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Stability
School campuses are seeing constant change in St. John, It has always been said that the classrooms are the last area that will be maneuvered (lack of a better word). Since school opened last August changes have been happening or need to happen because of moves that were made and not thoroughly discussed.
More students, regardless  of socio-economic conditions, will do better in school if there is stability. Students are going home talking about the change that is coming or that has just happened in classrooms on daily bases on East and West Bank.

A positive culture  must be established before academic achievement can become stable.
The district seems to ignore the fact that constant change can lead to anxiety, frustration and learning loss. The central office leadership changes happened five times, we are now on top leadership number six. The assistants, coordinators, supervisors, etc. are in a constant revolving doors process, and again some of these changes are too often affecting the classrooms.

Recently I read where the classroom is rarely  a culture that is considered sacred. Instead it is viewed as just another part of the bigger, mechanical system.
Classroom teachers and the students need to squeeze into everyone else’s demands.
There are schedules that have to be established and updated, forms to be completed, meetings to attend, home information to be gathered, tests to be taken, push in or pull out special services, clubs, lessons, assemblies, drills, phone calls, emails, and class interruptions.

These combined forces become a real hindrance to learning. Classroom stability must be viewed as the foundation and should not be viewed as a bonus. Classrooms can’t be viewed as part of the system. They must be treated as the primary institution.
Only then will we see real gains in our schools. We need to have classrooms built with the students and their teachers as the core. If everything started from there I would bet we would see better results.

Change is supposed to add positive results St. John. Why are we accepting this?
Next scheduled board meeting is Feb.16,2023. Hope to see you there.

Citizen Jean