Archive for the 'Blog' Category

Campaigning to Abolish School Boards

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on October 24, 2008
in Blog
. 0 Comments

 

(Below are my background notes for the 2 minute presentation taped for local TV.  I don’t know how the final will look or sound.  Air time (Cable 4) for West Vancouver candidates are:  Sat Nov 1, 8-9:00 am & Sun Nov 9, 6:30-7:30pm. I’m running for School Board in West Vancouver, Canada, Nov 15/08.)

The last time I ran for School Board Trustee in West Vancouver was in 1975 and I ran then as a parent of 2 young students in the school system.  I wanted to make things better for them and others in West Van schools.  I did not get elected.

Now I’m running as a grandmother, 33 years later, and in all that time I do not see things having improved….responsiveness to student needs, relationships with parents don’t seem to have improved…parents are still frustrated and families are still not meaningfully involved in governing their schools or successful in pushing for achievement goals.  In fact, things are worse, more complex, more entangled than ever…..

I’m running not for power or to sit for 3 years at symbolic school board meetings.

I’m running in order to have conversations on issues with people during this election period.

The main issue I present is that of the relevancy of the school board system itself.  I see the school board as an unnecessary 4th level of government.  Why do we cling to the large central control institution of school boards when we have the successful model of independent schools where parents govern their own schools?  Or we can try the charter school model where teachers and parents govern an autonomous school.

If school boards were abolished we would achieve enormous cost savings, perhaps to the amount of $1,000 - $2,000 extra per child which could either go to all students or dedicated to serving special needs.

Other issues are community education.  Should school boards, for example, run Yoga and quilting courses? No.

Should school boards recruit and educate international students — for profit?  No, that is not their mandate.  Leave that to the private sector.

Other issues I want to discuss with people are vouchers and tuition tax credits.  What about the idea, in the name of transparency, of having the board post online their cheque registry of ALL expenditures?

Basically, my belief is that the best decision-making is that done closest to the individual and in the case of education, closest to home.  That means having the family as closely involved in choices and decisions in education as possible. 

The best model for school governance is local autonomy, therefore we don’t need school boards.  Phone me or visit my website:  http://abolish-school-boards.org

 

School Boards are Obsolete

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on October 1, 2008
in Abolish School Boards and Blog
. 2 Comments

Continuing my listing of 101 Reasons to Abolish School Boards (See:  http://abolish-school-boards.org)

5.  School Boards are Obsolete

      ‘These institutions served their purpose well in the past. But it is clear that the larger and more bureaucratic they become, the less they are able to fulfill the basic goal of providing a high-quality education. They tend to be dominated by educational elites who serve other goals. Elections have turned into pro forma exercises that mock the purpose of democratic control. School boards also seem incapable of guaranteeing high academic standards. They are now failing to provide children, their parents or taxpayers with enough value to justify their existence.’ 

Recommendation #1 of “Are School Boards Obsolete: Low voter turn out, rising costs, time to move on…?” by Dennis Owens for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Oct 01/1999)
 

“Handling” Parents

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on September 11, 2008
in Blog
. 0 Comments

New Trustees Seminar - 1986, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The BCSTA (BC School Trustee Association) REPORT 1986-01-10

New Trustees Seminar

Empathize, Don’t Antagonize

"……irate parent Mrs. Trueguard flounced onstage quivering with ostrich feathers and indignation about her son’s missing biology credit…..".  The story further described the "training" exercises the new trustees experienced while  receiving "some cool-headed, diplomatic and effective problem-solving."

I chanced upon this article in 1986 as a young parent and was insulted then, and continue to be offended to this day.

But, this example does answer some of my questions: How do well-intentioned new trustees so quickly become establishment types rather than champions of parents and students. Why do some say, "We have to protect the system from parents."

How would you, if a parent, like to be caricatured in such a manner, the National Enquirer in hand? Mrs. Trueguard is not a very nice looking parent nor does she appear real.  I think this demonizes parents in the eyes of trustee trainees. Aren’t any trustees parents anymore?

It’s ridiculously inappropriate and if I was elected school trustee  I would carefully monitor how new trustees are "trained".

Perhaps some current trustees might let us know, or are they sworn to secrecy about their "training", "conversion"?

School Board Concerns Ignored by Ministry of Education

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on August 25, 2008
in Abolish School Boards and Blog
. 0 Comments

WV parents scoff at ‘farcical’ reading test –  Questions ‘Mickey Mouse’

North Shore News, Feb. 01, 1981 By Susan Cardinal

Angry parents and teachers attended a meeting of the West Vancouver School Board Monday to protest a provincially administered reading test they call “ridiculous and silly.”

Although West Vancouver students in Grades 4, 8 and 12 scored well in the provincial test, one woman charged that the tests themselves were “farcical” and “Mickey Mouse.”

