Support Our Public Schools

I’ve been making a deliberate effort to limit my time on social media, and it has been quite a while since the news has been a regular part of my routine. However, as I was returning home yesterday I had the radio tuned to a local news station and heard the following two headlines – both irritating for different reasons:

1. Lawmaker accused of bringing box cutter to Maryvale High School to ‘test’ security system

2. Two people from out of state plead guilty to defrauding Arizona school voucher program

Tragically, last week, a student at Maryvale High School in Phoenix was stabbed to death at the school. We can all agree that this should never happen. I do not know the details of this specific event. Having served as a junior high school principal for fourteen years, school violence has become an emotional trigger for me. During my career, I invested an untold number of hours planning and preparing in an effort to prevent this type of incident on campus, but I also worried because I knew that even with best efforts, there were many things that were simply beyond my control. 

I don’t know if the first story I referenced is true (the lawmaker denies that this incident occurred), but if so that would be extremely irresponsible (against the law) and it places the focus in the wrong place – treating the symptoms, not the disease. Maryvale High School is equipped with metal detectors so as you might suspect, there is a great deal of scrutiny on how the student was able to get a knife through campus security. We should expect school leaders and educators to take reasonable steps to keep students safe. I am not in a position to say whether that was the case in this particular incident. However, I can tell you that most public schools are not funded, or equipped to provide this level of protection. Schools are not airports, courtrooms, prisons, or the Whitehouse. If, as a society, we want a level of safety on par with “high security” locations, schools will require human and financial support. Unfortunately, this has become the grim (and largely accepted) reality of schools in the United States.

It is challenging for schools to maintain teaching and learning as their top priority. There is simply too much on their plate. As a former principal, if you asked me to prioritize student safety, social-emotional supports, and learning they would be in that order. The first two are intricately entwined. Schools that are aware of the social-emotional needs of their students, and provide support, have a better pulse on the campus and in some cases can prevent issues of violence. Learning, third on my list, is contingent upon students feeling safe and regulated. Unfortunately, many of our Arizona state leaders – including the state superintendent of public instruction – fail to recognize the correlation between safety, social emotional needs, and learning. We would be wise to heed the words of Desmond Tutu, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.”  

The second story actually has connections to the first. As the state of Arizona invests heavily in school choice and Empowerment Scholarships (school vouchers) they leave public schools financially hemmoraging. Additional funding could be used to support student learning, but also to provide social-emotional support (counselors, social workers) and appropriate security measures (security guards, cameras, metal detectors).  It doesn’t take much effort to identify fraud and abuse of the Arizona school voucher system – it is well documented. In this particular incident, this couple created accounts for “ghost” students and collected over one-hundred thousand dollars from the state. In addition fraud, a significant portion of the scholarships have been utilized by families of significant means, or those whose students were already attending private schools.

I believe parents deserve choice in where they send their students for an education. However, public schools provide a safety net for students and families and need financial protections. There are quality charter schools in Arizona that do a good job of stewarding finances and providing for their students. However, I have first-hand experience with charters that find a way to keep students enrolled through the one-hundreth school day (the date that determines a school’s state funding allocation) and then conveniently pass them off to their designated public school with suggestions that they may be retained, or long-term suspended if they remain. In addition, many charter and private schools will not accept students with special needs because they lack the resources to provide appropriate support. The “public” in public schools means that anyone living within that school's boundary is eligible for enrollment. There is no “gatekeeping.” Public schools have the responsibility of serving and educating each and every student that walks through the front door. The way it should be.

Please support your local public schools and advocate for appropriate funding. In Arizona, the state legislature has been grossly negligent in their lack of support of all students. As we approach November, you will notice many districts with bonds or overrides for public consideration. Vote yes. The reason these initiatives are on the ballot is because the state has done an abysmal job in providing the funds necessary to maintain facilities, cover the cost of inflation, pay teachers and staff, and provide adequate security measures. Even if you have kids who attend a charter or private school – or don’t have children in school – we all have an interest in maintaining a strong public school system to ensure we meet the needs of all students.