I attended the School Board Reorganization meeting on November 17 at 3 p.m. The first part was the recognition of all the new positions for the board members. Carol Kurdell stepped down as Chair and Susan Valdes became the new leading member of the board. Dorothea Edgecombe filled Mrs. Valdes’ seat as Vice Chair.

Since I had spoken with Mrs. Valdes at the last public meeting about the possibility of her new position I was pleased to hear she accomplished her goal. She is the first Hispanic female to serve as the school board’s Chairperson.

After the announcement of the new positions, there was a recess of the meeting. The room was buzzing with excitement for Valdes. Her family brought roses and they were all there to support her. I spoke to her daughter, Mallory Valdes about her mother’s involvement in the school system.

“She’s been on the PTA starting from when I was in kindergarten”, Mallory recalled. Even when she worked full time as a clinic manager for the Hillsborough County Health Care Program, Valdes used her time and skills to serve the public schools in this area. At first, her inspiration was her own children. Now, she serves the county’s students because she sees the need for good leadership to ensure a good future for these kids.

Valdes said, “I’m just excited to be the leader of the 8th largest school district in the nation.”

And rightfully so, her work on the school board affects the lives of almost 200,000 students and their families. This school district has a great impact because of its enormity. Valdes will oversee a budget of $2.6 billion and 30,000 employees. The decisions made by the school board affect every taxpayer in the county.

Kathy Brown also attended the meeting. She is a parent of former Hillsborough County students and a volunteer in the schools. She knows Valdes personally from her work in the district. She is Mrs. Valdes’ representative on the Citizen’s Advisory Committee. She said she comes to the meetings to “listen and show support”.

She said, “Schools are a big deal in our community so we have to pay attention.”

Brown explained that she pays attention because “They actually makes decisions that affect us.”

Because her position affects so many lives, I am truly pleased Mrs. Valdes got the job. She is a great person to communicate with, she has a heart for people, especially students, and she works hard at what she wants to see done.

Will The Real Expert on Poverty Please Stand Up?

I attended the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on November 3, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. The first hour and a half of the meeting was comprised of routine voting that all passed unanimously, recognition of student achievements, and a bunch of promotions of school district employees. The meeting really got going when the board opened up the floor for audience comments.

Several people spoke on their various grievances. However, the topic that caught my attention pertained to the Ruby Payne training being used in Hillsborough County schools since 2000.

This training is meant to educate teachers in the county about children from poverty and their families. Although I think the training has good intentions, it has been accused of classism, racism, and stereotyping. The creator, Ruby Payne, gives lectures about her methods all over the country for payment by these various school boards. Her company aha! Process, Inc. publishes all her materials and facilitates her seminars. She has a Ph.D. and has been a educator most of her life either as a teacher or administrator. I read some of her curriculum for myself and I can see why the citizens who attended the school board meeting were upset about some of the concepts

You can read Ruby Payne’s Framework for Understanding Poverty for yourself, but I’ll give you the highlights. She uses “case studies” or examples to illustrate different situations that children in poverty face. Teachers are then trained on how to handle these situations. The main theme running throughout the training is that children and parents from low-socioeconomic backgrounds cannot communicate well and will resort to violence before dialogue.

Marilyn Williams introduced herself to the board as a “ ‘poor parent’ economically speaking”. She feels this is a “very serious issue” . She’s concerned that if these young teachers are taught to treat poor students and parents as if they are incapable of communicating then she will be set up to treat them in a stereotypical, classicist way. She politely insisted that if teachers are taught that she would rather fight than talk even before she shows up to the school, then she will get no where trying to talk about her child’s schooling.

Williams main argument is that Ruby Payne is not a real authority on poverty. Her books are self-published, so none of her publications are peer reviewed. Her own book cites her reserach to be based on "observations", none of which are recorded, of her husband's family that came from generational poverty. She has no real research to back up her theories, they are simply opinion. And she has every right to that opinion, but she is not qualified to train Hillsborough County teachers (and teachers across the nation) about her unfounded theories. In addition, in the nine years the training has been in effect in Hillsborough there has been no empirical evidence that the training works. There are no records that the number of referrals or suspensions have gone down. No increased numbers in graduation.

