Summary of January 21, 2015 Meeting

Superintendent Update

Technology: The Lincoln Board of Education has passed a resolution that better defines the Lincoln Public Schools intention for curriculum development, professional support and purpose for technology in the coming years, LPS Superintendent Steve Joel told the LPS Teacher Advisory Council on Jan. 21. The Board of Education will finalize a sustainable plan this spring to ensure all LPS students will have access to technology-supported curriculum and instruction.

• Question: Culler Middle School and Riley Elementary School served as pilot programs this year for technology – which schools will be next?
• Answer: We will definitely need to decide soon, because we know that wherever we go we need to make sure we have professional development and coaches…We’ve learned that those are important factors from our experiences at Culler and Riley.

Nebraska Legislature 2015 session: “We have many new state senators and a new governor and there are lots of issues this year. I encourage you all to follow the proceedings.”

Education issues include:

• Examining taxation in the state including state aid to education.
• Vouchers and charter schools: “We must be realistic and be alert to the discussion on charter schools…There is big profit in the charter business….and parents today view public education differently as much more consumer driven.”

Social media impact on education: “We know there is a general sense of almost paranoia these days – that something will happen in our school district at any moment that will be broadcast on social media,” Joel said. “It could be something that we might not even be aware of. That may or may not be grounded in fact. But that will get bigger and bigger. And that we cannot respond to fast enough.”

In addition, Joel said, principals report that Monday mornings are becoming even more challenging because they must deal with what happened with their students in social media over the weekend.

“The question becomes: How do we monitor what kids are doing on social media? How do we monitor what parents are saying about our schools? It puts our educators and staff members in a tough position.

He also noted that parents, community members, even LPS staff members are increasingly not willing to work through the traditional chain of command – and instead go directly to news media and social media. “We find ourselves almost immediately pulled into an accusatory discussion – for issues that could have been handled at the classroom level.”

Comments from Teacher Advisory Council members:

• “One of my focuses is mental health…and I keep thinking about these young developing minds. They cannot rationally reason through the rejection they feel when something bad happens in social media….It is definitely causing more social, emotional issues.”

• “I have been talking with my class about appropriate uses of social media and digital civility. I show them how I might share a picture of my dog, my family. I tell them how I’m using social media, and about how I use it with great caution. We talk about how – when they are old enough to have Facebook – they must only accept people they know as ‘friends.’ Social media is not going away, and kids are going to have these experiences. So we need to walk them through these steps. Like it or not, they will be using social media.”

• “I think we must pay attention to teachable moments….We need to say to our students: ‘Is this something you would say in person? Well then why would you say it in social media?’ Kids are not giving up Instagram, so ignoring it is the worst thing we can do. We need to be teaching them digital citizenship – it’s as essential as anything we are teaching them…How can they be wise stewards of information?”

• “I am a second grade teacher and have discovered times when parents are posting things in social media – instead of calling me, or the school or principal to address an issue or concern…They don’t even give us a chance to respond.”

• “Schoo Middle School has banned cell phones during academic time and we believe it is working…We tell students that phones must stay in their lockers…and it has allowed us to refocus student attention. We’re finding mostly positive responses.”

Tabletop discussions

Joel said that LPS policy is clear in encouraging parents to get involved in their child’s education. “I think we do a pretty good job letting parents know when we are talking about controversial content, and that they can opt out their students….

And I believe most parents understand that it is far better for a school district to have these conversations in class, than for issues to be left to chance – or for kids to hear inaccurate information from their friends….We do not want to run for cover and not address these important issues…

“Yet some parents believe we are not notifying them in advance for controversial content. What would you say? What are you hearing in your schools? What are you hearing about social media? How are you communicating with your parents?”

Comments from Teacher Advisory Council members:

“I think we need to teach parents about digital civility – perhaps through our parent groups, through our PTOs. We need to ask what kind of culture we want for our schools – what do we as parents want? We need to encourage them to go to the teacher first. Try and stay off social media. We want to engage parents directly…Perhaps we go out and ask our parents and PTOs for their support. We want to model the correct digital behavior for our children.”

“We cannot walk away from teaching tolerance. We have to validate children – all children – starting at a young age…building their self esteem and self worth…But we also need to help educate parents….We need to let them know: ‘Here is what we are talking about at school – we hope you have those dinnertime conversations…Please help us teach all these issues.’”

“I think it might be helpful for us to understand that when we hit controversial topics – anger is often an emotion masking fear…Parents are scared because they have a sense they are losing control of their children…they don’t know what’s happening at school…As we learn more about what are the hot topics, our teachers are trying to be more conscientious about finding a few minutes to document when these topics arise. How did the conversation get started? What was my response as a teacher? We want to be able to put all the facts on the table so we can share that with parents.”

Q&As with superintendent

Question: What’s happening with Synergy?

Answer: First, you must understand that Pinnacle was discontinued and we had little choice. We had to go out and find the best system…We believe Synergy is the best fit possible, but when you have a district that has specific requirements that need customizing…it will take time. I think we are trying, but again, this will take time. We ask for your patience.

Question: Will we have online grading for elementary schools?

Answer: It is definitely something we are working on…This will happen in phases and we are in process.

Question: It seems like the class size at the kindergarten level is not consistent throughout the district.

Answer: I certainly wish that children would populate their home schools equally throughout the district, but that just doesn’t happen. Our emphasis is on K-2 and we try to keep those class sizes as small as possible…We are well aware that some classes are larger than we want.

Final comments from superintendent

“There is a lot of transformation happening in public education and at LPS…We grew 1,200 students this year. We have people coming to Lincoln from all over the world. Our poverty rate shows a steady incline. Our social structure is changing. We teach all kids regardless of what they bring to school…We live in a university town where there is high accountability and a lot of scrutiny…

“Through that all, you are doing great work. The results here are nothing short of absolutely amazing when you think about what we’re doing. Please go back to your schools and share that. Our Board of Education is proud. Our community is proud.”

Updated October 21, 2015