Life Styles and the Fashion Police

My doctor and my youngest brother, who happens to be a doctor, do not approve of my lifestyle.  I drink too much coffee, smoke, enjoy the occasional adult long-necked beverage, and do not exercise, at least not on purpose.  The good news (for me) is I'm still alive.  The bad news is, they do not approve and I am not going to change in that department.  Of all the vices available today, mine are still legal and socially acceptable, at least in some quarters.  (Though I will admit, when both New Orleans and Paris went smoke free I was taken aback.)

Life styles.  What is acceptable to you may not be acceptable to me.  We have obese kids, and I worry about that, but I do not think we can change that via board policy, handbooks, counting tater tots or PE.  To me, that is a life style issue.  If you want to eat until you are fat, and you can either afford it or have no choice but to acquire via WIC high volume, high fat foods, then so be it.  Your choice.  We have not made obesity illegal, though we are getting close.

How about tattoos?  I don't have any, but people I love do.  Is that OK?

How about females wearing very tight or very low cut tops? Is that OK?  Sure seems to be OK on prime time network TV.  How about pants that are worn so low that both underwear and rear cleavage show.  Is that OK?  How about guys with long hair.  Professional sports allow it.  How about guys with facial hair?  OK with you?  Kids with purple or blue hair?  Feathers?  Piercings?  No underwear?  On and on we go.

The bottom line is we are a public institution and we will enforce community values whatever the community defines those values to be.  If everyone is required by policy to wear jeans, have a burr haircut and drive a pick up truck, then we will enforce that.  If, on the other hand, everyone is required to wear Stacey Adams shoes, a wife-beater undershirt, a long sleeve shirt unbuttoned all the way down, and low rider slacks, we will enforce that.

As a public educator I have been through it all.  In the 70's we enforced boy hair length to the extent that guys wore wigs to school so they could be socially acceptable and not get expelled.  Girls went bra-less, and male administrators had to contact parents.  Been there, done that.  Fashion changes, policy changes.

Dress codes reflect community values.  If the community has a strong sense of what is OK and what is not OK, we (the collective, hired, professional public school administrators) know where to draw the line because our elected Board has said, "Here's the line."  The more diverse the community, the more difficult it is to draw the line.  Life Styles.

It is extremely difficult to be a public servant and have some of the public you serve be OK with what their children wear when they walk out the door, and another whole group of parents not OK with what other children are wearing when they walk out the door.  Dress codes are a no-win deal for school administrators, even after the Board has drawn the line, because any student who shows up in violation of the dress code may have already passed inspection and approval by a parent or guardian.  I more than understand how a parent feels if the school says what their child is wearing is not OK after the parent has already said it is OK.  Hence the school uniform movement and the standardized dress movement .  Let's just legislate what the kids can and can't wear, then we enforce what parents are either unwilling, unable, or are oblivious to enforce.  Or, let's just not have a dress code and let anything be OK.  Many large urban districts have gone to that because the lifestyles in their systems are so diverse.  Worst case scenario is to have a defined policy and ignore it.  I agree with the Board totally on this:  no point in having a policy and not enforcing it.

Our dress code policy is pretty clear and varies as it should by campus.  It is clear because our community is homogeneous enough to have a clear sense of boundaries regarding what is acceptable.  I expect our principals to enforce our dress code.  I also expect them to be reasonable, professional, experienced school administrators and not swing a hammer when a love pat will do. 

We (again the collective, public school administrator we) are not skilled fashion police.  So much of what kids wear and do to their bodies today goes beyond our kin.  It flies beneath our radar, unless something truly outlandish jumps out at us.  Lady Gaga would not get past the front door.

We are also simple-minded.  We have to be to withstand court challenges that will eventually come.  If skirt length is a value, do we exempt cheerleaders?  If facial hair on boys is a value, do we exempt the quarterback?  We only withstand challenges legally when we can demonstrate fair and consistent enforcement.  We can avoid legal challenges and community uprisings, if we attempt to use some wisdom in our application of rules.

Of all the issues facing public schools, this one, at least for me, is way down on the list.  We have standardized testing that labels kids, teachers, schools and school systems for years based on the lowest scores achieved by one small sub-population of students.  We have huge funding issues, both in terms of adequacy and equity.  We have large constituencies that are lobbying for a variety of comprehensive programs that we simply do not have enough resouces to provide.  We have a state and a federal accountability system that will always find something wrong with something we do no matter what we do. 

