We had a leadership meeting today, and it was about different strategic initiatives: changing start times, building usage (our 9th grade building is closing and merging with the grades 10-11 high school in two years), fiscal responsibility, future planning.
Part of future planning is the looming specter of continued declining enrollment. It's been a conversation for a while, but the most recent comparison was that enrollment in the 2014-2015 school year was about 6,042 students, and projections for this coming year are 5,081 with it dropping further in projected years out to 28-29 to about 4,835. Sorry for the dry number talk, but what it basically means is, we are going to have continued cutting of things since we won't have as many students to staff for.
This led to the weirdest brainstorming conversation ever. Basically, the community where I teach is an aging community -- the largest demographic age is 55 and up, and new housing that's being built trends more towards condos and retirement/downsizing opportunities. So, the vast majority of people voting (or not voting) on school budget stuff don't have kids in the schools anymore. And, apparently, when you don't have kids in the school anymore, there's no reason to care about funding.
Literally everything about today was done with the assumption that "we are all parents" and "we all know the struggles of parenthood." And then people started calling out things like "get the old people out!" and "we need more young people who are going to have families!" There was also talk about how all these 3-4 bedroom homes that used to have 2-4 kids in them are now either a) older people without kids in school who aren't moving out because their adult children want the family home to stay as is, or b) young people without kids who have the audacity to buy homes with multiple bedrooms and not procreate immediately (or at all).
Okay, quick check on messaging: a) old people bad, b) families good, c) if you don't have kids, you shouldn't take up valuable real estate that could house potential customers I mean students, d) how do we attract the breeders? MORE CHILDREN! WE NEED MORE CHILDREN!
We were supposed to make a newsprint visual of headlines to talk about how these initiatives could be received if they all go swimmingly. I half ironically said we should make one "Blessed be the fruit." I think I found that more appropriate than anyone else at my table. Oddly, it did not make it to the final product.
The whole morning felt like a total example of "as a mother" or "as a father," but really only thinking from your personal point of view. Like when it came to matters of transportation, participation in sports/clubs, and equity, people were like, "well, I drive my kid to practice..." and I was like, "Yep -- YOU drive YOUR KID to practice -- but there are so many families that don't have that option easily." Everyone's first frame of reference is a mirror of their own experience.
I have paid school taxes for most of my adult life, and I have never had a child in the system. I pay because it's mandatory, but it's also because it's good for humanity, for the future generations, and for home values. A community that values its schools and libraries is important to me. It doesn't matter whether I have kids or not, it benefits EVERYONE to have a solid education system. I don't teach where I live, so I truly have no skin in the game. And the community where I teach is one where it used to be 75% of staff also lived there, and it was said today with some chagrin that now it's only about 52%. But these meetings always read like it's assumed that we all live in the community as well.
It's super uncomfortable.
But, when it comes to declining enrollment, it seemed certain realities are being ignored:
- more people are choosing not to have kids (many young millennials are making this choice for reasons below)
- more people, if they choose to have kids, are having fewer
- more people are facing infertility and so having fewer or no kids due to factors outside their control
- it is expensive to have kids, and it is expensive to buy a house. To do both is prohibitive for A LOT of people
- our community used to be (and sort of still is) a very insular, Catholic community -- large families were a hallmark of the community. But large families are not the norm anymore, and I don't see that changing due to expenses and concerns about climate, among other reasons.
It makes sense that schools are family-centric. We need children and families, because no students = no schools. But we also need to acknowledge that not everyone who works in schools is a parent, and the community members who are not currently rearing the next generation have value. And a voice. It feels like erasure when it's assumed everyone has the same experience.
Hear, hear!! Well said, Jess! I have never resented paying taxes to support schools and libraries and recreational facilities and other things and policies that benefit other people's kids, because they do ultimately benefit me and everyone else, if only indirectly. I just wish people would extend the same kind of courtesy to us once in a while. :p
ReplyDeleteAnd I am SO sorry that you had to sit through all that!
Well said! Hear hear!
ReplyDeleteAnd I laughed out loud at "blessed be the fruit." Brilliant!
This is what I find with many parents. They relate everything to their experience, to their kids, rather than to the community or school or even class as a whole. It's a very personal, actually quite selfish approach. And they seem incapable of recognising it. Of course, if we point it out, we "couldn't possibly understand because we don't have kids." Very frustrating, especially for you as a professional in the field.
Lol on "blessed be the fruit."
ReplyDeleteYou've hit on a lot of things here. One thing I have learned by being in the IF and adoption communities is how often we don't see our own privilege and, like you say, it is assumed everyone has the same experience, outlook, and resources we do. Even a simple thing like the "hassle" of driving a kid to practice. It's a privilege!
Because I'm late to this post, there is even more fodder for you now, thanks to this wacky political season.