BOE Chair Warden comments

The Tennessean prints a light interview with MNPS BOE Chair Marsha Warden. I'd like to see similar pieces for all the BOE members on a regular basis.

A couple of quotes to encourage you to read the rest. There are questions about goals and if Pedro Garcia is doing a good job--a question she doesn't answer with a yes or no.

The BOE role:

"The school board is different from the Metro Council. We are a policy governing board, and we do a lot of legislative work. The easiest way to think of it is that we oversee and approve the Metro Nashville Schools budget and policy.

SSA:

"If you look around, most private schools enforce standard school attire or uniforms. Maybe they know something we don't. Maybe in distinguishing the way the students dress at school as opposed to the way they dress at home, we are preparing them to enter a learning environment."

SSA passes

I was watching the proceedings via the Internet and so couldn't tell exactly who but there were two no votes (most likely Mark North and David Fox). If I heard correctly the motion for SSA offered by District 5 Board Member Gracie Porter was that they were authorizing SSA for 3 years (07-08, 08-09 and 09-10). After two years an individual or a school could opt out after providing written documentation on why they wanted to opt out. Said document would have input from the parent(s), teachers and principal. It would be presented to the Superintendent of Schools (Dr. Garcia currently) for their decision with the option of an appeal before the entire BOE. After 3 years the BOE would consider reauthorization of SSA.

Quotes from the more than 2 hours of public comment and nearly 2 hours of board comments:

One mother expressed her disappointment in parents that would be willing to sue the district in order to get their way pointing out the money spent in those suits could be put to better use.

Another stated that SSA had been a 'gift from God' in that life in their home was a great deal easier with SSA. She further expressed that SSA would bring unity to the system and told anti-SSA parents that it wasn't just about you and your children.

A woman professing to be a doctor, single and with children in both a magnet and zoned schools lamented the cost she would incur because her washer/dryer is broke and she's discovered that the laundromat is a more efficient way to do family wash. She'd have to buy 18 sets of clothing to 'tide' them over from wash day to wash day.

Anti-SSA proponent and student Charles Badger felt the need to go "Matlock" on the BOE and while dressed in a suit and tie pulled out toy numchucks from his coat to demonstrate that even compliance with SSA didn't ensure that weapons couldn't be concealed.

One parent said there should be no religious exemptions from SSA if it passes.

Julie Lamb, PAC president said that she had joined the SSA Study Committee when she realized that the two parents already on the committee were against the suggestion. She further stated that this was a parental issue for the adults to handle.

A woman who had attended Hume-Fogg provided her own testimony of her treatment at Hume-Fogg as a student that couldn't afford the clothing many of her fellow students were wearing and welcomes SSA. Further she expressed hope that SSA means when her young child is ready for school MNPS will then be a place she feels more comfortable about having them attend.

Stratford Principal Brenda Elliot-Johnson reminded us in her comments in support of SSA that it's the job of the community to support the schools and not the other way around.

Nashville School of the Arts students presented petitions against the SSA signed by their students and then serenaded the board with a 'what does it mean' lyric.

A girl who is a student representative on the BOE spoke correctly when she said the students had brought this on themselves.

I'm convinced that if students had not insisted on their freedom to exceed societal conventions by such a great degree this effort wouldn't have been attempted. Mark North was right in saying that every older generation hasn't understood the fashions of the younger generations. But it's not bobbed hair or exposed ankles that brought us to SSA. It's cleavage, exposed midriffs and underwear. We're tired of clearly seeing whether it's boxers or briefs.

It had been alleged that the line up of speakers was stacked with the anti's at the beginning and the pro's at the end. Such wasn't really the case. The points of view moved back and forth regularly. It was true that the final speakers, being principals and central office personnel, to include Superintendent Dr. Garcia, were the final speakers. Dr. Garcia reminded us that principals had come to him and asked for SSA. That's probably what finally brought about this yes vote. When the people you hire to run the system tell you they want this tool and there is no compelling reason to say no you need to accommodate them.

After 2 hours of testimony groans were easily heard from the audience when District 5 Board Representative Gracie Porter immediately moved that the vote on SSA be deferred until a written legal opinion of the proposal as written could be provided to the BOE. No one wanted that sort of delay.