At the same time, we have huge successes.  Our community supported a bond election for a new high school!  We have been awarded a FEMA grant to build a large unique domed gymnasium that will also serve as a safe room.  We have achieved the highest ratings in the school financial accountability system.  We have shown continued growth in student outcomes.  We have implemented a highly rigourous curriculum across the board.  We are implementing a new class to teach kids building trades while they actually build a house.  We are doing many, many things well and will continue to strive to do so.

And, we will enforce the dress code.

Sideways

There is an old phenomenon that has gained acceleration thanks to social media:  Going sideways.  I have experienced the sideways effect in teacher lounges, Sunday school classes, and at water coolers, where groups of folks sit around and gossip or complain.  I suspect that started eons ago in the first human settlements.  Social media has magnified and multiplied the impact of the rumor.  Some school systems have gone so far to set up a button on their websites to address rumors.  I wonder if those are used?  I wonder if we should have one?

The premise of going sideways is pretty simple.  Let's say I'm mad at a new ruling by the Commissioner of Education that I perceive negatively impacts our school system.  I could blog about it, I could post it on Facebook, I could complain every time I get together with other administrators or the Board, or, I could email the commissioner and let him know what I think.  Or, I could do all of the above.  But, if I am mad at someone and don't tell that someone, then I am going sideways.  I prefer going directly to them.

We have a principal that is really good about this.  If he is distressed or disturbed he immediately lets me know.  If he becomes aware of someone going sideways about him, he directly contacts them to find out what  is going on.  I like that.  I respect that.  Probably scares the bejabbers out of folks, but I think it's healthy.

We went through a couple of mini-crisis here at the beginning of the year that all began with people going sideways.  I never received a phone call, an email, or a visit about the volleyball schedule or the freshmen signs, but I was very aware of the Facebook furor over those issues.  So, I called a meeting and talked about the decisions made.  People came.  We talked.  People left OK.  Perhaps not thrilled, but OK. No one lost their job, no child has experienced retribution.

That's the thing about decisions:  If a decision has to be made chances are there are folks who would like to select option A, and another group who would like option B.  There may be options C, D, etc.  Someone must select an option, and as soon as the selection is made, folks may be disappointed, or even angry.  That is always true, and even more so as money gets tighter and tighter and more and more often the option selected sounds more like "no" than "yes."

Those of us employed by this school system are public servants.  We adhere to a set of principles and standards that are mapped out in policy and law.  We also practice our profession following a set of moral imperatives:  Do no harm.  Welfare of kids first.  Best interest of all with protection of the few.  We do not wake up each morning and develop conspiratorial plans to harm a child, a program, an event.  And, we do not punish kids, parents, staff or community members for either bringing problems to our attention or expressing disagreement with a decision. 

I'm not soliciting problems here.  I am soliciting responses to problems if they develop.  Call.  Write.  Show up if you have a problem.  If you go sideways, it will take longer to find a solution and the solution will be set in an emotional context that makes the solution more complicated. 

I enjoy Facebook and am on it.  I am able to keep in touch with family and friends all over the place by reading their status reports.  I am uncomfortable when it becomes a tool for rumor, hearsay and gossip.  We do not need digital lynch mobs.  We do not need a Two-Facedbook.

My phone number is 361-782-3573.  I office at 1307 W. Gayle, Edna, TX 77957.  My email address is bwells@ednaisd.org.  I make a lot of decisions.  Some may turn out to be not so good.  Let me know straight-ways.  Better for me, better for you, better for our kids.

Thanks.

Rigor

Just left a really great meeting of  the high school campus improvement team.  Teachers and parents assembled to review data outcomes, board goals, and write an improvement plan that makes a difference for our high school students.  I loved it!

They (we) spent a lot of time talking about SAT, ACT, higher academic rigor, etc.  How do we make that happen for our students?  How do we get higher academic achievement?  We have the staff to do it.  We have kids that are capable.  So, why isn't it happening?

Back up a step.  Who is responsible for the learning a student achieves?  Yes, teachers are an important variable.  Yes, parents are an important variable.  Yes, the community and culture are important variables.  But, the bottom line is, unless students understand that their own hard work and effort are part of this equation, it is not going to happen.  Parents can harp, teachers can teach, but only the student can actually learn for the student.

There are a host of strategies we as educators can implement.  There are a host of educational learning environmental components we can provide.  But, achieving excellence in learning is not something a teacher can do by himself/herself.  After all that, it is up to the kid.  We cannot learn for the students.  In fact, if that were the case, looking at our high school faculty, all students would be masters, and knock the top out of the college entrance exams and state standardized tests.  Knowledge and learning do not accidentlally happen by osmosis.  It happens when a student internalizes the learning, works at learning, and learns to learn.