“It’s a phony test. It makes them (the students) look good,” said Tunya Audain, a parent on the panel assigned to review the results of the Grade 8 test.

“I’d really like to underline my feelings of dismay that the test itself is ‘inadequate’ and ‘flawed’,

“It makes me question the quality of education itself, if that’s the means by which it’s tested,” she said.

The provincial assessment was conducted under the Ministry of Education in 1980 to test the reading skills and comprehension of students.

The review process by the three parent and teacher panels began in late October. The panels were supposed to examine only the results but members studied the vehicle of testing as well.

Audain called on the school board to take a stronger approach with the ministry to publicize the inadequate assessment.

Sylvia Rayer, chairperson of the Grade 8 panel, charged that the wording of the test was ‘ambiguous’ and that several of the questions solicited such simple answers that the test didn’t measure the comprehension of the students. Other questions, said Rayer, were also so ambiguous that a bright student would become confused.

Ron Fenwick, district director for the board, said the problem with the tests is not a new one.

But he said “we’re slightly skeptical about the usefulness of taking these complaints to the Ministry of Education.”

The same recommendations to change the wording and make the test tougher were taken to the ministry in 1977, explained Fenwick, but three years later the same questions were asked despite protests by the board in 1977.

It’s extremely frustrating to deal with the province, said Fenwick, and to see the same items come up again is “particularly frustrating” he said.

Two representatives of the school board are scheduled to meet with the ministry officials, February 6, to discuss the assessment.

Board Chairman Lilian Theirsch said the board would also bring up the test deficiencies at the March meeting of the B. C. School Trustees Association.
 

Parent Volunteers Resent “Scab” Label

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on July 31, 2008
in Abolish School Boards, Blog and Parent Involvement in Schools
. 0 Comments
Jan 5/83, North Shore News, North Vancouver, BC, Canada

(Continuing to archive past education struggles to inform current struggles … )

That was the front page headline of a story by Bill Bell, the story continues …

 “Union intimidation”: is keeping parents from volunteering their services in West Vancouver’s schools, claim representatives of the Hillside Parents Group.

Co-chairpersons Tunya Audain and Suzanne Latta have told the school board that since the teaching aides were laid off last September, parents have not been allowed to volunteer in areas where they were normally welcomed….. 

Audain later told the News that her group had been sent a letter from the West Vancouver Municipal Employees Association which she said gave her a very quick ‘political lesson’ in how ‘rough’ unions can be…..Audain point out that the parents did not want to replace the teaching aides but only wanted to continue in the volunteer positions held before the aides were laid off. She told the News she resented the parents being labeled ‘scabs’ for doing volunteer tasks.

“Our first concern is the students, the union is way down the list,” Latta said….

Newly elected school board chairman, Norm Alban, refused to comment on the situation, fearing that the confrontation could escalate. 

 

Teacher Unions Can Bankrupt School Boards via Legal Challenges

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on May 31, 2008
in Abolish School Boards and Blog
. 0 Comments

Continuing to add to my online archives about school reform efforts over the last 40 years I found the following letter to the Editor from 1986.

Letter of the Day, North Shore News, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 19/86

Every School Needs its OWN Trustees

Parents have despaired for years about the lack of quality control in the public schools and the latest setback adds to this frustration.

The dismissal of a teacher held to be unsatisfactory by the West Vancouver School Board has now been reversed and is on appeal to the B.C. Supreme Court. 

Not only is the decision making around quality questions frustrating, but there are enormous costs entailed. The estimate was $70,000 for this case so far. As well, there is the veiled threat that the teaching fraternity could bankrupt school systems who try to pursue quality efforts. I’m sure the message of Pat Clarke, former leader of the B. C. Teachers’ Federation got through to parents and school boards alike when he said,

If school boards are looking for a way to spend some money, then they can try doing what West Vancouver has done. We’ll take them to court and appeal every one of these cases.” (Vancouver SUN, Feb 26, 1986)

In 1978 I recall another teacher dismissal case in West Vancouver. The hearings took 21 days and the costs were conservatively estimated at $90,000 (about $150,000 in today’s dollars.)

It must  be clear to everyone, especially in light of the added current concern about sexual abuse of students, that there must be better ways to ensure quality control in our schools.

I have maintained over the last twenty years that excluding parents from the governance of their schools would have a damaging effect on education, children and society. While I have been gratified to see more parents taking control of their children’s education via home education, nevertheless, I feel we must find ways in which the natural advocates of children – parents – can have an instrumental role in each of their own schools. This will only be done by a structural change through each school having its own board of trustees as in private schools, or providing parent with vouchers to use on the school of their choice.

