Letter To The Editor
(Editor’s Note: Each week, The Herald poses a “Question of the Week” on their facebook page with many responding. Comments made on the posts, may or may not be factual in nature and are to be noted as that person’s comment only.)
This lengthy post is for my family, friends and customers who are questioning the complaint concerning our grade school that was recently posted on social media. My comments are not intended to cause argument, they are simply to provide my (fairly distant, thankfully) perspective of the situation. And beware... my M.O. on social media is to “post and ghost,” so feel free to comment, but don’t be offended if I don’t respond.
Last week, a letter was published on social media from a legal firm representing the parent of one of our elementary school students. You can easily find the letter and subsequent articles on the Internet if you wish to do a deeper dive into the accusations.
After talking with a parent or two who are more closely connected to the issue (for the record, I don’t have kids in this class, nor know who the parent(s) are), here’s my take… Poor judgment may have been exhibited when a class activity was given without more guardrails of what constituted a “role model.” When a sixth grader listed religious and political figures as their role models, the guidance counselor was likely not in a position to ask the student to choose a different answer. Should USD 389 administrators have handled the parent(s)’ complaint(s) differently after the initial complaint? We can “Monday morning quarterback” that one ad nauseum. But I have yet to find a parent—other than the one bringing the complaint, obviously—whose child heard our school principal instruct the sixth-grade students that in the future, they should bring concerns to the guidance counselor or herself first—not to their parents, as has been stated.
The response to these events—both immediate and now lingering—is what troubles me the most. Principal Stacy Coulter’s dedication to the students at Marshall Elementary is unequivocable. Her Christian Faith, strong conservative values, and immense dedication to our community are unmatched. Does she consider the students and staff as “family?” Yes…probably to the point that her true family questions why she dedicates so many hours to their education. She has used the term “Marshall Family” to build a bond that enables kids to do more than just learn, but also look forward to the process, not be a replacement for their true family at home.
When not working endless hours in her career, she can be found on Wednesdays after school volunteering as her church’s religious educator. She helps provide breakfast for the high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes on Friday mornings. On occasion, she even picks kids up to take them to Sunday service if their parents or guardians can’t do so themselves.
Teachers and administrators cannot—and should not—express their social values, religion or political preferences on students in the classroom. But I believe that if Mrs. Coulter did, her leanings would be significantly different than recent posts and comments have indicated.
Admittedly, I have my share of frustrations with the education model today. I wish a larger focus was placed on classroom learning. I want higher academic expectations for the students who want (or at least need) to be challenged intellectually. I want more courses and activities for students who want to enter the skilled trades soon after high school. I want kids to WANT to find their best path to a productive place in society, not be lumped into an all-inclusive box where apathy and complacency often take root.
But that’s the irony in this whole debacle. The exercise that spurned these allegations was called “Find Your Voice.” It’s part of a program that Principal Coulter began pursuing over a decade ago. It’s a student-focused version of Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Its website sums it up: “Founded on the belief that everyone has the potential to lead, Leader in Me is a comprehensive PK–12 framework that nurtures student leadership, fosters a culture of trust, and boosts academic success. This proven approach empowers students, educators, and families with essential leadership and life skills, preparing them to excel.”
My opinion: teachers should teach, parents should parent and society should keep the peace. But when the latter two are ineffective, the former must take up the slack before they can hope to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s not their job, but they’re doing it, because society and home life has not consistently accomplished it in recent years.
If the public school model is to survive (and I believe it must), I think we need to do these seven things: Be proactive. Begin with the end in mind. Put first things first. Think win-win. Seek first to understand, THEN be understood. Synergize. Sharpen the saw. Yep, these seven bullets are the “Habits” that Mr. Covey developed in 1989. They’re the ones that form the basis of the Leader in Me program that has helped hundreds of Eureka kids at Marshall Elementary deal with life’s challenges… long after they leave elementary school.
They aren’t woke. They aren’t politically driven. My five children have all learned (or are about to learn) these lessons at school, and we try to continue to use them at home. These habits effectively address life’s challenges. Big challenges… like how best to educate and prepare kids for a changing future. Maybe even challenges like the one that spurned this post.
We need to proactively use habits like these. We need to prioritize learning, putting first things first. We need to begin with the end in mind. Sure, we need to seek to understand our kids’ education. But each minute that we are reactive instead of proactive in this synergistic relationship of education, we aren’t thinking win-win, we’re thinking lose-lose.
Matt Perrier