Parents and community can really help.  Value your child's education more than you value whether they start Friday night.  Value your child's education more than you value their wardrobe, their cell phone, their Facebook account, their car, their friends.  Expect them to learn, to work at learning, and to perform.

Help us fight the spread of a non-existent neurosis labeled "senioritis."  High schools are the only institutions on the planet where increased age, increased experienced, and increased knowldge somehow equals decreased performance and expectations.  The senior year should be the culmination of learning, not the year to goof off.  Want a child who is succesful?  Demand their success their senior year.  Demand that they enroll in and excell at the course work that is most challenging.  They are ready. And doing so will make them more ready for all that life is yet to offer.

We can provide the rigor.  We can promote student success, but alone we cannot achieve student success.  Help us. 

AMA and AEA

I took my traditional week off this summer to go with my family to fish.  I love saltwater wade fishing.  There is something about standing in the gulf, the rhythm of waves, the tangy saltwater smell, the hint of watermelon in the air as the specs move through, the dancing of the birds as they virtually hover then dive.  Live shrimp and stringer tied at my waist, I bait and cast, free-shrimping in the current.  It is that moment I love, the moment when the bait is out, I am attached by line, rod and reel, waiting for the possible.  Waves were coming in hard from a strong southwest wind, tearing up the surf and beating me, but the action was good, and I stayed with it, jumping waves, spitting water, feeling the trout suck in the shrimp, setting the hook and reeling.  I was off task and out of town.  Therapy.

A wave caught my floating bait bucket just right and jerked it hard against my belt.  It had happened before.  But this time I felt a terrible pain in my lower back all the way around to the front under my rib cage.  It brought tears to my eyes and my legs turned to rubber.  I turned and headed for the shore as the pain got worse.  Then worse still.  I could barely move, and finally crossed the last bar into the shallow water where I struggled to put one foot in front of another.  I knew I had ruptured something, or ripped something loose, and figured I was going to simply bleed to death internally there on the beach I loved.

My son and wife virtually carried me up from the beach, into his truck, for a frantic rush to the nearest hospital.  I broke out in a sweat and was literally dripping perspiration.  This was the worst pain I had ever experienced and could not believe I remained conscious.  Finally, after running red lights and speeding, my precious son safely delivered me to the emergency room where I was placed in a wheel chair and rolled inside.  Paperwork.  Wallowing in pain, sweating, fix me dear God or let me go!

CT scans, ultrasounds, X-rays and finally the drugs kicked in as the diagnosis came in.  I was passing a kidney stone.  A kidney stone?  I had never had one of those before, and knew I did not want to have another.  Once diagnosed, pills prescribed, and feeling really good from the high dose of whatever it was that they gave me, I was ready to get out of there. 

The doctor said they wanted to keep me overnight.  No way.  I was on vacation and the specs were running.  I couldn’t walk a straight line, I felt drunk with meds, and I was still aware of the masked pain, but I did not want to stay at the hospital.  “OK.” The doctor said.  “We’ll release you AMA.”  Against Medical Advice.  I was not angry at him, I was grateful!  He had eased my pain and named the demon within.  I just wanted out, so I left.  And I spent the final three days of my vacation simply lying around in pain, unable to fish.  (Son and wife got back to the beach and continued to catch fish!)

I knew when I left that the doctor was a skilled professional.  He had been to medical school.  He had served an internship.  He knew a lot more about kidney stones than I did.  And yet, I left.  Not in anger, not with regret or recrimination, I just left, AMA.

Every teacher, every principal, every administrator in this district is a skilled professional.  We have been trained, certified and completed internships.  Many of us have additional degrees and a lot of years of experience, and we have seen children enter kindergarten, matriculate and graduate as young adults.  We all take the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm and serve every child to the best of our professional ability.  We offer professional educator advice, and prescribe for your child according to the best research and the best practice we know.  

Sometimes parents, kids or patrons decide on actions for kids against our advice.  AEA, Against Educator Advice.  It may be a parental decision to hold a child back a grade even though they have performed well, it may be to check a child out school for a family vacation or a pep rally, it may be to withdraw a child to home school them, it may be to drop an academically challenging course, etc.  If we know professionally that this is not what we would recommend, we will tell you.  To not tell you would be unprofessional, so, we will tell you.  Parents of course ultimately make the decisions about their children.  That is fine and that is the way it morally should be and the way it has to be legally.  When we give you our best educational advice, please do not be angry with us.  We are honoring our profession and your child.

I went AMA.  You can go AEA if you choose.  Please know there are reasons we offered our advice.  It would be my hope that you respect us for that.