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
