Rebuilding a Plane in Flight

While the media did a so-so job (at best) of covering the most recent recommendations of Commissioner Cate to the Legislature, they haven't covered at all a document released this fall by the Board of Education with some pretty ambitious ideas of their own.

In October of this year, the State Board of Education released a memo entitled "The Future of Education in Vermont."  In much the same manner as the Governor's school governance white paper, it kicked off a series of forums that are ongoing.  Different stakeholders are being invited separately to these forums this time, however.  These forums have not been covered by the media, strangely enough.

I recently spoke to Bill Corrow, a veteran member of the State Board and a former vice-chairman.  We all should remember Mr. Corrow as the former Air Force lieutenant colonel who ran afoul of the NEA for volunteering to teach a course at Williamstown High School.

Corrow is one of a number of Board members who would like to see our system of education transformed to better fit our current and future needs.  Says Corrow, "We're giving students a 1950s education, and we should be building a 21st century education."

Corrow is quick to insist that what's in the document is a "hypothetical straw man" being put out to Vermonters rather than an actual proposal.  Nevertheless, the document contains ambitious ideas, such as replacing Carnegie units with "flexible learning environments."

Corrow readily acknowledges the challenges that lie ahead.  "How do you rebuild a plane in flight?" asks Corrow.  The political challenges are certainly daunting.   "How this will look ultimately will be influenced by the most powerful players in education, including the NEA, which will take care of the interests of its members, and also the Vermont School Boards Association and the Legislature."

Corrow noted that while Vermont-NEA and VSBA have given tentative approval, it’s difficult to gauge the depth of their  commitment. Corrow certainly has reason to be  concerned with the sincerity of Vermont-NEA.  A few years ago when he was pushing to make it illegal for teachers to engage in sexual relations with students over the age of consent, Vermont -NEA gave the bill public support while lobbying to kill it behind the scenes.    We’ll see what happens. 

Comments

[Retta Dunlap]

Curt, I am glad you brought this up. It is not getting the media attention that it deserves.

This document began its journey in August at the State Board of Ed’s annual ‘retreat’. I attended part of this meeting in which they discussed the following concept: what would you want for education if you could start over and have anything you wanted. This document is the result of that conversation. For five hours, I listened to them talk about this. It was fascinating.

The ‘Vermont Education Report’ has written about this but this is not “news media.” The media is missing an important piece of history in the making.

I saw in the State Board recognition that education has to change. It needs to be more innovative and student centered. They get it. There is a huge difference between “education governance” and the term “consolidation.” The difference lies in the vision or the ideal in which these words are set.

They started from the bottom up. They started by having parents and students come in and talk about what they liked and did not like about the current system. Even homeschoolers were invited. Many of them have left the public schools. The next month they invited teachers and principals and in December, they will have superintendents and school board members.

Anyone can comment to the document. I encourage you to do so. They need some input from people who went through the public school system but are not currently connected to education.