Reading the Riot Act

It was the only time in my life that I thought I actually was going to get to Read Them The Riot Act. There is one in Virginia, as I suspect there is in most states.

I was chairman of the Fairfax County School Board, and we were discussing—family life education? School boundaries? Charging high school students a fee to park their cars?–one of the many controversial issues that school boards always seem to get dealt. The auditorium was packed with people carrying signs and chanting. Armed with nothing more than a copy of § 15.2-925 of the Code of Virginia—along with the knowledge that two unarmed School Security officers were on duty in the back of the auditorium–I called the meeting to order.

Tempers were high, and words were heated. But luckily, the situation never degenerated into anything like what happened in New York City last week. There, parents and community members showed up with bullhorns to disrupt a Panel for Educational Policy meeting. Their complaints about changes in the city’s testing program eventually became so raucous that the meeting was abruptly ended without any action taken.

The behavior of the parents was clearly beyond the pale. Still, the high emotions and frayed tempers illustrate some important points about parents and schools:

• Parents care—passionately—about the education their children receive. That sometimes makes them, well, passionate. The New York City parents’ concern over the performance of students on this year’s state tests was understandable. Their decision to bring in a bullhorn and close down a public meeting, however, was not.
• Parents and community members take the “public” in “public schools” literally.  At the very least, they expect that someone is going to listen to them. So whether that group is called the school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, or the City Council, trust me, somebody is going to have to take the heat when things don’t go well.
• Lyndon Johnson got it right. The time to make friends, he always advised, is before you need them. New York City is right in making changes to its assessment system. It’s right in setting higher standards for students. But when parents and communities feel blindsided, they’re likely to react exactly as they did last week. The school system must do a better job of working with parents to let them know how the new testing is going to help their children succeed.

There’s no way to avoid controversy when you’re dealing with people’s children. But as the New York City experience shows, anyone who thinks the public can be shut out of school decisions is living in a fantasy world. People may not have a vote, but they always have a voice—and sometimes, that voice is amplified with a bullhorn.

Tagged as: community involvement, New York City Schools, school boards