Gary B. May retired in June 2010 as superintendent of Flora CUSD 35. Also a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, he has served as a high school teacher, junior high/high school principal, and district superintendent.
Many of Illinois’ 868 school districts are struggling to survive and still provide a meaningful education for their students. Restricted in their ability to operate because of the state’s complete failure to fund its obligations in a timely manner, school districts are being forced to change, to find new ways of doing business.
Change is an inevitable consequence of life, and while school districts experience some “normal” change from year to year, change only becomes a crisis event when it is unwanted, where personnel within the school district and people within the community understand that there has been an actual loss of ability or at least the perception of that loss in terms of school district and community expectations of what their children’s educational experiences should be. In this case, change is disruptive to the sense of equilibrium that exists within the normal day-to-day activities of the school district, resulting in anger, confusion, and frustration on the part of district personnel and community members alike with these unwanted changes, this crisis change event.
As the former superintendent of an Illinois PreK-12 school district of 1,350 students, I understand firsthand the difficulties associated with keeping the lights on and the doors open in my district. Times are tough, money is short and the state is still behind billions in payments to school districts.
While I made some difficult recommendations to my school board about how best to maintain our fiscal health and educate our students without any adverse disruptions, I often wonder what is happening to my neighboring districts that do not enjoy the same financial strength my former district does? What would I recommend if I realized I could no longer maintain the district’s ability to operate normally and meet the educational expectations of my community?
Dealing with layoffs
Board members understand that the majority of any district’s budget is tied to personnel and adjustments in staff are normal. Many district administrators and boards chose a course of action for their 2010-11 school year that called for massive personnel releases as part of the solution to their monetary problems. The same is happening this year.
For those who were not released, a sigh of relief was followed by thoughts of “but for the grace of God, go I.” The pain, worry and frustration that comes with these notices continues to be real for the ones losing their jobs. Their world has been turned upside down.
Without question, there is anger and frustration. With so many jobs lost, grief affects everyone associated with any school district experiencing massive personnel cuts. From the districts’ perspective, cuts could result in reduced class offerings, larger class sizes, fewer extracurricular and sports opportunities, fewer supplies and educational materials, and greater difficulty in preparing students to meet or exceed testing scores established under the No Child Left Behind legislation.
For those released with little possibility of being recalled, an initial kaleidoscope of emotions ranges from anger, fear, frustration, confusion and doubt. People feel as if they have lost control over their life, their value as human beings diminished. It is one thing to fear the possible loss of employment, but another experience altogether when notice is served.
In some cases, staff members were not able to consider the idea of change logically, not at first anyway. They were “too close to the forest to see the trees.” The day after the releases were announced last year in my district, many untenured teachers spoke with their building principal saying: “But I did everything you asked of me and my evaluations are excellent.” They were correct in their comments, but the response was: “The board has chosen to go in another direction.”
Most of us who have ever experienced a crisis realize that life goes on. Most communities, people, organizations, businesses and school districts adjust to their current circumstance. They find ways to rationalize what change has brought to their lives, relating the past to the present and the present to the future, discovering the means to reinvent their personal or corporate selves into a new reality.
Illinois’ numerous school districts reconfigured themselves to open their buildings last August, and with similar scenarios playing out across the state in 2011, they will do the same for the 2011-12 school year. Until Illinois is able to resolve its fiscal dilemma, crisis response events will continue to occur, resulting in district administrators and board members continuing to struggle with further staff and program cuts beyond any normal or reasonable expectation.
For this very reason, everyone concerned with the educational well being of our young people needs to understand the financial and emotional toll these reductions are having on our schools, our districts and our communities.
Communicate, accommodate
The answer is really very simple, yet so very difficult. It begins with communication and ends with accommodation.
Communication must involve all stakeholders in the educational process and that means the entire community. With certainty, reduced fiscal support from the state can result in an adverse impact on a district’s ability to maintain community expectations in terms of academic, athletic and extracurricular programs. Understanding this, a healthy dialog should be encouraged resulting in mutual respect and communal agreement concerning the route any town and school district should take to ensure their children receive the best possible education by whatever definition is used to explain and understand this goal.
Everyone wants the best for their child’s education and that causes the decision process to be difficult. It helps to understand that the winds of change never quit blowing, and community residents must be prepared to adapt, for change comes to communities also.
In the final analysis, a community’s children and possibilities for their future become the “default button” with each board of education and community taking on the question: “What’s in the best interest of our children?” After all, the issue at the very heart of this crisis concerns the educational welfare of children and their ability to achieve success in a very demanding world.
With no current solution to the state’s fiscal crisis on the horizon, the district administration, board of education, and community residents in many districts will continue to struggle and eventually face the difficult task of trying to keep business as usual, reorganize their district, or consolidate with a neighboring district or districts. None of these choices will be easy. In whatever form, however, change is going to take place. What matters is how everyone responds to it.
Many people consider schools as guardians of their community’s identity. Any perceived harm done to that belief results in community unrest and uncertainty. Homes and towns provide structure, a sense of belonging and security, not unlike the warmth and safety of a cocoon.
As children, many of today’s adults had their parents or guardian there to guide and nurture them as they progressed through school. Now, as parents, these people have very clear ideas concerning the experiences they want for their children. They want their children to enjoy the same school and community activities they did at that age, forming bonds and a sense of belonging to something that is unique and special.
The disastrous condition of Illinois’ financial status has forced many school districts to change the way their children are educated, to consider possible courses of action no one would have thought possible just a few years ago. This new reality of life, this crisis change event, becomes their great challenge.
Change waits on no one and with so much at risk, stakeholders may find it necessary to consider some form of school district reorganization, a difficult journey down a demanding path calling for new beginnings, forming new relationships, expanding or redefining definitions of community, and creating new traditions.
While most of us would like our personal universe to remain as is, that is not the most important question communities and school districts have to consider.
Our collective future as a nation rests in the hands of our children. Their educational preparedness is what counts. Today, they depend on us for guidance and direction; tomorrow they will carry us on their shoulders. Whatever options are considered, whatever decisions are made, choose wisely; your children’s future and ours depends on it.