According to today’s Tennessean, 24% of the state's school aged children are living at the poverty level, and that number represents a recent surge. The Census Bureau’s estimate is that more than one out of every four children between the ages of 5 and 17 here in Nashville are living in poverty. This is an increase from one out of every four just five years ago and places Tennessee at number eight on the list of states with the highest school aged poverty.
The article goes on to say that more and more, families are turning to schools that have been willing to provide assistance including extra meals, even on holidays. In Franklin, meals were provided over the summer to needy families. On a regular basis schools help with coats, shoes and clothes. In our Franklin schools, our social worker has helped families with holiday grocery baskets, assistance with medications, general toiletries as well as payment of utility bills and rent for poverty stricken families. Schools have been called to tasks far beyond education.
In contrast, just this morning I received an angry email from a parent who was concerned about the amount of homework being assigned to her children. The statement that struck me most was that “all your school cares about is TCAP scores”. Sadly, there is much truth in that. We have no choice but to place the highest priority on those scores if we want to remain employed. For some, the gaining of skills requires more practice than for others. Test scores do not take this into account – just like test scores don’t address poverty, abuse and socio-economics. Unfortunately, much research indicates that standardized tests are biased against those from lower socioeconomic groups, thus enhancing the detrimental effects of poverty and the appearance of school ineffectiveness.
In any case, it appears that schools are being asked to not only educate to the test, but to feed, clothe and provide for families. Schools are also more and more responsible for providing after hours tutoring with transportation, obesity prevention, discipline and many times must act as parents. This is to be done without additional funding or salary increases for school personnel. Much worse, it is to be done amid relentless media portrayal of schools as uncaring, lazy institutions that should be drug tested, monitored and scrutinized beyond what is appropriate and necessary. All of these additional tasks are to be accomplished amid numerous parent complaints and too often, general lack of support and responsibility from parents, students, politicans - and particularly the media.
It would appear from the journalists and political leaders that public schools are institutions full of people who are not doing their jobs; who are getting by with the least amount of effort possible. The news is full of stores about schools who ignore bullying, have low test scores, have ineffective teachers, violence etc. Yet, society is turning to those very institutions to fill basic needs. And schools rise to the occasion. They typically do.
Herein lies my point. I watch caring professionals every day who go beyond the call of duty for students and their families. I see teachers who show up early, leave late and pour their hearts into every new teaching strategy they can find. I coordinate efforts for needy families daily. Do bad things sometimes happen? Of course they do. Are there some teachers who are downright bad? Of course there are, but those are the minority. I see very few news stories that celebrate public schools as the vital, often heroic centers they are.
Comments