I work in a field where lives hang in
the balance each day decisions are made
that can spark or end a dream and
minutes know seconds can change the
trajectory of someone’s life I am an
educator I love working in the schools
I love the promise and potential of the
students I love the passion and
professionalism of the teachers I even
love the sight the sound and the smell
of the buses as they roll in every
morning and they leave every afternoon
for over three dozen years I have
dedicated my life’s work to education 25
of those years as a principal at every
school level during that time I’ve
observed a lot of change in education
gone is the one-size-fits-all industrial
model where we rolled out the same
education for every child schools are
using time more creatively the last
school that I was at we started school
at 9:25 because that was what was best
for students and we gave our students an
hour in the middle of the day to use to
enhance their own learning
differentiation meets the needs of
students with a wide range of abilities
and interests acceleration gives
students the opportunity to graduate
with a two-year college degree before
they graduate from high school problem
solving and creative thinking are
replacing activities that can be
answered by Google
students in today’s schools are creating
their own future there’s one thing that
hasn’t changed in our schools the
children children still want to be loved
they want to be good at something and
they get excited when they succeed at a
challenge what has changed is the world
we live in
can you imagine being without your cell
phone or the internet children today are
growing up in a world where they don’t
have to look up anything they can just
ask Siri or Alexa we stand at the
intersection of a great opportunity
never before have there been so many
choices in the education our children
can have we have home schools charter
schools virtual schools joining private
and public schools each one offering
something different but with choice
comes the challenge of ensuring equity
of opportunity for all students the
quality of a child’s education should
not depend on the family that child was
born into Eleanor Roosevelt said
education is the cornerstone of Liberty
it’s our responsibility to ensure that
all children especially the marginalized
that often don’t have a voice and can’t
speak for themselves
can profit from the American dream that
still stems from our education system
when we think about education most of us
think of our own personal education or
maybe the experience of our children
what is interesting in the work I do I
travel throughout this country and I can
tell you unequivocally that school
today vary by the community they serve
you see our schools are reflective of
our communities and no two schools are
alike it’s fascinating to look at
statistics on education the US
Department of Education reports ninety
percent of students here in the United
States attend public schools with all
the choices that we have education in
public schools is still the mainstay for
our students the Gallup Organization’s
does polls about just about anything
every year they poll parents and they
ask them how satisfied are you with the
school that your child attends
overwhelmingly parents report that they
are satisfied with the school that their
child attends as a matter of fact in
2017 the satisfaction rate was higher
than it’s been since 2010
if clearly most of our children attend
public schools and our parents are
satisfied with the education their
children are receiving why are there
conversations that call to question the
current status of public schools it’s
interesting to look back on education in
the 1920s only 22% of young adults
completed four years of high school but
the world was different then there were
options for adults who did not graduate
from high school many young men joined
the military factory jobs were abundant
family farms required support and the
role of women was quite different today
graduation from high school cannot be an
option it’s the foundation of our
children’s future for years I’ve told my
students that graduation is
a destination it’s the threshold to your
future graduation is an opportunity to
move into adulthood equipped with the
tools to continue your education or
enter a career that will promise a
successful life in order for our economy
to be strong and our democracy secure we
must ensure that we educate all our
students so they can graduate and are
able to positively contribute to our
communities our schools are change
agents for our country Abraham Lincoln
said the the philosophy of the school
room in one generation will be the
philosophy of government in the next we
must acknowledge the significance of the
impact of our schools not just for today
but for this and future generations to
ensure the continued success of our
schools we need to take a look at
current conversations about education
involving the supply of teachers funding
for public education and the current
policy discussions supporting school
vouchers first we must have the best and
the brightest people in our classrooms
teaching our children as we forge
forward with initiatives to fill jobs in
careers like science technology
engineering and math and all of the
other areas we need to remember first to
promote the profession that makes all
other professions possible we need to
encourage young people to enter the
field of education without outstanding
teachers the future of all other careers
dims before I was an educator I had a
very
cessful career in law enforcement but
someone reached out to me and said why
don’t you think about being a teacher I
had not thought about being a teacher I
had never thought about being a teacher
but that one person reached out and
planted that seed we need to be planting
that seed not just in young people but
in people that might be transitioning
from one career to the next
throughout this country there are
hundreds of teacher vacancies that go
unfilled each year due to a lack of
applicants we need to change the
conversation to invite and encourage
people to become educators and create a
positive momentum toward careers in
education the second conversation we
need to examine is support for public
schools when those tax bills start
rolling out the conversations start and
you hear people saying well I don’t have
children in school I don’t know why I
should pay to support public schools
when those conversations starts I
immediately start thinking about our
public roads there are roads in our
community in our state well in our
country that I will never drive on yet I
realize the importance of promoting and
supporting public roads in our country
you see much like the quality of our
roads improves the quality and safety of
our communities the qualities of our
public schools impact our communities in
ways we may not recognize go ahead yes
absolutely
in one day I experience the impact of
our public school students and graduates
when I was helped in the grocery store
when I had the air in my car tire
checked when I got a flu shot
