Educators Want Action Forum Filled With Talk Teachers Support, But Have Heard Before

Back to the basics. Smaller classes. Discipline. Accountability. Parent involvement. Phonics.

The words and phrases were familiar to educators who attended Wednesday’s public hearing on statewide education reform.

What was new, however, was how the issues were framed in frustration by a few speakers experiencing a sense of deja vu.

“Things don’t seem to change,” said Christine Wold, an instructor at North Idaho College. “We study, we write. We study, we write. We study, we write.

“Unless we do something and come up with implementation of these ideas, we won’t be any further along than we were when I came to Idaho 15 years ago.”

This round of discussions is being conducted by state schools Superintendent Anne Fox’s administration.

Assistant state superintendent Tom Farley explained to parents and educators at the hearing, “She wants to give the public another shot at this because she does have a different philosophy.”

Fox was unable to make the North Idaho hearing, held for five hours at Templin’s Resort in Post Falls, because she was preparing for today’s state Board of Education meeting. Dozens of parents, school teachers and administrators circulated through the three hearing rooms to listen and give their opinions.

Some people worried aloud that Fox would let politics erase the last four or five years of work on education reform in the state.

Sen. Mary Lou Reed came to the podium with a stack of books - the result of years of talk about reform goals and curriculum guidelines.

“A tremendous amount of time has already been invested,” Reed said. “It’s time to build on that, not do away with it or brush it under the rug or do it again.”

Coeur d’Alene High School Principal Steve Casey made a similar plea, saying, “I’m concerned that…we can come in arbitrarily and throw all these goals out.”

Robert Watson, the state Department of Education analyst moderating a session on school improvement, found himself more than once trying to clarify the intent of the new reform efforts.

“For some reason, the impression exists that we’re planning to scrap the Schools for 2000 goals,” he said. The plan is to build on the previous committee’s work, not to scrap it, he said.

Some speakers raised a few of Fox’s actions that have led to the impression that she plans to undo previous reform efforts:

Fox placed a moratorium on distributing the new state curriculum guides, called “Frameworks,” that resulted from the work of the state’s Goals and Testing Commission.

She successfully convinced the Board of Education to disband the former reform committee so she could appoint members more in line with her “back to the basics” philosophy.

She initially attempted to reject federal Goals 2000 money, saying it would create mandates for the state.

Fox was subsequently overruled by the state board. The state has accepted the federal money, which came with a mandate to develop a statewide education improvement plan. Wednesday’s hearing was a part of the process to develop that plan.

The hearing drew parents of differing philosophies and several educators. Disagreements were bridged by a general desire that students master the basic academic skills.

A few speakers lambasted “touchy-feely” programs that detract from the basics.

“Back to the basics, back to the basics, back to the basics,” intoned Paul Votava of Bonner County. “Forget at-risk, self-esteem and other namby-pamby programs that have been proven to be failures.”

Yet other people wanted the state to ensure that certain extra services survive federal budget cuts.

Several people requested that the state pay for the federal Reading Recovery program, a tutorial program that targets first-graders who have been identified as being “at-risk” of becoming nonreaders. Federal money for the program is in jeopardy.

“I have watched first-graders take hold and make fantastic growth” as readers, said Russ Bailey, who teaches remedial programs at Bryan Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene.

The comments from Wednesday’s hearing and other hearings around the state will be gathered in a report and distributed to the state Board of Education, the new state reform committee and the public.

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