March 22, 2001
STATEMENT ON FY02 BUDGET
(addresses Understanding
our Differences)
One
of the major underlying principles of the FY02 budget proposal is our belief
that in the elementary schools in Newton, teachers and students need more time
together to work on core curriculum, which I believe includes the traditional
academic subjects plus music, art, physical education, library/media and
technology. This goal is derived not
from a desire to fill young children with facts, but rather from a recognition
that there is a never-ending set of demands placed upon students—to learn more,
to learn better, to learn faster, to learn more individualistically, and so
on. The Education Reform Act, with its
mandates around curriculum frameworks and MCAS testing, adds significantly to
the pressures students feel to accomplish all that is expected of them. It is also an old saw in our field that
superintendents love to add new courses of study to school curriculum, but
there never lived a superintendent who told teachers there was something they
did not have to continue doing, to make room for the new program initiatives.
Two
years ago, in an effort to understand the complexities and challenges of
teaching in Newton’s elementary schools, I convened the Elementary Task Force,
a group of teachers, administrators and parents who surveyed the landscape in
our schools and made recommendations for focusing energy and resources on the
most important activities and programs in our schools. The basic thrust of this report was to point
out the fragmentation of the elementary school day and week and to seek ways to
create the conditions in which teachers and students could accomplish all that
was expected of them.
We
discovered that in addition to the formal curriculum demands, staff and
students participated in a large number of supplementary programs, including
Understanding our Differences, DARE, bike safety, fire safety, and a number of
others, all of which took a certain amount of time away from the core learning
in schools. We found ourselves as a
system in the unenviable position of having to choose between giving time to
teachers and students for core curriculum, on the one hand, and preserving the
richness and diversity of experience for students, on the other.
In
this year’s budget proposal, cognizant of the fiscal reality that would
necessitate cuts of one kind or another in the school program, I advanced the
view that we should make the difficult choice and focus on the core. Consequently, a number of long-standing,
popular programs were reduced or eliminated.
Chief among these, of course, is Understanding our Differences, a program
with a twenty year history in the Newton Public Schools.
Before
making this proposal, I turned first to the report of the Elementary Task
Force, which noted the benefits of UOD: it teaches empathy and tolerance, it
encourages family discussion, and the sessions are well scripted and well done. Other respondents opined that the program
needs updating, and that instruction about disability awareness should be
integrated into the curriculum using literature activities rather than as stand
alone lessons taught by volunteers, although, somewhat paradoxically, many
people observed that the presence of parent volunteers in the schools was one
of the great strengths of the program.
I
then met with our fifteen elementary school principals, some of whom are here
this evening, to probe more deeply into their views of the merits of UOD. Again they expressed their desire to
integrate the basic principles of the UOD program into the regular curriculum,
although they again advocated for a different structure for delivering
instruction.
Continuing
my search for resolution, I met yesterday with members of the UOD Board of
Directors. They were passionate and
compelling in describing their reasons for maintaining the program, citing not
only the importance of teaching disability awareness but also the value of
community involvement in the schools.
Today,
it occurs to me that these two “sides” need not be “sides.” For reasons of stress, or financial
pressures, or educational demands, or societal expectations, somehow the
discussion between UOD and the Newton Public Schools has become positional,
leading to a scenario where someone will win and someone will lose.
It
is striking to me that what really underlies this “contest,” ironically, is a
set of shared values and interests. We
all share in the belief that it is important for schools to teach about respect
for human differences. We also share
the fundamental belief that schools are better places when parents and
community members are actively involved in the life of the school. I have to believe that we can grasp this
moment of apparent conflict and transform it into a process that points the way
to a more certain, satisfying future.
Thus,
my proposal this evening is as follows.
For purposes of the FY02 budget, I am recommending that we reinstate UOD
in its current structure.
With the understanding that there have
been numerous task forces convened over the years with the intention of
modifying the UOD program, I will set as one of my personal goals next year to
bring together staff and community members, including members of the UOD Board,
in a conversation about how we can best teach about respect for human
differences in our elementary schools.
To indicate the importance I place on this entire matter, I will take
personal responsibility for leading this discussion. I will push the question of whether we should be highlighting
differences per se or discussing the ways our society responds to human
differences. By this time next year, I
will have a further recommendation that reflects our effort to build something
new together. This will come in the
context of what we in this city want our children to learn in school about
human differences. We may or may not be
united in our views next year on this subject, but at least we will have had the
conversation.
For
now, I ask the School Committee to restore UOD to the FY02 budget and
acknowledge that one of the Superintendent’s goals for school year 2001/02 will
be to reach closure on the matters I have been discussing above.
Until then, I ask all members of our
community—teachers, principals, administrators, parents, citizens and
students—to join me in this critically important conversation that will affect
the lives of thousands of Newton’s children.
Jeffrey M. Young
Superintendent of Schools