Tunya Audain

 

 

Public Education on Trial

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on May 16, 2008
in Abolish School Boards, Blog, Education Malpractice and Education Reform
. 0 Comments

At the 1987 Future of Freedom Conference in California we discussed education malpractice. I was involved with pursuing the topic: Public Education on Trial.
Below are some excerpts from our brochure:
 
The world is very much as described in Orwell’s 1984.
However, on a small secret island, SANOS, live several hundred people, mostly of the libertarian persuasion. Having detected – as if in an unraveling Greek tragedy – the world’s inexorable, irreversible move to totalitarianism, these people hived-off, with few belongings, to this island. Perceiving the impossibility of resisting the inevitable, they resolve to be the “last man” – the guardians of the human spirit.

They live there quite peaceably. Only rarely, under great danger, do they make communication with the outer world, and only then to rescue some family member.
Very few in the outer world are aware of SANOS. However, an urgent appeal is received, and to the best of their ability to verify, it is a genuine appeal:
 

Help us to reverse, if possible, our self-destruction.
Have mercy on us.

We are losing the power of intellectual effort to even keep doublethink straight.

We will abide by your judgments and your controls.

The people of SANOS have convened a commission of enquiry to probe the nature of the problem and consider means for solution. The commission has narrowed-down the source of the problem to the public school systems in the outer world.

Having determined the source of the world’s self-sabotage, then the starting-point for reversal (if not too late) is this system – reform, restructure, dismantle ? ? ? The following “crimes to humanity” have been perpetrated by public school systems.

  1.   erosion of the family
  2.   dumbed-down public
  3.   killing the joy of learning
  4.   atrophy of democracy
  5.   growth of obscurantism & mystification
  6.   depletion of choice
  7.   habituation to experts
  8.   dependence on the state – the “free lunch”
  9.   economic sluggishness
  10.  reduction of individualism
  11.  destruction of voluntarism & good samaratinism
  12.  extinguishing introspection

    “School has become the planned process which tools man for a planned world, the principal tool to trap man in man’s trap. It is supposed to shape each man to an adequate level for playing a part in this world game. Inexorable we cultivate, treat, produce, and school the world out of existence." – Ivan Illich, 1971

Our panel to discuss the problem included a Judge, a Prosecutor, an Anthropologist, a Philosopher, a Psychologist, and a Family Advocate.  The responder was the Attorney to the School District.

 

DECEITS IN EDUCATION

Published
by
Tunya Audain
on January 30, 2008
in Blog, DECEITS in education and Obstacles to Reform
. 0 Comments

The education systems I follow – Canadian, American, and UK – are so ponderously top-heavy on the supply-side of education economics that they can only survive from toppling over by using complex, interlocking schemes that deliberately and successfully thwart reform efforts from the demand-side (the customers). Having usurped the rightful “property” and duty of parents and teachers, they cling to power and influence by deceitful methods.
 

There are probably 101 DECEITS that impede effective education. I will start listing a few and you can add others.
 

   1. We aim for a classless society. Yet, by denial of choice in education, poor or disadvantaged students are prevented from overcoming limitations and leave school with deficient skills for quality life, work, or further education. Lack of choice frustrates social mobility. Equality of opportunity applies to the rich who can buy private education or move to catchment areas where schools respond to articulate customers.

      Look at the array of obstructionists that prevent CHOICE mechanisms from operating (magnet schools, charter schools, vouchers, open access….) and you start to see a good picture of those vested interests that benefit from a monopoly, state supply system.

   2. We have civilian governance of education. That is, trustees, are elected from the community to ensure that schools are run for the benefit of the students and not the providers (teachers, administrators, teacher educators, etc.) Yet, how many trustees do we see that are themselves educators, ex-educators, or ex-teacher union leaders with hidden agendas? And, they are quickly trained and domesticated to follow the dictates of the administrators. Some simply exploit this experience as an opportunistic stepping stone in pursuit of higher political aspirations.
   3. High costs of education are mainly due to teacher salaries. Yet, is this true? Compute all the overhead and subsidiary costs of the system. Factor in top dollar salaries of administrators and the rest of this bureaucratic empire. Don’t forget the costs of lawyers who are always on call in case of disputes. And, don’t forget the costs of Public Relations experts, conflict resolution experts, facilitators…..
   4. Parent involvement is very important to boost student achievement. Yes, research supports the correlation between student achievement and parent involvement, yet the current waves of soliciting more parent participation results in only more fund and fun-raising activities – not academic attention. Furthermore, whole industries of “parent involvement practitioners” are spinning off of this fad, further providing jobs for unemployed education PhD’s, adding more layers of “experts” and further mystifying parents and keeping them at bay.
   5. Education enables young people to be self-sufficient adults. However, the rising tide of mediocrity and dependency arising from “illiterate” grads is troubling. In some populations over 40% of students are drop-outs, leading to underemployment or dependence on welfare.

The poor economic performance in France and Germany is blamed on the education systems which prepare students for government welfare (“Learning to Love the Dole”) more than they do for entrepreneurship or productive employment. See: Europe’s Philosophy of Failure here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4095