when I saw EMS driving down the road to
respond to an emergency and when I was
helped at a restaurant
later on that evening you see I
benefited from knowing that these
students had been students in my school
but I want you to think about the
students and graduates of our public
schools that impact your day the doctor
the mechanic the cashiers the engineers
the police officer the nurses the
bankers the real estate agent the
post-office workers the accountants the
list is as personal as each person in
this room the quality of our public
schools influences the quality of our
days every day we need to support public
education funding not just for the
children that are in school today but
for the quality of life they provide to
everyone in our communities we need to
change the conversation to support
public education funding and celebrate
education for the positive impact it has
on our communities the third
conversation that we need to explore is
a hot topic in education policy now
school vouchers as I think about the
essence of education and our country’s
foundational belief in a strong public
school system I’m concerned about
policies involving school vouchers
school vouchers indirectly take away
from the support of public schools by
allowing potential tax dollars to be
shifted to private schools with
absolutely no accountability
the way most vouchers work is a
corporation makes a contribution to a
private entity in return that
corporation receives a tax credit and
then students the most impoverished
students in underperforming schools are
given an opportunity to apply for those
vouchers it sounds like a good thing
however if we believe all children need
to receive a quality education think
about this what happens to those
students who remain in the school that
is impoverished and the community now
has a smaller tax base to support that
school vouchers do nothing to support or
improve underperforming schools most of
our underperforming schools are a result
of the struggle to find certified
teachers and the weak support of public
schools how can we offer the opportunity
for to apply for vouchers to students in
underperforming school and expect the
quality of those schools to increase for
the students who remain we need to
change the policy conversations
surrounding public school vouchers
education is a public trust when I’m in
schools working with students I’m
convinced our future is secure the
students in our schools today will be
the ones who address the problems that
exists as a result of our generation and
the generations before us they will
create opportunities and impact the
world in ways we can only imagine the
most precious resource in our country is
our children
if we want to protect and promote
democracy enhance and secure our economy
we must invest in and ensure our public
schools have the resources they need to
make every public school a school of
choice a school that you want your
children to go to I’ve dedicated my
life’s work to education because I
believe in the greatness of each child
we must change the conversations about
public education to ensure our schools
have the teachers the funding and the
policies in place to meet the needs of
our communities our state’s and our
nation Nelson Mandela said education is
the most powerful weapon which you can
use to change the world what are we
doing to ensure our children’s education
prepares them to be the change we are
counting on let’s take a risk let’s step
out of our comfort zone and start
changing some of these conversations
thank you
the balance each day decisions are made
that can spark or end a dream and
minutes know seconds can change the
trajectory of someone’s life I am an
educator I love working in the schools
I love the promise and potential of the
students I love the passion and
professionalism of the teachers I even
love the sight the sound and the smell
of the buses as they roll in every
morning and they leave every afternoon
for over three dozen years I have
dedicated my life’s work to education 25
of those years as a principal at every
school level during that time I’ve
observed a lot of change in education
gone is the one-size-fits-all industrial
model where we rolled out the same
education for every child schools are
using time more creatively the last
school that I was at we started school
at 9:25 because that was what was best
for students and we gave our students an
hour in the middle of the day to use to
enhance their own learning
differentiation meets the needs of
students with a wide range of abilities
and interests acceleration gives
students the opportunity to graduate
with a two-year college degree before
they graduate from high school problem
solving and creative thinking are
replacing activities that can be
answered by Google
students in today’s schools are creating
their own future there’s one thing that
hasn’t changed in our schools the
children children still want to be loved
they want to be good at something and
they get excited when they succeed at a
challenge what has changed is the world
we live in
can you imagine being without your cell
phone or the internet children today are
growing up in a world where they don’t
have to look up anything they can just
ask Siri or Alexa we stand at the
intersection of a great opportunity
never before have there been so many
choices in the education our children
can have we have home schools charter
schools virtual schools joining private
and public schools each one offering
something different but with choice
comes the challenge of ensuring equity
of opportunity for all students the
quality of a child’s education should
not depend on the family that child was
born into Eleanor Roosevelt said
education is the cornerstone of Liberty
it’s our responsibility to ensure that
all children especially the marginalized
that often don’t have a voice and can’t
speak for themselves
can profit from the American dream that
still stems from our education system
when we think about education most of us
think of our own personal education or
maybe the experience of our children
what is interesting in the work I do I
travel throughout this country and I can
tell you unequivocally that school
today vary by the community they serve
you see our schools are reflective of
our communities and no two schools are
alike it’s fascinating to look at
statistics on education the US
Department of Education reports ninety
percent of students here in the United
States attend public schools with all
the choices that we have education in
public schools is still the mainstay for
our students the Gallup Organization’s
does polls about just about anything
every year they poll parents and they
ask them how satisfied are you with the
school that your child attends
overwhelmingly parents report that they
are satisfied with the school that their
child attends as a matter of fact in
2017 the satisfaction rate was higher
than it’s been since 2010
if clearly most of our children attend
public schools and our parents are
satisfied with the education their
children are receiving why are there
conversations that call to question the
