By Rob Van Herk
Gilroy High teacher Wayne Scott and dispatch columnist Tom
Mulhern both know about the real world out there. Our schools, the
more than 900 teachers, custodians, principals, and others are not
part of the real world according to both writers.
By Rob Van Herk
Gilroy High teacher Wayne Scott and dispatch columnist Tom Mulhern both know about the real world out there. Our schools, the more than 900 teachers, custodians, principals, and others are not part of the real world according to both writers. They try to convince us that, like in the real world, we should just fire the teachers and administrators if the results are not as expected. Or, that in the real world raising salaries in Gilroy would solve all the problems we have in our schools.
I have news for both: the real world is a little bit more complicated.
Tom Mulhern wrote recently: “Fire the teachers and administrators who failed us and get someone who can do the job right.”
Wayne Scott responded: “The part of the real world that Mr. Mulhern conveniently left out of the equation is what businesses do when they can’t get qualified candidates to apply for a job. After they try several different methods of recruiting, they raise salaries until they get the quality of candidate that they want.”
Mr. Mulhern’s real world solution is to fire the responsible people. So, who is responsible for a 9th grade student reading at a 6th grade level? This student has seen at least 12 teachers since kindergarten and several principals. Even if we could identify the people who are responsible for this student’s lack of progress, what tells us that a replacement will do any better?
Wayne’s solution – add more money to the system in the form of increasing teacher salaries – is just as simplistic.
I’ve worked in private industry for most of my life and none of the companies I worked for ever decided to raise salaries across the organization when the company wasn’t successful. Additional money would mean a great deal to teachers – and I’m not saying that they don’t deserve better pay – but I don’t know of any teacher who will get better results if everybody gets $2,000 more each year.
Instead of adding a stipend for all teachers, what if we pay a bonus for exceptional results?
I don’t know of many school districts with 95 percent of the children scoring on grade level or above. Throughout the state pockets of excellence do exist though. A little more than 300 elementary schools were recognized by the state as a Distinguished School. Did these 300 schools fire their employees in the years before? Or did they raise the salaries of their teachers? I doubt either. My guess would be that these schools and teachers looked at their students, analyzed the test results, looked at best practices, worked together as a team and were not afraid to acknowledge the things that didn’t work and adjust their lesson plans accordingly. These teachers challenge their students and themselves every day.
A few months ago, I visited a very successful school in Virginia. Many classrooms had flyers posted next to the door. The flyer mentioned that 100 percent of the students had at least one parent who was a member of the PTA, the school’s parent/teacher organization. That level of participation required a lot of work from teachers, administrators and parents. I’m sure that all of us realize the impact this will have on student learning.
Educating children requires a lot from all of us. Improving education is not as simple as firing people or raising salaries. Our children have the right to expect more from us than a one-dimensional solution.
Finally, a note on the GATE program. In response to requests from parents, the district decided to re-test all students who were referred to the GATE program and did not make the cut based on the original tests in the spring. More than 150 parents received a letter inviting them to have their child re-tested using a different test method. Not all parents have responded to the letter yet and the deadline for the re-test is today. I would urge parents to take this opportunity and have their child take the test.
Rob van Herk, his wife Karin and their three children have been living in Gilroy for three years. He is the technology manager for Gilroy Unified. You can reach him at ro*@*****rk.com. His column is published each Monday.