Thankfully, Chair Marsha Warden asked John Michael of Metro Legal to take the podium and answer BOE member questions.

Mr. Michael answered the hypothetical question about whether the policy is on its face illegal. His answer was no. Could the policy be subject to legal challenge? Certainly, he responded, "as could any action or non-action of the board."

There was some discussion about those who would assert a conscientious objection to the policy. Dr. Garcia asked if a CO would have to walk that on their own time in order for it to be valid at school. The meaning apparently that if they object to khaki's and polos at school and they wear them on their own time to, for example at the movies, would that invalidate their CO assertion. The legal opinion was probably not.

Dr. Garcia related that he was kind of caught in the middle regarding presenting any sort of policy to the BOE for them to vote on. He mostly wanted an up or down yes or no vote. But he expected that the BOE would want more specifics. He also suspected that the specifics wouldn't be the final version of the policy. He was adamant that he intended that the policy encompass K-12 and every Metro school.

BOE Member Steve Glover made the comment that according to the policy governance form of running MNPS it was Dr. Garcia's call to implement this and not really the Board's responsibility.

New board member Mark North had a long statement regarding the concerns he had about the process, not having a formal, written legal opinion, the use of the term SSA v. uniforms, the marketing of SSA, and the potential skewing of the dress code violations numbers as a result of the recent crackdown that might provide bad data when we look back at the success or failure of SSA.

BOE member Ed Kindall brought some common sense to the discussion when he said SSA wasn't going to kill or hurt anybody. As a criminal attorney he believes this will impact gang activity in the schools.

BOE member Karen Johnson got quite emotional. For her it came down to a matter of respect for the leadership of the schools. She sees a separateness in the system between the magnet and zoned students which has created a privileged group of people and then those who can't get into the magnet system. She sees this as a way to meet the need to level the playing field and respect the principals at the same time.

BOE member David Fox had a long statement which he appeared to be reading. He started by saying it seemed the effort was more of a no confidence vote toward principals than anything else. I had to step away but I wouldn't be surprised if he was a no vote.

And despite Ed Kindall's joking attempt to keep Chair Marsha Warden from getting her two cents in (and everyone needed a bit of levity after all this time) she did manage to state clearly that the principals have asked for SSA and we should give them what they ask for. She also spoke directly to some parents in the audience saying that the magnet parents are the most vocal and involved parents with the most assets and asked for their help in this effort.

Hopefully, they'll rethink the threats of lawsuits and work toward unifying the system as several speakers mentioned needed to be done. Though no doubt, several will 'get religion' and once again demonstrate a separateness from the rest of the public school population.

And so here we are. It's coming. I fully expect that in the morning retail clothing buyers across the city will be calling Metro for specifics about the policy, such as it is, and then calling their corporate headquarters saying"Send us khaki and polos". By summer the shelves should be fully stocked and by fall families and the community should be quite used to the new routine and look of MNPS students.

UPDATE: The two no votes were David Fox (new to the BOE as of August) and Mark North, brand spanking new that night replacing Pam Garrett.

SSA by more than 2:1

Fresh from the MNPS public relations office is the press release showing overwhelming support across the district from parents surveyed last week about Standard School Attire. Blue is adopt standard attire. Yellow is keep current policy. Burgandy is no preference. From the press release:

MNPS survey shows strong support for Standard Attire

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 22, 2007) – Results of an MNPS survey conducted last week show parents and staff support a switch to Standard School Attire district-wide by a nearly two to one margin.

More than 18,000 people responded to the survey, which was a nonscientific poll using the district’s call-home telephone system. Of those responding, 61.4% asked the district to adopt Standard School Attire, while 31.4% favored the current dress policy and 7.2% had no preference. An analysis of the results by high school cluster also revealed a majority support for Standard School Attire in every cluster. [Emphasis added.]

It's apparent to me that those that were so vehemently against SSA were out of touch with other parents in the district. While they and, I'm sure, their closest associates in their school, were solidly against it--regular folks who have to deal with the daily hassle of ensuring their children are appropriately dressed preferred less choice for the children and more freedom for parents.

