June 8th
The first week of "no school" starts at 6:00 a.m. I am writing a letter to be distributed to all the personnel in the district in which I work. The purpose of the letter is to obtain feedback concerning our state’s School Report Card. This project I began well before being named a finalist for the state Teacher of the Year and was in its formative stages when I had the good fortune to be selected for such an honor. I never expected to have to be juggling the responsibilities of SC TOY and this project. At times I still think I am dreaming, expecting to be suddenly awaken from my slumber to jump-start my old green pickup truck after adding a ½ quart of oil. My ‘84 Ford Ranger has been reliable and is still around which says a lot about my old truck. Now, the ugly green color…that was my wife’s choice for which I have paid the price many times over, but that is another story for another day. Ever the optimist I do believe that if I keep adding ½ quart of oil every 500 miles that it must be the same as having your oil changed every 5,000 miles. I’m just cutting out the middleman.
The school report card in its current format is difficult to understand for most parents and does not accurately report to them how their school is doing with the job of educating their child. The school report card needs to be informative to parents and accurately portray how well (or poorly) the school is performing. So we are asking for two pieces of feedback from every educator and stakeholder: 1. What is one critique regarding the current report card issued to schools/districts? 2. What is one solution? (What is something that should be on the report card and/or what is a better way to gauge what is going on in schools?) Too often in education we have complaints and grumbling about problems, but no solutions are put forth. Anyone can find fault but teacher leaders find answers.
So I ask Elaine, the Public Information Director, to disseminate the letter to our district personnel. Noting the early a.m. time stamp on the email Elaine replies concerning my early bird habits. Which makes one wonder… if the early bird gets the worm, then the worm that sleeps in late lives another day. So who’s smart now? Then again it gets to crawl in the rotting fetid compost longer, a lose – lose proposition.
After answering emails the yearly tug-of-war begins. Children trying to sleep late and do little or nothing versus parents wanting them not to sleep all day and do a few things. This calls for a conference of those involved. So we convene the first yearly summer-has-started meeting to discuss summer expectations. We use an Electoral College process in our house as needed. Every state gets a vote: Parents are California and children are North Dakota. We do encourage discourse and we can be swayed but when it comes to the final decision we go to the Electoral College system. The children accept this fact begrudgingly because the other choices are benevolent dictatorship or malevolent dictatorship. They have experienced all of these forms of household government at times. They are reminded that the malevolent dictatorship is usually a result of aggravating one of the benevolent dictators.
As I finish my morning schoolwork we get ready for our yearly termite inspection and bug spraying. The exterminator is spraying to the melodic tunes of my youngest daughter on the piano and my eldest daughter on the violin. This is the first time I remember him wearing ear protection while spraying. A new OSHA law… or is there another connection? Inquiring minds want to know.
I am on the road to Greenville for a speech at a rally. The purpose of the rally is put the focus of the legislature and Governor back on to public education and job creation. We have expended far too much energy and political capital on the stimulus funds battle and far too little on supporting public education and bringing industry to South Carolina. Industry leaders and Chambers of Commerce across this state know that education is vital to economic growth. Education is the fuel that makes the economic engine run. We should be proud of the great strides we are making in our educational systems. We continue to make educational gains and our state’s educational standards and its accountability system are one of the most rigorous in the country. There are challenges facing education and we must continue to take steps to address them. But that is where true leadership takes place. That is why we need to encourage our leaders in government, in school administration, and we need to take a leadership role as teachers ourselves. If we as teachers leave a void in educational leadership, be assured it will be filled. It is up to each of us to make sure we fill the empty space with our knowledge, zeal, and understanding of the educational system. Our students deserve it and our future success requires it.
Giving the speech was a learning experience for me. It was a hot day and I was wearing a suit as I stepped to the podium. (Mistake #1) I place my notes down and look up to see a giant red sun staring back at me. (Mistake #2) So I look at my notes, now blinded by the sun I see a piece of paper with a giant blurry spot in the middle. Plan B, oops I have not Plan B, I did not memorize the speech. (Mistake #3) Luckily I did remember what I wrote, so I proceed seeing the beginning and end of each sentence and filling in the middle from memory. Afterward I am glad for extra strength underarm deodorant although I am now looking for a sweat proof formula. As the rally concludes I have a few interviews with TV stations and a newspaper. In the classroom I am spontaneous and love to laugh. In this instance, I have to fight my natural tendency to use humor to make a point. Sound bites and editing can turn around and bite you in the rear. Also, the official "Bryan Coburn apologizes for the following comment form" has not been created at this juncture. I am sure at some point I will have to be treated for athlete’s mouth.
I drive home and spend the evening with family. My youngest child has asked that she be able to read to me for thirty minutes each night before she goes to bed this summer. I know this time will pass as it has for my oldest daughter. She prefers to be left alone and chooses to read and do pursuits on her own for the most part. So I will cherish these fleeting moments knowing they will be memories longer than their actual existence.