We were hopeful that we would have at least one of the budgets posted by today from Olympia. Unfortunately, we are now told that the Senate budget will not be unveiled until sometime next week followed by the House version. This is disturbing, is increasing our anxiety, and is supporting the perception that it will be worse than we are expecting. No news in this case is not good news.
Today, I had occasion to speak to a Republican member of the House. When I asked about the budget timeline he responded with next week and reinforced the fear that it will be bad by saying that he believes the Democrats may make extensive cuts to education and health care in an effort to put a tax increase measure to a vote. Something like if you want to support these two programs here is your chance. If this were to be done with little backfill from the stimulus package I would be very upset. The likelihood of any tax measure being approved in this economic climate I believe is not very great. Holding the work we do and the needs of young people hostage is not what I expect of my elected officials. Unfortunately, by bad he meant the elimination of all of I-728. This would be approximately another $1.4 million hit to our budget that would make an already very difficult situation unbelievable to me.
The cultures that we have created are in jeopardy as we struggle with a potential $3.35 million deficit. Adding to this amount will make it even more difficult to emerge from this crisis preserving the essence of who we are. Already we are seeing chips form in the solid foundation we have built through consensus decision making, on the needs of students being our first priority, with a focus on collaborative problem solving, and the need for a system viewpoint. Decisions are being questioned, inaccurate information is being shared, individuals and groups are forming around different beliefs about how to proceed, and trust and credibility are being lost. These losses will be very difficult to rebuild, but are essential if we are to continue our PLC journey when this crisis is behind us.
Is it possible, given the current conditions, to influence what we are reading on some of the latest posts to the district’s discussion board and on today’s e-mail exchanges? What should we be doing that could replace the need for these exchanges that result in potentially divisive behaviors or are they perhaps, the beginning of a healthy exchange that may result in positive changes? My leadership beliefs suggest that the conversations need to take place, but not through debate on e-mails. Dialogue and skillful conversations are what this situation demands, with all participants using SPACE, balancing inquiry with advocacy, and being willing to be influenced. Given where we are, I don’t believe that it is my decision to make on how to move forward, but I believe that it must be made. Any suggestions?
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I don't have a solution, just an observation, regarding the need for skillful conversation around this difficult issue. Email is not the place to carry on a conversation, but neither is a discussion board. Putting the discussion board in place was a good idea. It is a great way for people to submit ideas for ways to save money. It isn't, however, a productive way for people to share how they feel about the process or to challenge each other's thinking. That is what it quickly became. I suspect that an email address people could have submitted ideas to would have served us better. That would have prevented putting people in situations where they felt they had to, on the discussion board, defend what someone else had suggested cutting. It is nearly impossible to have a skillful conversation in the absence of face-to-face contact. And while a discussion board does allow for two-way, public conversation, it is little more than a whole bunch of email exchanges between anonymous people where the new emails and the replies are sent to "All."
I suspect that not too many teachers were following the discussion board. I'd imagine that most teachers assumed that we (TEA) were at the table working to make a bad situation less so. I'm hoping that Marcey's email will have triggered many to find a way to engaged in discussion around the issue. There will be a TEA meeting tomorrow. I don't imagine that at this meeting, where there may be more than one hundred people, that there will be much opportunity for skillful discussion. But at least what discussion does take place will happen between and among people with names and faces. It is easy to dismiss other's ideas out of hand when they are presented anonymously. It is even not too difficult to dismiss other's ideas when their name is attached to the idea but it is presented on a discussion board. While maybe we won't be able to practice many of the elements of skillful discussion, we will all listen and care differently when we are engaging around the issue face to face. I’m choosing to believe that the flurry of emails and posts to the discussion board, along with all of the conversation that must have taken place out of public view, represents the beginning of increased engagement. I don’t believe that this flurry of engagement is evidence of chips or cracks, but rather that it is evidence of people’s desire to repair any chips or cracks that may have formed.
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