It's now up to the BOE to listen to their constituents and vote this in regardless of threats from a few high schoolers who will attempt to throw temper tantrums to get their way, regardless of the threat to leave the system by some parents (who'll likely find stricter policies in private schools) and regardless of the lack of 'empirical' evidence that SSA doesn't guarantee higher scores or lower discipline rates. Superintendent Garcia is right: "School is important" and requiring students to dress for success is just one part of an entire process to ensure their success.

UPDATE: MNPS Spokesman Woody McMillan tells me that the magnet schools were included in the cluster their building is in. Also there is no breakdown by school available. What information is available can be found at http://mnps.org/AssetFactory.aspx?did=15259.

Let them wear khaki

Bruce Barry (husband of Metro Council at Large Candidate Megan Barry) opines in today's Nashville Scene that Standard School Attire is akin to the Emperor's New Clothes. There's nothing there. I completely disagree with him. I do think that sloppy dress encourages sloppy attitudes. I'll offer as Exhibit 1 the very online page his opinion appears on where a young woman is wearing what is not that far away from what is becoming by default 'standard school attire'.

Educators and administrators have enough to do without having to explain to clueless children and their amazingly clueless parents that bare skin in certain areas and phrases across portions of bodies is distracting to others and demeaning to the wearer. And that "dressing for success" is a truism. We're not talking about enveloping everyone in burkas here--we're talking about plain, serviceable and inexpensive clothing.

Bruce spends a lot of time on negative ink but doesn't mention the testimony of the Isaac Litton Principal who maintains that nothing other than attire was changed in her school and the results were dramatic. First person evidence gets a lot more weight with me than iffy studies elsewhere.

He also doesn't mention the fact that the parents on the committee came with their own minds made up as evidenced by their presentation in January and actually did their point of view a great disservice with their aggressive attitude.

It's interesting to me that this SSA debate has revealed, again, a level of class warfare that is always simmering just below the surface of the 'public' education debates.

Previous Posts:
http://kaybrooks.blogspot.com/2007/01/standard-school-attire.html
http://kaybrooks.blogspot.com/search/label/uniforms

Standard School Attire

I attended the Parents Advisory Council meeting last evening in the MNPS Board room. Several of the regular attenders were participating in the Strategic Plan retreat. It was interesting. It was frustrating. The bulk of the meeting involved discussing the current standard school attire fact finding mission.

As did the Standard Schools Attire Committee Superintendent Garcia created I'll start by pointing out that the TCA allows every local school board the freedom to make this decision. The only legal parameters are that the clothing be 'simple, appropriate, readily available and inexpensive". Then we must understand that there is a difference between standard school attire and uniforms. The former being much more general and the later fairly rigid. MNPS is looking into the use of the more general, more easily available and less expensive route of standard school attire.

Also mentioned was that the standard school attire policy must have an accommodation for religious or 'strongly held' beliefs regarding dress. The Memphis policy was suggested as a model.

Co-chairs of this Standard Schools Attire Committee include Dr. Monica Dillard, Principal of Overton High School and Dr. Tonya Hutchinson, Principal of Isaac Litton Middle School in my Inglewood neighborhood. Litton has had great success with standard school attire where faculty and staff also conform to the clothing rules. In my visits this comes off very professional and business-like and I, in normal clothing, stand out as obviously a visitor.

There was great testimony from two parents at Litton one of whom was initially against the implementation of the attire. But she whole heartedly embraces it now and even has her other child, attending a different school, dressing the same because it's easier and less expensive. The second mother, of five children, also emphasized the ease and cost effectiveness of this clothing option. A couple of committee members seemed to be concerned about the other clothing the children had available to them in their non-school hours and if the child had fewer options than their siblings. This mom of five was very patient with those questions. Really, folks, that's family business and certainly not the concern of MNPS. There is no right to a full closet of current fashions.

The most frustrating part of the exchange between the PAC members and those testifying was their inability to believe that you could buy a pair of khaki shorts for $5.00 or that Dollar General had clothing that was worth buying. I had to wonder if any of them had ever been to a Dollar General*, K-Mart or second-hand store at all.

