In Gratitude

On Tuesday, March 23, fifteen people gathered virtually to discuss the Reigniting Education Plan in the St. Johnsbury School District. Of the fifteen, six were community members who volunteered to help us do this work. I want to first marvel in and be grateful that one-third of this group were people who don't regularly work in our District. These individuals chose to take time from their own professional commitments to work through what education can look like as we emerge from this pandemic. 

We had a template and a timeline from the Agency of Education, and with the thoughtful planning of Jodie Elliott, our Director of Learning Design, we had sketched out an outline of how our day would go. We were using the "Five Whys" protocol to help get at the root cause of several sets of data around student well-being, social-emotional health, and student engagement. Not only is it difficult work to do virtually, the timeline for creating this plan feels rushed as well. All that led to one of our community members sharing in the latter part of the morning, "It feels like we are trying to put a square peg into a round hole." 

As a result of that, the Leadership Team gathered briefly during our lunch break and decided to make a change for the afternoon session. We scrapped the protocols and allowed the groups to chart whatever path they felt was best to move forward. The conversations and discussions were richer, had more depth, and sounded more productive. Groups could return from their break-out rooms with more thoughtful contributions for all of us to consider, there was more passion for the work, and even virtually, the change was palpable. 

We will still meet the deadlines set forth by the AOE, and our plan will still meet the criteria required of us. And, I offer that it will be an even better plan than envisioned by our state partners because of the humility my Leadership Team showed on that Tuesday in March. It will be an even better plan because of the feedback our community partners gave us during the day. I'm so proud of how we heard our community members' concerns and changed course, mid-stream, to improve the work we were doing together and ensure that we were valuing the opinions these six individuals shared with us. 

So I offer sincere and humble thanks to: 

Mark Avery
Ilene Dickinson
Joy Ely
Suzanne Legare Belcher
Peter VanStraten
Kari White

You not only gave us the gift of your time, but you also helped us take the first steps to make a better plan for our students and their families as we start to think about what this next year of education has the potential to look like. Thank you for thinking with us. Thank you for sharing feedback with us. Thank you for dreaming with us. 

We are better together. 

Photo Courtesy of blog.adobe.com

Out of Sight

When I was younger, I was fascinated by street cleaners. These large, uniquely shaped orange vehicles would go up and down our street every Friday. They would slowly proceed in front of my house, with their spinning brushes and a driver leaning out the right side of the vehicle to make our streets look a little better. I could not get enough of them!

With a fire hydrant in front of our next-door neighbor's home, one of the other things I observed was the street cleaners letting out the dirty water at the sewer, hooking up to the fire hydrant, and taking on fresh, clean water. As a five-year-old boy, this really was appointment viewing. I knew the street cleaners would come every Friday, like clockwork. 

When I started going to school regularly, obviously, I didn't get to see them as often. I also remember asking my parents (at too old of an age) what the street cleaners did the other days of the week when they weren't on our block. Of course, I was told they were working in other parts of the city where I grew up. But for that five-year-old boy, with his face pressed against the window, it was out of sight, out of mind. 

Our country suffered, once again, from another horrible violent incident targeted at people because of their race. A gunman shot nine people and killed eight in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16. This is another shameful example of white supremacy. There has been a surge of anti-Asian American discrimination and violence in the past year. The New York Times reports that a Pew Research Study from June of 2020 that surveyed nearly 10,000 Americans found about three in ten Asian-Americans reported they had been subjected to slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. That number is higher than any of the other groups surveyed. 

Perhaps you think that this is not a problem in Vermont. According to the US Census, the percentage of Asian Americans in Vermont is 1.9%. Perhaps you think that number means it is not a big problem in in our state. I offer to you this tweet from one of my former graduate students, now an Assistant Professor of Education at St. Michael's College, and founder of Seed the Way LLC: 

The recent violence in Atlanta, the research from Pew, and this tweet from Dr. Haslam demonstrate that racism and sexism expose women to violence and discrimination. And that is happening right here in Vermont. Do not dismiss it because it is just one tweet. No one, I repeat, no one should have to feel invisible, be fearful, and instinctively hide who they are when they leave the house. 

