Teachers won't participate in statewide task force on school accountability reform

The situation referenced in the title of this blog post is the headline of an article printed in the Wisconsin State Journal last Friday, July 22. I missed the article when it was first published because I was still in South Dakota, but I have since become aware of the situation it reports. More importantly, the article has been unavoidable on the Madison.com website because it still ranks at the top of the “Most Commented” list with 396 comments, more than triple the article in second place.

Wading through the comments is an interesting endeavor and can siphon an enormous amount of time from one’s day. Most of the posts are the same old rhetoric, but there are moments of insight hidden like gems among the rubble. Frankly, it is difficult to blog about this topic because I still have trouble forming an opinion that I am comfortable expressing on the topic. One of the first things I wondered was if WEAC will not have a representative on Scott Walker’s committee tasked with developing a statewide school accountability system, who will be on the committee? Well, here is the list:

• Governor Scott Walker
• Superintendent Tony Evers
• Senator Luther Olsen, Senate Education Committee, Chair (Republican)
• Representative Steve Kestell, Assembly Education Committee, Chair (Republican)
• John Ashley, Wisconsin Association of School Boards (the organization has long sought more power and flexibility in dealing with teachers and their unions)
• John Gee, Wisconsin Charter Schools Association (charter school advocacy group)
• Matt Kussow, Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools
• Jim Lynch, Association of Wisconsin School Administrators
• James Bender, School Choice Wisconsin (representative of the school privatization industry)
• Gary Myrah, Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services
• Miles Turner, Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators
• Woody Wiedenhoeft, Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials

Reading the list, I identified Walker himself, a state senator and representative, both members of the Republican Party, pro-charter school and business lobbyists, administrative union leaders, and Tony Evers. The lack of balance in the ranks of the committee is obvious, but is that any reason for the teacher’s union to take its ball and go home? Union leader Mary Bell says that “we simply do not have the necessary trust or confidence” to be part of the committee. That makes some sense, I suppose, because a committee whose members harbor blatant political or economic agendas will not likely listen to anything they are obligated to disagree with.

However, Bell also says, “anytime you have the voice of educators at the table, you do better.” So, will she resist offering the voice of educators simply to punish Walker and the committee? If teachers could help improve the system the committee will create, the very system which will judge their success as professionals and the success of their schools, why not sit down at the table? It is likely that the other committee members would plug their ears, ignore Bell’s input, and do what they want to do regardless. But rather than criticize the plan from the outside looking in, criticism that will surely be dismissed by anyone not already in lockstep with WEAC, why not attempt to be part of the process? If the collaboration fails, the WEAC representative could then speak with authority about why it failed. Reform is coming, and I guess I have decided that it would have been better for teachers to swallow their collective pride and try to make a difference from the inside.

To be proud and inaccessible is to be timid and weak. - Jean Baptiste Masillon