By Joan Lee Husted
Our schools nationwide are in a whole lot of trouble. From low test scores, book banning, teacher and other school staff shortages, hot schools and soon to be cold schools, etc. The list is endless. Fortunately, most of these problems have not yet arrived on Hawaii’s shores though undoubtedly some of them will, so we should be prepared.
What we currently face are staff shortages, low test scores and hot schools. Hopefully, the new governor will continue David Ige’s commitment to install air conditioning in our schools. It never made any sense to me that decision makers were sitting in their air-conditioned offices deciding that air conditioning is not necessary in our students’ classrooms. I would challenge all government offices to turn off their air conditioning when schools are in session. I bet they will change their minds about not air-conditioning schools.
Now what are we going to do to end staff shortages? The one thing that we are not going to do is lower our standards. It is going to take more than pay raises to keep teachers in the classroom and education aides collaborating with them. We know that pay is important but it is not the only thing. Let us look at some of the other issues that impact the shortages.
Workload and teacher control are at the top of my list. Better paid teachers with an unmanageable workload will only frustrate them. I never met a teacher who was happy because they could not reach every student. Having thirty-five students or more in a classroom multiplied by six periods can drive them nuts. What also drives teachers nuts is the lack of control they have over their classrooms and workloads.
Teachers complain that their teaching is often criticized by superiors who have no knowledge of the subject. My favorite story involves a kindergarten teacher who was scolded by her supervisor because her students were not sitting quietly in their chairs all day. He taught high school social studies when he was in the classroom. Teachers appreciate administrators who keep the school running smoothy. They appreciate administrators who allow them to use their knowledge and skills in their classrooms. They also appreciate administrators who are willing to help when a teacher needs it without being judgmental. Why is it that we entrust the minds of our most valued assets, our children to teachers, but we do not think it is important to trust teachers to use their skills appropriately and to be willing to ask for help, when necessary, without fear of being judged a bad teacher.
What really must happen is to empower teachers to run the school, their classrooms, their offices, or their libraries under the guidance of a confident administrator. What is empowerment anyway? You hear the term all the time. It is authorizing faculty members to make the necessary decisions to do their jobs. With it comes the responsibility for the decision.
All public schools should have Association Policy Committees (APC) which were not intended to be grievance committees, but teacher decision committees. Now is the time to revive them as policy committees. I am not familiar with what is available in the private schools, but certainly private school educators are entitled to be empowered as well.
To get started the APC should meet with the faculty and begin the planning. There will be some naysayers who will not want to take the responsibility that empowerment requires. There will be others who will hesitate because they will wonder whether it just adds to their already heavy workload. But the bottom line is that I believe most professionals want control of their professional lives.
It is going to take money, lots of it but there is no other choice. If we want every student to succeed to the level they are capable of, if we want to end the shortage of teachers and EAs, if we want professionals to feel empowered and respected – it is up to us to decide. The community has decided that football is important and transit is important. Let us convince them that our students are important.
