The famed talk show host and public school advocate, Montel Williams, has joined forces with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to promote a new website designed to engage community members in local education issues.
The main goal of the NSBA is to strengthen local school board control over public education on the premise that local community members have a greater knowledge of the needs their students have and therefore are better able to make decisions as to how equity and excellence can be achieved in their schools. They are personally invested in the success of the schools as a whole and the individual students than state and national education departments. Part of the NSBA’s agenda is to advertise these successes to counteract the growing negative view of public education as a failure.
With the prominence of social media, one of the best ways to get a message out is via the internet. The NSBA is doing just that. They have created and launched a website called Stand Up 4 Public Schools that provides users with information about their organization and how to engage in local education issues and policies. It encourages users to campaign for public schools, and has readily available social media advertisements, including profile pictures.
TheCelebrityCafe: I have a couple of questions for you based on your new website standup4publicschools.org. I noticed, that there’s a pledge that people can sign to support, and I was wondering how you were going to use the information gathered, such as their name and location, if they sign the pledge.
Montel Williams: Well, if they sign the pledge then I’m sure we’ll be giving/sending them information b/c when they sign up they want information
Thomas J. Gentzel: Now, that’s what this is about. It’s about engaging folks in the community who believe public schools are important, to give them some ways to express that and give them some suggestions about next steps they can take.
MW: That is the most important thing is making sure you engage people and let them take ownership in our public schools.
TCC: You’re promoting the standup4publicschools.org site, and I noticed there you have the mindmixer component that allows for user interaction, and I was wondering with almost half Americans not reading above an eighth grade level, why you weren’t promoting the mindmixer instead?
TG: I’m not sure I can accept the premise about the reading level, but I have to tell you this: what we’re trying to do is find ways in which we can connect with people and then help them connect with policy makers, legislators, the news media, and others to promote public education. So, we’re looking at a variety of ways of doing that, giving them a lot of resources and tools.
TCC: I know that you want to promote the local school board control, but I also know that you want to increase funding for federal programs such as Title 1. Without any control over the local boards, how do you propose the Federal Government will hold the recipients of its funding accountable?
TG: I want to be clear, we certainly think that public schools need to be held accountable for how they spend public funds and I think they are. Frankly, school board members stand for election and they’re held accountable every four years or how ever often they may be running.
So, it’s not that we don’t want accountability, but we do need flexibility. We don’t need regulations that stifle public education, that, for example require us to spend most of our time testing students and not enough time teaching them. So that’s the kind of flexibility that we’re talking about.
The federal role is important, and Title 1 is a great example of that because it helps disadvantaged students and some of the communities that have the biggest challenges. So, that’s where they need the flexibility to deliver education in the most appropriate way.
MW: While we’re looking at Title 1, the House is looking at HR5, and they’re looking at the funding for Title 1 and I think in some places they’ve kept the funding flat and what we want to make sure is that individuals, parents understand that they have say in what our Federal Government does; what our state and local governments do. They just have to get engaged and be an owner of this whole process and say, “Hey, look I want to know what you’re going to do with the money that’s coming in.” You have a right to go to a school board meeting and ask a question. Let’s get people engaged again so we can do what’s necessary to make sure we have a workforce ready to meet the demands of the future, and today.
TCC: I also am wondering because there has been that push with the national government with Common Core to bring everyone together…it’s really suggesting this consolidation of public education under the national government. I also noticed that you were talking about, on the website, that public education is under attack by profiteers seeking to eliminate local control with the ultimate goal of privatizing. Between those two, which one do you think is the greater threat to local control?
TG: Well, look, there’s a couple things you’ve raised here: One is the Common Core and we could do a whole program on just about that. We’d be the first to say schools need to be held accountable, there need to be standards, and I think that’s important. How that happens is really the debate. We do think the federal role has grown too large, there’s federal overreach in the day to day operations of schools. That’s not healthy at all. So, that’s a big challenge.
The other one, the privatization…you have a lot of companies that are very big supporters of public education and we’re proud of those relationships, but there are private interests that see an opportunity just to make a buck and to take dollars out of the public school system that’s where the problem is because we have public schools that are already challenged financially. We can’t afford that to happen.
TCC: Could you explain to me how it is that they’re receiving financial gain from it?
MW: Who’s receiving financial gain?
TCC: The private companies that are trying to push the voucher and the tuition tax credit programs.
TG: Well, I mean, for example, charter schools are public schools. They are organized under the public school system, but a lot of them are, frankly, organized by businesses, by private industries. What they see is an opportunity to come in and just make money to run a public/charter school or to have money taken out of the public school system and sent over through a voucher or tuition tax credit to support private schools. These are dollars that go right to their bottom line. And, here’s what’s also important: those in those businesses don’t have to report in the same way that public schools do. So, even though they’re taking public tax dollars, you don’t have the same information about how they’re being spent. So, there’s a lot of challenges there, but our biggest concern is we can’t afford that to happen. If we’re serious about a strong public school system, we can’t be undermining it at the same time.
MW: And let’s look back. For the last, now 100 years, 8 to 9 out of 10 people who live in this country were educated through the public school system. The public school system is not a bad institution. If we put as much emphasis in shoring it up and supporting it as some do in denigrating it, I think we’d find a system that would answer everybody’s needs.
So, the truth of the matter is that some of the angst and some of the argument about privatization or profitazation and some of the arguments about expanding those roles aren’t as true as we think. Some of the stats that go along with them aren’t as true as you think. Right now, 10% of the entire nation’s population goes to a private school, and that private school is a profitable school, then you have about 3% of the population that goes to a charter school and 1% that’s home schooled. So, you have about 20% of the population that’s not in the public school system. That means that the rest of this country has been run efficiently and successfully by people who went to public school. I think that’s a pretty good track record. 80% vs 20%? I think I’d put the money where the records are.
TG: And what’s also interesting, and that’s why the campaign is so important, is that public schools have been asked to do more, often with less money. They’ve been asked to do more, and they’re doing it. The graduation rates are up, test scores are up.
MW: All time high!
TG: If you walk into a typical high school in this country, you’re going to see a curriculum that was probably college level stuff not that many years ago. So, we’ve really raised the bar, and we’re just not getting enough credit for public schools, so we’re thrilled that Montel is a spokesperson for our campaign, as you can tell he’s passionate, this is genuine stuff, he jumped on the opportunity to work with us and this is a message we need to get out.
For more information about this message and how to engage with the NSBA, visit standup4publicschools.org. The site also includes links to their social media sites, articles highlighting the success of public schools, and educational blogs, as well as endorsements from celebrities, such as Montel Williams, Magic Johnson and Salman Khan.
Top image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com
screenshot from Stand Up 4 Public Schools
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