Morals vs. numbers?

Statistics can be squirrely things.

Consider this – there are 10 women in a room of which one is pregnant while the other nine are virgins.  Statistically, every woman in that room is 10 percent pregnant and 90 percent a virgin.

People can play with numbers to get them to come out in any way shape or form.  This has become especially true in education as school districts everywhere try to flaunt ACT score and number of students in AP classes.

And now the fracas has entered the District 125 School Board election.  What we have here folks are two slates going in two different directions.  Duh.  The United4Stevenson group includes incumbents Bruce Rubin, Merv Roberts, and Terry Moons along with newcomer David Weisberg while the slate taking on the evil empire includes Kathy Powell, Kim Brady and Charles Cardella.  They market themselves as the 125for125, simply because of their position on the ballot.

The 125ers hide behind statistics:  The incumbents have been on too long, they spend too much, and they’ve raised the tax levy.  The bottom line is the Board, while not perfect, has handled a lot of what’s happened in the district well. 

For the record, I have taken issue with several Board actions – a referendum for capital improvements that was, in my mind, unwarranted and its seemingly spineless handling of the censorship and prior review of the once-proud Stevenson High School newspaper, The Statesman.

But that’s where the 125for125 folks come in.  They hate free and responsible student expression.  They were upset with the "dastardly" story about hooking up – which was a local version of a New York Times story.  They did not want their children exposed to that sort of thing.  Right.  Do you want to bet their kids are on Facebook?  Do you want to bet they watch TV?  Kids are kids and the things they do haven’t changed. 

The reality is that parents today “hooked up” when they were younger – there was just another name for it. 

Beyond the dreaded hooking up article, at the March 2009 School Board meeting, it came out that there was another article that offended opponents to The Statesman -- it was on a dance being sponsored by the Gay-Straight Alliance – GSA.

That outraged the opponents so much that one of them, and I believe it may have been Cardella, held up a copy of The Statesman and proclaimed that “this is pornography.”

Putting aside First Amendment issues – the question is this – do you want a person, or persons, who belittles student work by calling it “pornography” on any school board, let along one that runs a school with the academic excellence of Stevenson?

The apparent phobia over gay and lesbian students – and faculty members  -- is reflective of the posturing by the Illinois Family Institute which makes it clear that homosexuality has no place in society.

It’s the IFI’s opinion and it is entitled to that position.

School board elections and the running of any public school is not a forum for moral issues.

The 125for125 makes it clear that parents should make curriculum decisions.  In an email sent to supporters, they claim that :

Parents should be intimately involved in the curriculum of their children, too often we have heard from our own children about a movie that was going to be shown or a book that was going to be required to be read that went beyond the bounds of decency or taste.  Parents have the right (in fact, the responsibility) to exclude their children from programs that are contrary to their standards for raising their children.  Teachers are aware of these boundaries, but need to have the support of the board in notifying parents of their options, rather than fearing that by so doing they will not be supported by their board.

This seemingly mirrors the IFI position. In a blog post, it states school board elections are important because:  

Our public schools are under assault by activist ideologues both in administrations and on faculties. This activism is quickly invading even our elementary schools. Teachers and administrators are exploiting legitimate anti-bullying sentiment to introduce homosexuality normalizing resources to all children using public money.  They are exploiting legitimate concerns for the less fortunate to promote controversial "critical race theory" and "critical pedagogy" by euphemistically calling it "teaching for social justice."  They are exposing students to ever more profane and obscene resources by calling parents who object "book banners" and "censors," all the while hoping no one will notice their astonishing censorship of conservative resources. 

So this is what they are accusing the Stevenson Board of doing?  The reality is that the current Board has been too complacent in many ways and allowing the inmates to run the asylum.  Stories of teachers and staff seemingly aligned with the 125for125 candidates and the IFI have surfaced.  Test scores and AP are not the only true measures of am successful school. 

Preparing our students for college and life in general is essential.  Sheltering them from the realities of life is not the way to do prepare them.  Imposing an individual’s or organization’s moral beliefs is not the way to prepare them.

Having the best teachers possible is essential and open-minded support and collaboration is the best way.  The current Stevenson board has fallen short in areas of curriculum development and student expression.

It has not, however, imposed its moral ideas on the students.  That may be the “good news” – the “bad news” is when there has been outside influence Board Members have not risen to the challenge.  Bashing student achievement, putting pressure on teachers because of their sexual orientation is not the way to foster a quality education environment.

However, despite this, can we afford to have our schools directed by right-wing fundamentalists that want books banned and curriculum altered?

Who else do they hate because they’re not “like them” – African Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Islamic Americans, Hispanic Americans?

A diverse student body, faculty and administration are essential for successful schools and the future of our students.

The classroom is not a soapbox or pulpit for personal or organizational morals.   It’s for free and responsible education.

So here’s a way to reintroduce the statistics from the start of this blog – one way that might shake up some of the candidates – let’s say there are 10 people in a room of which one is gay  while the other nine are straight.  Statistically, every person in that room is 10 percent gay and 90 percent straight.

Diversity and acceptance—don’t leave home without it.