Reform—Education and Health Care!!

Last week I said that I’d follow up with my thoughts on the Transformational option of the education reform initiatives, most specifically my fervent, passionate belief that when teachers are empowered that they take the right actions and make the right decisions for kids.  This belief and set of practices is often labeled fantasy by those who believe that when teachers play a larger role in decision making they act out of self-interest.

There is some truth to this!  Did I hear myself saying that?? There’s what I mean.  When teachers exist in bondage (autocratically-run schools over a prolonged period of time) they are often wounded, fearful and immature.  Moving toward mature, value-based lives requires a transition through the passage of democratized workplaces, discovery and imagination, conversations, and actual experience with respectful treatment. How long does this take?  I’m seem it make great strides forward in 18 months…

I want to share a note I received from Chris Vogelsang, Deputy Superintendent in Syracuse City Schools last week—where real reform is happening:

Congratulations on the release of your books!  We are knee deep in the reform movement here in Syracuse and New York as a whole.  Our school leadership teams are an integral part of the reforms.  If you have the time and what to see what is going on with our Say Yes to Education Project that was just being planned when you are here go to www.sayyessyracuse.com.  We sent more than 600 graduates off to college, tuition free, in September.  We still have a long way to go, but we are on track. NYS named 3 of my schools in the race to the top group of 57.  Each school has a redesign team of teacher leaders and administrators to move them to the transformation model as outlined by the state.  We did not consider the turnaround model as you had to remove 50% or more of the staff.  Anyway, just wanted you to know we are doing fine and still using your work.  We just had the school leadership teams take your survey so we can evaluate the difference between what the staff think and what the School Leadership Teams think of the shared decision making process as it is in place now.

Now for the thrill of the century!! After a lifetime of waiting…when the House adopted the Senate health bill today we can realize a future in which pre-existing conditions will be eliminated, health care can no longer be cancelled when people become sick. Millions of the uninsured now will be insured. Small businesses will be helped with insurance.  Children can be covered through age 25. Young mothers and children will be protected. Poverty and race will no longer be a sure sign that larger numbers of children will die in infancy and life expectation will be less. Lifetime health limits will be lifted.  The sought-after legacies of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, John Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, King and especially Ted Kennedy are finally being realized.  We join the 21^st century with other civilized countries.

“Talk” with you again next week….

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.