By Gretchen Garrity
The Ozark Schools Support Team is holding two town hall meetings on Thursday and Saturday at the Christian County Library, Ozark branch. The first meeting will be August 17, from 5:30-7 p.m., and the second will be August 19, from 9:30-11 a.m. The library is located at 1005 N. 4th Ave., in Ozark.
Topics to be covered include the top-down organizational structure that prevents local control, the role of administration members, how to best utilize school board members, the current audit petition, how you can get involved, and much more.
A small example of information from a brochure that will be available at the town hall meetings includes:
Ozark Schools spending has increased in the last five years from $63.3 million to an estimated $101.6 million for the 2023-24 school year.
The Ozark School District has at least $90 million in debt.
Building maintenance has been deferred
Teacher salaries are lower than nearby districts
RTWO spoke with a member of OSST, Ruth Downey, and asked her a few questions.
How do you get buy-in from a school board that has long operated under the current system? What would you say to a member if you had their undivided attention, but only for a few minutes?
The school board training that we have seen would seem to give the organization’s story with a slant and implies that all control is in the superintendent’s hands while limiting or ignoring the influence the school board has--with only a passing mention of students or students’ needs and priorities.
The training indicates that board members are not to interact with the public that elected them or give their personal opinion to anyone at any time. It is necessary for the parents and taxpaying community to become better informed as to what is going on in their district, not just what their students are exposed to or what is being communicated in the local press. The school has unlimited positive communication channels open to them, making it difficult to get information to people unless they are willing to look for it and network with those who are working to improve our schools and the education our students are receiving.
An example of this is the claimed graduation rate of 97.6% in Ozark schools, yet over 40% of our students are currently testing at achievement levels that are "Basic" or "Below Basic.” These terms mean they have a minimal or partial understanding of the material they are being tested on: Reading, Science, Math, and Language Arts. This implies that 40% are not work, college, or citizenship ready and are not prepared to function in the world today, much less prepared for what the future will bring.
It seems as if the children and their academic well-being have suffered greatly in the last few years. What can turn things around quickly?
The biggest problem we have seen is the pressure coming on school districts and school boards from state, national even international organizations with little or no awareness of this happening at the local level. School boards can change that by using the responsibility they have and asking more questions about these outsiders, and transparently sharing that with their local community, including the financial cost of some of these programs. These organizations are not locally based and many do not share our values and concerns for our families, short and long term. Doing this would allow local schools to be local and get back to teaching curriculum with content and structure learning for their students’ benefit.
There is a move in many different public institutions to move away from institutional accreditation for certain positions. Do you see that happening with school associations? Why or why not?
Like most businesses, staffing is a huge challenge within education. Missouri recently passed a law that lowered the requirements for substitutes allowing community members that are not certified to share their skills and experience while supporting local schools and benefiting students. Ozark schools have taken advantage of volunteers and tutors from the community as well.
Traditionally, licensing and certification has been a way to limit those who can participate in a given field and is often used by organizations to control who can and cannot participate. We have heard of teachers being threatened with loss of their certifications, their livelihood and way of supporting their family, if they do not conform to administration dictates. This is a harmful use of power. That said, there is a place for basic requirements for teachers; we are just not sure these requirements should be dictated by organizations on the state and national level.
It seems as if the schools ask for more and more funding, but scores keep falling. Why is that?
Schools keep increasing the number of non-teaching administrators with an average salary double that of teachers, while adding layers of administrative tasks on teachers. Teachers spend more and more time filling out reports, teaching values that may or may not be the values of Ozark and Christian County, and maintaining discipline and less time on content, comprehension and understanding. They are often required to use curriculum that limits what and how they can teach and frequently cannot use creative approaches that allow them to connect with their students in a meaningful way.
One suggestion, an easy one, is that the superintendent should not sit at the same table as the school board. Why is that important?
This sounds symbolic, but superintendents have been in the habit of literally running the meetings which gives the impression, particularly to the public, that they are in charge of the board, rather than that the school board is the legal authority in charge of the superintendent.
The school board has the authority from the State of Missouri to hire and fire the superintendent, which is not always apparent to the general public. In past meetings the superintendent has been in full control of the meeting as the superintendent already sets the agenda prior to the meeting, controls the information packet distribution to the board and the timing of it. This often results in insufficient time to digest the contents and supporting documents by board members and does not allow them to make informed decisions.
Most decisions seem to be already made prior to the open board meetings and the school board has little or no input and basically operates like a "rubber stamp.” Another simple thing to change would be to simplify access to information on the school's website. Other schools have much simpler lists that are easy to locate with budgets, financials, monthly reports, minutes and agendas going years back. Such access would lower the difficulty for the public to be informed and address issues as the agenda is again, controlled by the superintendent, and available to the public the minimum 24 hours required by law.
If the public wants to address anything not on the agenda (which they don't see until 24 hours before the meeting) it takes a minimum of a week and a visit with the superintendent to perhaps have that opportunity as the superintendent may or may not add something to the agenda. Ozark has promised to begin archiving the open school board meetings, something they have not been doing.
Anything else you would like to share?
Our teachers are devoted and among the best around and desire what is best for their students. Sadly, their ability to be creative and to teach is constrained by requirements and curriculum they are given by school administrations. They often work under trying circumstances with limited resources. Our children, our grandchildren, the students of every school, are our most precious resource and the future of our country. They deserve the best. It seems, however, that the current structure of the education system is serving itself and its goals while neglecting the education of students.
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For more information about the town hall meetings and the Ozark Schools Support Team:
Email: OSST65721@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OzarkSchoolsSupportTeam
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OzarkSchoolsSupportTeam
Website: https://www.ozarksst.com
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