In case you doubt Dr. Haslam's fear, a University of Michigan researcher, Dr. Melissa May Borja, when analyzing more than 4,600 news articles, found that last year alone, women of Asian descent were "screamed at, shoved, coughed on or spit at, shunned, assaulted, and subject to other forms of harassment or discrimination that coupled hateful remarks with sexist, misogynistic language." No one, I repeat, no one should be subject to this kind of treatment, ever. Not once. 

I am a forty-six-year-old white man, with my face pressed against the window of our world, struggling to find a way to stand with our Asian American brothers and especially, sisters. Our neighbors. Our colleagues. 

I denounce this continued white supremacy. I continue to work for the eradication of systemic racism. I am an ally. 

I see you. 

Photo Courtesy of www.huffingtonpost.com

P.S. Dr. Haslam posted this tweet in the days following the one earlier from this blog post: 

All is Not Lost

There is a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. In Vermont, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine's arrival means there's enough supply to vaccinate faculty and staff in our school. While I was not thrilled to lose an hour of sleep this weekend, the longer days mean more daylight and warmer weather are both on the horizon. This is bringing some much-needed relief to the human beings that are serving in education. 

Despite this good news, there has been something nagging in the back of my mind, and I've struggled to articulate it clearly over the past week or so. The way people are talking about this next phase of education in our nation and in Vermont is not sitting well with me. The word recovery is not appropriate for what we are about to do next. 

On a zoom call recently with my colleague superintendents in the Northeast Kingdom, one of them pointed out that Alcoholics Anonymous has a specific definition for recovery: 

In AA, we agree there is no cure for alcoholism... Some members describe themselves as "recovered" in the sense that they have got over the main problems drinking had on them. Some members prefer to describe themselves as recovering alcoholics to emphasize that getting well is an ongoing process which is never fully complete. 

Glossary of Terms Used in AA
www.aa.org/au

Now, I fully recognize two things: 1. We are not dealing with alcoholics, and 2. There is a tremendous amount of work ahead of us in education. That said, how we talk about it matters, and it matters a great deal. 

So for starters, we are calling our next phase in St. Johnsbury, Reigniting Education. This idea came from our Director of Learning Design, Jodie Elliott, and it captures more accurately what we are aiming to do in the next few years. I refuse to begin any work from a deficit mindset, and this is no exception. Our students and their families deserve nothing less than starting from the strengths of this past year. Even if there are none. 

As we go forward in St. Johnsbury, our Reigniting Education Team will read two articles to frame our work. The first is by Yong Zhao, Ph.D. called "Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap," and the second is by Max Silverman, "Want to Tackle Learning Loss? First Listen to Your Students". We will not presume anything about our students' experience over the past year except one thing: they've lived through a global health pandemic. 

Looking back, I've sent numerous surveys to our families, and plenty have reported there are benefits to remote learning that they'd never considered. In social media posts, responses to the articles above have generated a high number of positive comments as well. Vermont's own Jess Lahey had a piece in the Sunday Boston Globe entitled "4 ways families can find silver linings from this terrible pandemic year." The very question that Ms. Lahey posed on Twitter inspired my own blog post about opportunities that we've capitalized on as a family. 

So, yes, there is plenty of work ahead. And, yes, our students have not had the year any of us had planned. But we will take on the next steps in the same way we have always approached education in St. Johnsbury: by meeting every student where she or he is. 

We will not presume anything about this year. We will only welcome our students back with open arms, delighted to have them learning with us again. 

Photo courtesy of Pintrest

I Can't Say No

This week in my inbox, I received a message telling me I was selected to participate in a public education survey. The survey was being conducted by a doctoral student as part of collecting data for a dissertation. I was promised in the e-mail that it would take no more than ten minutes. I hovered my cursor over the delete button for a moment. Ultimately though, I clicked on the survey and completed it. 

