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Right now, a cloud hangs over Springfield Public Schools.
The topic spurring months of contentious school board meetings and organized community pushback is the ongoing state investigation into the school district’s curriculum, and whether Springfield students are getting enough classroom time on subjects besides reading and math.
Yet the discontent enveloping the district isn’t so much about the investigation itself. Instead, it’s about district leaders’ response to anyone with the nerve to ask questions about what’s happening in Springfield schools.
The district has repeatedly said that it cannot comment about the curriculum issue due to the ongoing investigation. They’re right about that.
But by shutting down parents, reprimanding teachers and punishing school board members for raising their own concerns, administrators only increase perception in the community that administrators are hiding something.
Parents deserve better from administrators tasked with ensuring children receive the highest quality education possible. So, with teachers feeling their jobs could be at risk for speaking out, and the school board apparently unwilling to cross a superintendent whose performance they oversee, it falls to those parents to lead the charge for accountability in Springfield Public Schools.
The school board’s next meeting is on Monday. Under current board policy, up to 25 minutes of each meeting are set aside for public comment, with each speaker given up to 3 minutes. We encourage parents of Springfield students who feel affected by the controversy to take advantage of their right to speak.
Anyone who does speak must remember that school board members are serving their community on a volunteer basis. They’re juggling jobs and family obligations with their board responsibilities, so speakers should treat them with the same respect they would give their student’s teacher.
They should also remember that board policy says it “will not hear comments regarding any individual district staff member,” because the district’s public complaint procedure must be followed instead. It’s a point the board chair emphasized in a Lookout Eugene-Springfield guest column this week.
While we agree that personal attacks aren’t helpful, we’re wary of any implication — intentional or not — that criticizing district leadership is out of bounds. In fact, it is clearly within the public sphere of engagement. Speakers who believe the district is wrong on an action or policy should not be stopped.
District leadership are right that they can’t divulge any details of the ongoing state investigation. But they’re wrong in showing more concern publicly about reining in dissent than about whether Springfield students are receiving the well-rounded education they deserve.
If parents feel like that’s a problem, they have a right to state their case.
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