Several on this committee also got hung up on whether the local merchants would have time to bring in enough stock before the new school year. I was completely amazed in their lack of understanding of the capitalist system. I believe that if the school board voted tomorrow that standard school attire would be implemented in February (one week from today) their shelves and racks would be brimming with product by then. Some also seemed unable to hear the testimony that many stores already stock these very items all year round. They were told that Memphis gave retailers a four month lead time and there was no problem.


Probably most interesting was the presentation after the presentation. I was never really clear on what their connection to Dr. Garcia's committee was but two parents passed out their presentation called "Standard School Attire: Its Problems and Disadvantages". These parents, Randi Trochtenberg and Mark Schoenfeld, [photos at left] took a very aggressive tone and, as one PAC member correctly pointed out, created a very polarizing environment in that room.

They said their motivation was that presentations thus far had been very pro-standard school attire and that there was 'no empirical evidence' supporting their use and suggested that it was other factors such as 'engaged' learning, teacher methodology and training that also contributed to any decrease in crime and increase in learning. They threw out a lot of statistics, none of which were actually included in their handout. They kept hammering the point--no empirical evidence, no empirical evidence--to the point that one PAC member put up her hand and said "I got it. You two don't want uniforms." So strident was their testimony that I dare say people quit listening.

The City Paper reported it this way:

Parents at the meeting sensed a disconnect with Trochtenberga’s presentation and that of the standard attire committee’s, but Overton High School principal Monica Dillard assured them her committee members were not advocating for or against the change in school attire.

“In defense of the committee — saying it looks like we slanted our information… if somebody had told us we’ve done it and we hate it, we would report that,” Dillard said. “But nobody we had talked with has said that and we’ve not avoided systems that hate it.”

A couple of things that all seemed to agree on:

There needs to be parental involvement. Having community support was going to be essential to ensuring that there was compliance.

It's easier to implement in K-8 than in high school. One student, in what almost came off as a veiled threat, said that if they thought it was tough getting middle schoolers not to leave home in compliance and show up at school in non-compliance wait until you force it on high schoolers. He suggested phasing implementation in.

The Nashville School of the Arts representative (I didn't catch her name. Her photo's on the left) said that NAS students and parents would be against this. "My principal would be against this." She asserted that NAS students need to be able to wear leotards and would resent exceptions for athletes. Dr. Hutchinson had testified previously that on game days athletes were allowed to forgo the white collared shirt for their jerseys.

Mr. Shoenfeld's wife got to her husband's mike and wisely pointed out that this debate is worldwide and may never be settled so expect to revisit this topic in the future.

Dr. Dillard pointed out that they had yet to hear from a school system that had implemented standard school attire anything like "We've done it and hate it." Her committee has been presenting their facts to the BOE in installments. At the next BOE meeting they will cover the pros & cons. That presentation, I've no doubt, will adequately answer the assertions of Trochtenberg and Schoenfeld.

*Dollar General side note: I personally believe that Dollar General has been a lifeline to many urban areas. They do provide the basics of life for a reasonable price in places the big boxes fear to tread. AND they back that up with jobs programs and hefty financial investments in those same communities. If these PAC members don't know the value of a Dollar General--they should do themselves a favor and visit. Their budgets will thank them. It'll be a good reality check for them. Often we're buying the very same brands but at a better price. There is a world outside of Target and the mall.

School uniforms

Also on Tuesday's agenda under "Board Development" is a committee Report on Standard School Attire--code for school uniforms I suppose.

What I'm hearing from parents is that school uniforms are cheaper, harder wearing, make life easier for families in the morning and parents are nearly all for 'em. They may not be fans in the beginning but it doesn't take long to convert them.

School staff's are also big fans as it does encourage better behavior amongst the students and those that don't belong are quickly identified.

What's yet to be heard is a legitimate discouraging word about uniforms. The only one that comes to mind is the whine that children will lose their freedom of expression via fashion. Sorry. Children don't really have a right to freedom of expression. They do have time away from school to express themselves. I'm more concerned about whether these children learn to read and write.

Fashion, and not enough fabric, have become too much of a distraction and it needs to be reigned in. Trying to decipher the current dress codes can be too subjective but there's not much confusion about a white polo shirt and khaki pants (legimately belted at the waist please).