I was not present at this meeting so this report is based on information from two people who were.
Kennewick School Board Meeting September 29, 2010
This meeting was planned as a workshop meeting.
All board members were present.
• Business carried over from the previous meeting was rewriting the travel policy for student groups traveling during school time. An amendment to the existing policy will be drafted for student groups not affiliated with sports teams or curricular activities. The Kamiakin Dance Team is an example .
• All district principals will be required to present their building standardized test results to a panel of citizens at the ESD on Friday, October 29. I refer readers to my School Board Report of August 30, 2010.
• The district’s Strategic Plan was the major focus of this meeting. After considerable discussion and argument board president, Dawn Adams adjourned the meeting early because progress was not being made. See details below.
Strategic Plan -
I want to offer some background to this issue. Until two years ago it was board practice to include the Kennewick Education Association (KEA), individual teachers, central district administration and community members in discussions about the district Strategic Plan. All participants sat around a large table which enabled everyone to engage in the dialogue.
This year board member Lynn Fielding presented a document for consideration by other board members. The KEA, teachers and community members were not invited to participate. Because this proposed Strategic Plan was a work in progress copies were not available to the public and public comments were not invited.
Also, two years ago new board members Wendy London and Kathy White proposed the board take advantage of training offered by the ESD. This training is designed to define board members’ roles and responsibilities. KEA requested the KSD administration present this proposal to the school board, but the majority of the school board including Fielding and Adams did not believe training was necessary and therefore training did not take place.
In the context of analyzing and preparing the district Strategic Plan during this meeting London asked for clarification of the purpose and role of the Kennewick School Board. A contentious discussion followed. Frustration was expressed about the three vote bloc on the board. London suggested that she and Fielding arrange conflict mediation to find a way to work together.
Some district teachers observing this board meeting declared they would write letters to the editor of the Tri-City Herald or speak with other staff about the apparent inability of this board to conduct district business professionally. Others offered that it is time for the board to take advantage of ESD training.
I am updating this report with information received 10/13/2010
Following the board’s discussion of Fielding’s proposed KSD Strategic Plan the board voted to accept a district strategic plan which had been presented by Dave Bond last June. Bond’s proposed strategic plan had been developed collaboratively with district administrators and staff. This plan is now displayed in district buildings.
It is no secret that Lynn Fielding has been micro-managing the Kennewick School District for at least the last ten years now. Through his “Children’s Reading Foundation” and “Ready” and “20 minutes a day” programs, he has convinced most of the influential people in our community that he is the Messiah of literacy. Doctors, fellow lawyers, bankers, real estate brokers, and key members of the Tri-City Herald are either board members, sponsors, or “friends” of the Reading Foundation. So these movers and shakers in our town are already heavily invested in Mr. Fielding and his misguided version of a quality education without realizing how damaging his policies really are to our kids.
But the teachers know!
However, to criticize him or his programs is problematic for teachers because it immediately appears we must be against literacy for our children. In reality though, what teachers want is a much higher quality education for our kids. Mr. Fielding’s policies are producing mediocre students who are drilled for up to three hours a day to pass a very particular and narrow reading test. In the spring the students take this test in a room with a para-educator provided by Mr. Fielding’s policies, who, in many instances, READ the test questions aloud to the students. The scores that result are what comprise the much-heralded 90% Reading Goal.
Plain and simple: It’s bogus! It’s smoke and mirrors with policies, tests, and statistics. It has already been mentioned on this site that the students only have to be at the 38th percentile to qualify for “at grade level” in the 3rd grade! Why is the bar so low?
Mr. Fielding has figured out that the educational arena is a very profitable place for snake-oil salesmen. His books and services are all for sale, and most what he has for sale is based on the bogus reading statistics he is producing in our district.
Think about it: He is like the great and powerful Oz behind the curtain. He has his hands on all the controls in the Kennewick School District–the texts, programs, procedures, tests, facilities, and money. It is no mystery why he should bring his own draft of the district strategic plan to a board meeting and try to unilaterally shove it down everyone’s throat. He has been doing it for years.
I have personally gone to a school board meeting and told Mr. Fielding that he has a huge conflict of interest between his role as a board member and his books and educational consulting business, and the right thing to do is step down. It puts his ethics in question, and as a teacher in the district, I now have to always wonder what is really motivating Mr. Fielding’s policies–our children’s welfare or his personal gain? Voters and taxpayers should be asking the same question.
His defense to the charge was that he “recuses” himself from any votes dealing with tax money going to his foundation, and his books are non-profit. But anyone with any sense knows that as soon as he is no longer a board member, he can flip the shingle around and be completely open for business and profit. He may very well be building the infrastructure of a lucrative retirement program for himself on the backs of Kennewick children, parents, teachers, and administrators. How do we know?
In the past couple years Mr. Fielding has missed a number of board meetings because he has been consulting with other districts around the country promoting his books and the hyped statistics that support them. I understand he has now become an expert on Response to Intervention (RTI) as well.
As an elected official, he can be publically scrutinized by anyone including teachers in the district without fear of reprisal (teachers are voters and taxpayers also). It’s time more teachers spoke up and pulled the curtain back on the Great and Powerful Oz. Our kids are certainly worth the effort.
I have added an update to the end of my original school board report.