As a staunch believer that public schools are the center of a healthy and thriving community, I’ve watched a lot of school board meetings over the years, including the evolution of my own local board. I’ve seen meetings that are facilitated well, despite meeting goers who have a difficult time following the rules. I’ve seen highly functioning school committees work together to come to difficult decisions, and I’ve seen meetings devolve quickly. In New Hampshire, our school boards are all volunteer boards and they come from all walks of life and experiences. They are not all trained facilitators, legal scholars, or health experts, but they are folks who have stepped up to try to do their best for their communities. Yes, there are a few professional politicians on our NH school boards, but mostly it’s just folks who want to support their public schools, their learners and help guide their communities to future success. And because they are not steeped in the world of school, they rely on different people and tools to help them navigate the many decisions a board must make. These supports include moderators, the School Boards Association, district legal teams AND the Education Administrative Rules. As attendance ramps up at board meetings including attendance by bad actors sent in to intimidate, it will be imperative that boards and superintendents stay on the path and stick to the principles, priorities and policies already established, AND they are going to need community members to support them in their work.
Principles and Priorities
School Districts across New Hampshire have established strategic plans with missions and visions. Hopefully, these were created inclusively with input from community members. Rely on these in decision making about learning during the pandemic. I’ll use my local district where my youngest attends, Merrimack Valley. We say we have a commitment to all learners. We say that we will engage in behaviors that promote wellness and a safe, healthy environment. We say that we will respect self and others. In our “Stay Open Framework” we state the priority goal in the title, staying open so that we can accomplish another priority, providing a meaningful, in-person learning experience for each learner.
The pandemic changed conditions, but the principles that guided us before the pandemic should not waver. Those are the backbones of our local systems. Lean on those. Sure, learning without masks is the ideal, but learning in-person with masks is a more important priority because emergency remote learning was not ideal. And being healthy and alive to learn is most important. We are still in a public health crisis. A mask never killed anyone. We need to keep our priorities straight.
When working through challenges of anti-mask folks, lean on the principles and language enshrined in our governments established long before the pandemic. For example, article 3 of our New Hampshire Constitution says, “When men enter into a state of society, they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society, in order to ensure the protection of others.” Bring folks back to these principles. Most people know that by working with community and supporting each other, we are all, as individuals, better.
Policies
The ADMINISTRATION OF MINIMUM STANDARDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS are in place to guide schools in how to organize and New Hampshire’s rules are often really flexible, telling districts to have a policy, but not what the policy must read. For example, districts must have a policy on “Meeting the special physical health needs of students.” Each district’s board is tasked with maintaining these policies and updating them. Boards are also not restricted to writing only policies on the minimum standards in schools. Look through the policies, all of them. I’m going to lift up my local district as an example again as we have an already established policy about Communicable Diseases. Our board’s decision to follow DHHS guidelines was not out of the ordinary, because ordinarily we would follow the DHHS guidelines. We can rely on those already established policies for guidance. That is literally what they are there for, to help us make decisions in times of calm AND in times of crisis.
In dealing with parents and some staff members who refuse to follow the decisions of the board, again, look to your already established policies. In a non-pandemic year, what does your district do when a student is insubordinate or practicing unsafe behavior? How is the management supposed to deal with insubordinate teachers in a non-pandemic year? Relying on these already established policies can help provide you with the language that will get you through. There are a lot of threats about protesting the rules by outright refusing to wear masks. Disobedience comes with consequences, whether it’s non-violent civil disobedience or the screaming and yelling we are seeing from some parents. Districts have policies established so that they can do the work of education without disruption. I really hope in my district, parents and students go the non-violent civil disobedience route and that our district stands firm in their convictions.
Community members, make sure that your boards are directing their management to administer the policies as established. Those policies are in many ways a promise to the community that the district will act in particular ways to keep kids safe and in a nurturing educational environment. I know so many parents are worried about the safety of all children on the first days of school in our district, especially with the rhetoric online and some of the bullying behavior of some parents. Connect with your school boards and administrators and tell them your expectations for following the policies established long before the pandemic. Quite literally that’s why they are there, to guide us on what to do in uncertain times.
Grace and Creativity
Let’s be honest. This pandemic and political atmosphere has got folks doing and saying things that they would never have thought about three years ago. Sure, some folks are just feeling emboldened to share a suppressed ideology, but we know a lot of people who are just getting sucked into the rhetoric. Folks who I would have been able to have a rational conversation with two years ago are in many ways unrecognizable. How can we help these neighbors come back to the place where they are interested in looking out for each other and the community, again?
There is a coordinated effort to dismantle public education in New Hampshire. It’s not a secret for those of us who follow education policy. Vouchers, Prenda, the unwillingness of the Commissioner of Education or the Governor to issue a mask mandate, “divisive concepts” language in our budget are all tools being employed in this dismantling plan. So many of those who are getting sucked into anti-public safety movements or “divisive concepts” deceptions are being used as pawns. Know that about them and in your interactions extend Grace and Patience. That is the leadership that we need right now, an understanding of what is happening so that we can bring community together, rather than let those sowing division to win.
Final piece of advice, be creative. If we know the end game is to disrupt public school so it will not survive, then we need to be creative to counteract these attacks. Educating the public is number one, and then once folks know what is happening, solutions will follow. Superintendents and boards just need to ask those community members who love public schools for a little help. No one must go it alone; that is what community is for.
Community members, reach out to your schools. Let them know you’re rooting for their survival.