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G. Don Gale: Striving to better, oft we mar what's well
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Until one has spent quality time with the individuals and groups behind smaller districts, until one has been on the receiving end of an arrogant administration, until one has read and studied the empirical data on large school districts vs. smaller districts with an open mind and heart, one has not qualified to enter the debate. Being unprepared causes one to resort to name calling, something reserved for college freshmen who have yet to learn how to support a thesis.
You have always been a voice for education!
Your words reflect how many of us think.
Keep up the great work!
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I really enjoyed this one, and found that I only disagree with one point, well actually a few points though only one worth mentioning: Small school districts.
You correctly bring up the real difficult task of breaking up a district. I really appreciate that you actually believe in the oft forgotten notion of intelligence being glory; so many people have no idea what a life=time learner is.
On the small school districts, putting aside the most difficult task of equitable funding issues, research has shown a coreelation between not only school size and performance, but school district size and performance. School district size is right up their with class size, curriculum and staffing. It is important.
The reason it is important is due to the inherent flexibility of smaller districts. They are small enough that they can respond to the needs, changing environment, strengths, weaknesses and research in educational leaders.
So much of anything in life really boils down to the strength of leaders. America had many US Army units during World War Two, all of them almost identical. And yet, we had only one Patton. Why? Leadership.
In a school system, one Principal will be as different in style from another as Patton was from another. And by having a small enough school district to allow for the real strength of an educational leader to shine through; that is success. This is one reason I am a strong support of charter schools and vouchers. These two allow for rapid change and support. With districts as large as Jordan and Granite, it is almost impossible to respond to the needs of individual schools and leaders as small districts, charter schools or voucher driven private schools can. Hence my support. Smaller disricts can solve this.