When I spoke with Ms. Williams after the meeting she said, “I see education as the best opportunity for a level playing field…I’m just now beginning to believe that’s not true.” According to her, we send more kids from 33619 and 33610 zip codes to jail than any other. She sees the way these teachers are being trained as perpetuating the track from the “schoolhouse to the jailhouse” for these kids.

Williams is part of an advocacy organization called ANCHOR. Their acronym explains their mission.

Advocating
Neighborhoods
Children and Families to
Heighten
Opportunities and
Resources

This group works to help people in their community become advocates for their children in the schools and encourage parent involvement. Williams was followed in the audience comments by Cherryl Witt, another member of ANCHOR and a retired educator. She, too, is appalled by the nature of Ruby Payne training. When I spoke with her after the meeting she said, “They think I’m going away and I ain’t going no where. I’ve been doing this for two years.” She agrees with Williams about the lack of peer review and evidence on whether Ruby Payne’s training is effective or harmful to students. Both women offered to talk to me anytime about the subject.

I was able to catch up with School Board Member and Vice Chair, Susan Valdes after the meeting to find out her thoughts on Ruby Payne and these women’s comments during the meeting. Mrs. Valdes immediately responded, “I don’t like Ruby Payne training either.” As a woman who grew up poor she identified with these women and their children. She told me, “I grew up poor and I don’t stand on no corner selling my body, I’m a school board member for the eighth largest school district in America.”

It’s possible that Valdes could become the first female Hispanic school board chair, at the November 17 reorganization meeting. This might give her the power to sway the board into making changes to the Ruby Payne training or doing away with it all together.






I only hope that there can be a resolution to this issue. Because while the school board drags its feet on a decision, teachers are being improperly trained to the disadvantage of already disadvantaged children.



Suggeseted sources:


Here's a 14 year old from Raleigh who simply reads from her book and shuts Ruby Payne down!

All around downtown

My experience requesting public records was pretty easy. No one denied me or sent me packing. However, I did encounter some inconsistency in people's training in Sunshine laws.

My first stop was to the Fred B. Karl County Center. I went to the 13th floor (which by the way is actually the second floor, weird) and found the Clerk of Circuit Court's office. I asked Erin Cross for some records on Jim Norman, the county commissioner (and my profile subject). She promptly told me everything I wanted was online and gave me a helpful post it to find what I wanted. I appreciated her courtesy.

The next stop on floor 15 was the Tax Collector's office. Just as described by Preston Trigg in his virtual visit to our class, this place was extremely efficient. They hand you a number, you take a seat, you're in, you're out, and you're done. The only problem was in I approached the county and asked for a 119 request of Jim Norman's tax records. Joanna, the receptionist, promptly asked "What's 119?". As a government worker in an office that works with public records she should know these kinds of terms. I politely explained my request and she was kind enough to print one out for me so that I would not return to class empty handed, however she also suggested I go online for this information.

Stop number three, on the 16 floor was the Property Appraiser's office. This woman was the most difficult to work with as far as her attitude goes, but she did produce a copy of Jim Norman's records after telling me repeatedly "It's all online". This seemed to be a running theme.

The last stop was to the county courthouse. I had to go through a metal detector and then ask for directions to the room where I would make a records request. I finally found the room and then had to fine my own way to to where the records action actually happens. Fortunately, at the end of the line I was met with a nice woman who was familiar with our class. She tried to help me in any way possible and directed me to two records I could print out. Then came the hard hitting truth...the cost!

I paid one dollar a record for two records, and then when I didn't have cash or check I had to pay FIVE dollars to use my debit card. This seemed to crazy to me since most people run on a cashless lifestyle. Why would I be carrying around my checkbook or cash? If I had been warned I would have, but still five dollars is an outrageos charge for such a small convenience. The courthouse need to update their card machines and get up with the 21st century where everyone uses plastic.

I actually really enjoyed the day walking around downtown and seeing these buildings that I had seen on our virtual field trips. Now that I've taken the time to experience the process I realize almost anything from the Fred B. Karl County Center can be retrieved online. And that you should always carry cash when dealing with the government.