 apparently forbids our requiring documentation that an individual has been vaccinated against COVID-19. Expecting schools to act as public health experts during a pandemic seems to contradict existing laws and virtually everything we have been told since this pandemic started. In the past, schools have always wriggled free enough to find a solution when asked to, but for me the answer is finally “No.”  

No, my schools should not be compelled to violate any provisions of SB658, for it is the law. And, no, educators should not be asked to act as public or private healthcare authorities during a pandemic. These are impossible choices that schools should not be forced to make. Schools can legally send sick people home and close to protect our staff and students, but educators cannot manage a pandemic. If things have changed, we need clarity and certainty before moving forward.  

No one knew if COVID would return the way it has, and no one wanted it, but we all knew that SB658 would create impossible choices if COVID did surge again. That impossible choice was not created by parents, educators, or children, but once again, they are expected to unravel this impossible problem. This time, I respectfully say, no. Schools cannot carry this burden. 

Tom Deighan is currently the superintendent of Duncan Public Schools. He may be reached at deighantom@gmail.com  You may read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

Open Schools Versus Preemptive Closures

By
Tom Deighan
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0

January 7, 2022 by Tom Deighan

Once again , schools across our nation are preemptively closing due to COVID-19.  Yes, closing is always an option for Duncan Public Schools, but we will stay open as long as we can safely do so. We will continue to face this pandemic as we have from the beginning. If we close a single site or the entire district, we will close for a defined period due to actual conditions. Our children need the structure, safety, and normalcy of open schools. We have faced this threat before, and we will face it again, together.  

Hundreds of schools in our nation preemptively extended their Christmas Breaks, and who can blame them? We are in our third school year with COVID, and national educational leaders still exert intense pressure on schools to close, terrifying parents and staff.  Due to endless media reports of school closings, I suspect much of our nation is unaware that schools have been open safely since the beginning of this pandemic.  No wonder parents and educators across this nation are still terrified to fully commit to in-person, full-time instruction in the age of COVID.

We know that schools have been open from the beginning – not just during the current 2021-22 school year but last year (2020-21) – and yes, even during the spring of 2020! Wyoming and Montana reportedly did not preemptively close schools, even as the majority of other states preemptively closed (including Oklahoma.)  Yet, by the summer of 2020, we had solid research from Europe suggesting that schools could be safely open, and it was correct. Why don’t we hear about more research and the thousands of schools that have been open safely during all of this?  Why don’t we reassure these parents, educators, and students with the evidence available at this time?

We now have literally thousands of models available to reassure fearful parents and educators that full-time, in-person instruction is not only safe but also prevents the negative social, psychological, and academic impacts of long term, preemptive closures. I suspect that parents and educators may be unaware of how many schools have offered full-time, in-person instruction. Even if they are in an open school, I suspect they believe open schools are the exception – not the rule 

Rather than focus on the current slate of closures, perhaps we should reframe our national discussion as we prepare for the 2022-23 school year.  If we can somehow raise awareness of open schools (or just acknowledge them) – we may not have to constantly struggle against the pressure to preemptively close schools. Where are the studies, the examples, the research, and the data about all these schools that have stayed open? Why aren’t national leaders helping parents and educators welcome their students back with confidence?  Where is the proof that preemptive closures have worked? 

The fear and reality of COVID-19 is real.  It terrifies me every day at some level as a superintendent, and closure of our sites or entire district for the safety of our students and staff is always an option.  As we prepare for the 2022-23 school year, however, this is the time to settle the issue of full-time, in-person learning versus preemptive closures. 

No school is a model for how to manage COVID, especially not Duncan Public schools, but national experts can surely knit together some best practices from the thousands of schools who have stayed open during this nightmare. Districts who have been open feel alone, and districts who are closing preemptively feel alone. That is not necessary as we face our fourth school year with COVID.  May God protect our schools, children, and staff once again as we enter another fearful time, but may we also face any challenges with confidence, experience and wisdom . . . for that is how we want our students to face the world.

Tom Deighan is superintendent of Duncan Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

Your Local Christmas Graduate Factory

By
Tom Deighan
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0

This time of year, I am struck by the sheer volume of Christmas gadgets that appear on the shelves, and I am fascinated how Santa’s Workshop can produce all that stuff. I have always thought of schools as factories, too, but instead of gadgets, we make graduates, and during my career, I have congratulated literally thousands as they exited our assembly line. Some were destined for college, some for work, and some had no plan whatsoever, but this is often the time of year when many realize that graduation is just a semester away, and many of them wonder if they are ready to exit the assembly line. 

I don’t know much about factories, but I once toured a tire plant. To a layperson like me, a tire is a tire is a tire, but the tires they produce are myriad. All tires are road-ready, but high-performance tires must be supple enough to provide excellent traction yet tough enough to survive corners at high speeds. Tractor tires carry weights that would crush normal tires, and everyday car tires fall somewhere in between. The same factory creates all these tires with absolute fidelity and zero waste. I bet Christmas gadgets are less complicated to make.

Unfortunately, making graduates is not so predictable. Factories can produce perfect products, but nothing enters them that might alter the final outcome. Public Schools, however, Welcome All, Serve All, and Love All who walk through their doors. We may manufacture graduates, but we do not exclude anyone from our assembly line. Our students may live in mansions or be homeless. They may have genius IQs, or they may have a severe intellectual disability. They may be star athletes, or they may be quadriplegics. Nevertheless, public schools face the highest expectations to produce perfect, road ready tires with virtually no waste. Every parent wants their child to graduate as ready as possible for the world ahead, and the ramifications are eternal. 

To a lay person, a student is a student is a student, but students are not easy to classify and much more complex to manufacture than tires or gadgets. Critics of public education often point to the imperfect product exiting our assembly line, but they rarely acknowledge the enormous challenge of advancing all children, regardless of status or ability, toward graduation. When a tire exits a factory it can never be anything but the tire that “graduated”. Our students, on the other hand, may graduate as a tractor tire or a replacement donut, but they have the freedom and potential to transform themselves into a Formula One racing tire. Many other countries predetermine how they will exit the school assembly line. Americans, however, know that the students that we manufacture get to pick whichever road they choose and to go as fast as they wish. It’s the American Dream, and it is why public educators do what they do. 

Christmas might be on our minds right now, but our seniors are worrying about things like FASFA’s, finding jobs, and completing their classes on time. They may not show it, but they care deeply. Some are on track to be high-performance, and others don’t know what type of gadget they will be, but please reassure them few of us were ready at this point in our lives, but somehow, we managed to exit the factory road-ready, and few of us are now what we planned to become. If you have a senior in high school this Christmas season, you know it’s not about the Christmas gadgets, and so do they. Fill their stockings with more love than stuff this year, and let them know how you felt back in the day. Somehow, we made it, and so will they, no matter how ready they feel to exit this graduate factory in the months ahead. And if you have no children in school, say a prayer of thanks for your local graduate factories, for they are producing your future neighbors. They are even more amazing than Santa’s Workshop.

Tom Deighan is superintendent of Duncan Public Schools. You may email him at  deighantom@gmail.com and read past articles at www.mostlyeducational.com

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