I can't say no to people who ask me to fill out online surveys, at least those that commit to pursuing further educational research. I sometimes don't want to. Sometimes, I'm really annoyed by them. And still, I almost always say yes. You see, I was once in their shoes. 

As a part of my own dissertation, I sent out surveys to a group of public school principals to complete, answering my research question. Since this was more than ten years ago, they went via snail mail, with questions on physical paper and a pre-stamped return envelope. I sent two batches and then waited by the PO box that I rented for them to come back to me. I waited. I don't remember now, but a particular number needed to come back to me for my project to continue. 

I waited. I checked the PO box often, perhaps too often. The future of my research was dependent on the kindness of others. The future of my research depended on others taking the time to care about my work. The future of my research was out of my hands. And that was terrifying. 

One day I went to the PO box, and I had one! My first! I tore open the envelope and recorded the data. Then another, and another. After what seemed like an interminable wait, I was getting results. I had the minimum number of surveys necessary. And the envelopes still kept coming in. I had more than enough. My research would move forward, and I could complete my dissertation. 

That's why I can't say no. I know exactly how it feels to be that vulnerable. I know exactly how it feels to have your work in someone else's hands. I know exactly what it's like to wait for results to come back to you. 

I owe a debt of gratitude to all those anonymous people who filled out a survey from a man they'd never heard of. Those kind people took time out of their day, and as public school principals, those minutes are precious. They gave those minutes to me to contribute to work that was important to someone else. My research could not have been completed without them, and had I not received enough surveys I would be back to square one. Instead, this May, I will celebrate my tenth anniversary graduating from Loyola University Chicago with a Doctorate in Education. 

So that's why I can't say no when someone asks me to contribute to their work. And for the readers of this blog, the next time you get an invitation in your e-mail to participate in a survey that will benefit someone else's work, please give it a little more consideration. There is a real person on the other end who is hoping beyond hope that you will give them a little of your time. Yes, it is typically a complete stranger that you've never met and may never meet. But their work is no less important than yours. Who knows, your response could meet the minimum requirement for them to move forward. 

We stand on the shoulders of others when we do research. We need others to complete our research. We are once again dependent on other people in our world to make our world go round. 

Photo courtesy of www.psychicsisters.co.uk

What Do You Need?

For two and a half days in February, I participated in the American Association of School Administrators National Conference on Education, virtually, of course. While we were scheduled to be in New Orleans, the pandemic had other plans for us. While it was certainly not the same as being in person, it was still a wonderful learning experience for me. I was humbled to be invited to participate in a panel discussion with superintendents around issues of equity and inclusion. 

Yet, the highlight for me was the keynote presentation by George Couros (@gcouros). I have had a Twitter crush on George since I started following him years ago. As one of my former colleagues pointed out, Twitter is where you can connect with people based on the merit of the ideas. Needless to say, I love George's ideas. 

One of the points he made during his remarks was this: 

And so, with all sincerity, I ask the employees of the St. Johnsbury School District, what do you need? I can't promise that I can deliver, but I desperately want to know. In addition, I commit to ask this question more regularly as we go forward together. 

My ask of the employees in our district is that you, in turn, as our students and those you serve with, what they need. In the same spirit that I cannot promise that I can follow through with every response I receive, I ask that you bring that same honesty when you ask that question. Please also commit to asking this question regularly, not just during a pandemic. 

So please, let me know what you need. Call me, e-mail me, tweet at me, come and find me in an appropriately physically distant way. If you're not comfortable letting me know who you are, here is a link to a Google Form, just for St. Johnsbury employees that is fully anonymous. I'll leave this open for a week, review the results, and share how I see us moving forward. Please do the same for your students and those with who you do your work within our district. 

Often people ask me what I get out of going to conferences. Since the emphasis in my work has always been relationships, I usually point to that. In this case, though, I have a new way to connect with the people I serve with, and hopefully, find a way to serve them better. 

And none of it happened in person. 

Photo courtesy of www.matttenney.com