Beyond the letters pages

To the Telegraph:

Three cheers for Adam Howell's 3/17/05 article: "Parents Stymied by 9R: Committees push board and superintendent for dialogue." I congratulate the Telegraph for its willingness to travel some uncomfortable community territory by reporting on public education policy-making. Independent journalists inevitably risk stepping on the toes of well-respected, powerful people, whose jobs might be less complicated and more palatable absent this kind of scrutiny.

Both the Telegraph and the Durango Herald supply "Letters to the Editor" pages, where critical opinions can be expressed. But without digging up background information and writing articles like Howell's, newspapers leave the casual reader in the dark, with no chance of understanding a sudden spate of letters calling for resignations, and certainly no way to make the connections to each other that would improve our chances of collaborative problem solving.

Howell's article is a great start on recent school district concerns. With luck it will spark an appropriate response and the 9-R board will take seriously its need to create direct dialogue with constituents.

School boards are wise to refrain from micromanaging, but none of the current 9-R critics are asking for that. Collectively, they are raising larger issues about the superintendent's decision making style and the board's Governing Policies, as currently written. They are totally willing to move on from their own specific issues, as long as the board will address the possibility of an information deficit caused by a tendency to underrate information coming from the community, whenever that information contradicts information coming from 9-R administrative staff.We are lucky to live in a relatively prosperous and untroubled place, without the challenges of Front Range urban districts. We pride ourselves on the $84.5 million we raised to renovate every building. The passage of that bond is a reflection of the abundant social capital of our community. Now, post construction, we want and need the educational leadership to channel that abundant good will into support for our wonderful teachers. Working overtime and against the odds, many unsung heroes are building innovative programs that do not receive adequate funding. Visit DHS and talk with teachers. They take seriously the diverse learning styles, circumstances and aspirations of our student population. They cannot do the job alone. We have to come together as a community to give all of our children a fair chance of developing into productive, healthy, resilient adults.

A current proposal from the superintendent and board president has been made to remove "foundation skills" from the District's Ends Policies, or goals.It is a tricky subject and should not be decided without extensive conversation with parents, students and teachers. In fact, it is our teachers, who work the front lines every day with our collective children, who should be informing board members on their experiences operating in the new NCLB (No Child Left Behind) culture.

Are we immune to the pressures NCLB is creating in other school districts because of our easier demographics? Should we be concerned about negative impacts on individual classrooms and programs? To date, there has been no indication from the district to us that our children and teachers are paying any price for compliance to NCLB. The superintendent has said that "CSAPs only take a few hours of class time each year," suggesting that while there are problems, these are limited to "performance rankings" and district level accountability measures.

It will take our whole village to raise our children well. But contemporary villages like ours increasingly lack the time and space required to even meet and get to know each other. If the board would be willing to accept responsibility in this arena, they are poised to create the civic space for our village to begin talking again together, beyond the letters pages of our newspapers.

- Bliss Bruen,

Durango

The newcomers' dilemma

To the Editors:

Every now and then you run across someone like Lynn Moore (letters, 3/31/05). They are the folks who believe the problem with our town is everyone else moving here, not them. (I wonder how many City Council meetings she attends?) I think the psychological term is transference -"an act, process or instance of transferring." In other words, it's them not me!

This attitude has hurt this community on more than one occasion. Even world-renowned professionals paid to share their expertise on planning and growth are met with, "Yes, but, not in our town." Then there is the unspoken thought, "you have no right to speak out or voice concerns because you've only been here for five years, and I've been here all my life, and you couldn't possibly understand." It is the narrow-minded who won't embrace the right for everyone to share their opinions about where they live and pay taxes, whether they migrated from (dare I say the "C" word?) California last year, or from Texas after years of visiting. It doesn't matter that you may be an educated, traveled and knowledgeable community member with valuable insights based on your last home town. No, you've got to have a time period under your belt preferably born and raised here, but a couple of decades will suffice. The provincial, non-participants are a bigger part of our problem than the newcomers who truly care and want to see positive change. Maybe they had experience somewhere else and even have solutions that worked in the towns they left behind. If we really want to place blame, it's on those of us here who haven't taken the time or shown the interest to protect our place, values and way of life, long before the folks get off the train, or ski lift, and unpack their bags.

And isn't it interesting that the very thing Ms. Moore is complaining about in Durango, she will become in her next chosen destination town - a newcomer who will contribute to the growth of that "sweet little town." Perhaps we should all visit her there, or better yet, we'll move there. Just remember, it will be five, maybe 10 years before we can really become involved or contribute an opinion to that town ... oh yeah, and if you're from California, you will have to wait an additional five years before speaking up, or maybe it should be seven years. And New York, you're from New York? Well, that's a good 15-year waiting period before any involvement, pushy New Yorkers, etc, etc, etc!

- Laurie E. Dickson,

Durango

Ignored by the school board

Dear Editors:

I want to thank Adam Howell for his terrific March 24 article, "Parent groups stymied by district." Mr. Howell referred to John Carver, who wrote the Policy Governance model often referred to by Durango's School Board. He wrote that, according to Carver, " the board is obligated to give citizens the controlling voice more so than help staff ." It seems that our board forgot to read that section.

I'm one of the parents referred to in the article who has been ignored by most members of the board. More than one year ago, a committee of parents was formed with the goal of making a meaningful contribution to Durango High School. After a series of confidential surveys of teachers and staff, a brainstorming session with teachers, and several meetings with teachers and administrators, we presented some concerns and ideas to Dr. Barter. After it became apparent that she had no intention of addressing those concerns, we approached the board, which officially refused to talk with us, citing Policy Governance as the reason. The board president firmly stated at a recent meeting that they would never discuss those issues with us. Last week, I received a letter from her that indicated that she neither listened to our presentation nor read the report we gave to each member. In her letter, she suggested that our group present our ideas to the Durango High School teachers and administration. In our report it is quite clear that the ideas were not ours; they came from the teachers at DHS. If board members think they can't have discussions with the public about substantive issues concerning our schools because of their commitment to Policy Governance, then changes need to be made in their governing style.

- Cheryle Brandsma,

Durango