current status of public schools it’s
interesting to look back on education in
the 1920s only 22% of young adults
completed four years of high school but
the world was different then there were
options for adults who did not graduate
from high school many young men joined
the military factory jobs were abundant
family farms required support and the
role of women was quite different today
graduation from high school cannot be an
option it’s the foundation of our
children’s future for years I’ve told my
students that graduation is
a destination it’s the threshold to your
future graduation is an opportunity to
move into adulthood equipped with the
tools to continue your education or
enter a career that will promise a
successful life in order for our economy
to be strong and our democracy secure we
must ensure that we educate all our
students so they can graduate and are
able to positively contribute to our
communities our schools are change
agents for our country Abraham Lincoln
said the the philosophy of the school
room in one generation will be the
philosophy of government in the next we
must acknowledge the significance of the
impact of our schools not just for today
but for this and future generations to
ensure the continued success of our
schools we need to take a look at
current conversations about education
involving the supply of teachers funding
for public education and the current
policy discussions supporting school
vouchers first we must have the best and
the brightest people in our classrooms
teaching our children as we forge
forward with initiatives to fill jobs in
careers like science technology
engineering and math and all of the
other areas we need to remember first to
promote the profession that makes all
other professions possible we need to
encourage young people to enter the
field of education without outstanding
teachers the future of all other careers
dims before I was an educator I had a
very
cessful career in law enforcement but
someone reached out to me and said why
don’t you think about being a teacher I
had not thought about being a teacher I
had never thought about being a teacher
but that one person reached out and
planted that seed we need to be planting
that seed not just in young people but
in people that might be transitioning
from one career to the next
throughout this country there are
hundreds of teacher vacancies that go
unfilled each year due to a lack of
applicants we need to change the
conversation to invite and encourage
people to become educators and create a
positive momentum toward careers in
education the second conversation we
need to examine is support for public
schools when those tax bills start
rolling out the conversations start and
you hear people saying well I don’t have
children in school I don’t know why I
should pay to support public schools
when those conversations starts I
immediately start thinking about our
public roads there are roads in our
community in our state well in our
country that I will never drive on yet I
realize the importance of promoting and
supporting public roads in our country
you see much like the quality of our
roads improves the quality and safety of
our communities the qualities of our
public schools impact our communities in
ways we may not recognize go ahead yes
absolutely
in one day I experience the impact of
our public school students and graduates
when I was helped in the grocery store
when I had the air in my car tire
checked when I got a flu shot
when I saw EMS driving down the road to
respond to an emergency and when I was
helped at a restaurant
later on that evening you see I
benefited from knowing that these
students had been students in my school
but I want you to think about the
students and graduates of our public
schools that impact your day the doctor
the mechanic the cashiers the engineers
the police officer the nurses the
bankers the real estate agent the
post-office workers the accountants the
list is as personal as each person in
this room the quality of our public
schools influences the quality of our
days every day we need to support public
education funding not just for the
children that are in school today but
for the quality of life they provide to
everyone in our communities we need to
change the conversation to support
public education funding and celebrate
education for the positive impact it has
on our communities the third
conversation that we need to explore is
a hot topic in education policy now
school vouchers as I think about the
essence of education and our country’s
foundational belief in a strong public
school system I’m concerned about
policies involving school vouchers
school vouchers indirectly take away
from the support of public schools by
allowing potential tax dollars to be
shifted to private schools with
absolutely no accountability
the way most vouchers work is a
corporation makes a contribution to a
private entity in return that
corporation receives a tax credit and
then students the most impoverished
students in underperforming schools are
given an opportunity to apply for those
vouchers it sounds like a good thing
however if we believe all children need
to receive a quality education think
about this what happens to those
students who remain in the school that
is impoverished and the community now
has a smaller tax base to support that
school vouchers do nothing to support or
improve underperforming schools most of
our underperforming schools are a result
of the struggle to find certified
teachers and the weak support of public
schools how can we offer the opportunity
for to apply for vouchers to students in
underperforming school and expect the
quality of those schools to increase for
the students who remain we need to
change the policy conversations
surrounding public school vouchers
education is a public trust when I’m in
schools working with students I’m
convinced our future is secure the
students in our schools today will be
the ones who address the problems that
exists as a result of our generation and
the generations before us they will
create opportunities and impact the
world in ways we can only imagine the
most precious resource in our country is
our children
if we want to protect and promote
democracy enhance and secure our economy
we must invest in and ensure our public
schools have the resources they need to
make every public school a school of
choice a school that you want your
children to go to I’ve dedicated my
life’s work to education because I
believe in the greatness of each child
we must change the conversations about
public education to ensure our schools
have the teachers the funding and the
policies in place to meet the needs of
our communities our state’s and our
nation Nelson Mandela said education is
the most powerful weapon which you can
use to change the world what are we
doing to ensure our children’s education
prepares them to be the change we are
counting on let’s take a risk let’s step
out of our comfort zone and start
changing some of these conversations
thank you
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