Observations. Notes. Ideas. #RockNRoll

Interesting article headline on Omaha.com caught my attention this morning: Parent conferences, test scores linked. Repeat that out loud a few times. “Parent conferences, test scores linked.” “Parent conferences, test scores linked.” “Parent conferences, test scores linked.” As my friend Shane always says “soak it in.”

I enjoy reading about the efforts to get parents to conferences by administrators & teachers in Omaha Public Schools (OPS), but not surprised. We have great administrators managing our schools. We have great teachers managing classrooms, instructing & teaching our children – the future leaders of Omaha. Visit Nebraska Loves Our Public Schools to watch mini-films capturing the underlying essences of Nebraska & Omaha’s education success.
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Administrators & teachers take way more than their fair share of criticism for the failures of education. The failure, in my humble opinion, is not administrators & teachers, but rather at the foundational level of parenting. If parents aren’t involved in their children’s education, the administrators & teachers can’t build the learning structures necessary for a successful educational K-12 experience. The kids and society as a whole are left Waiting For Mom & Dad.
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Why are we waiting on mom & dad? I don’t know. I have ideas and notions based on my own experiences as a student in the 1970s & 1980s in the Omaha Public School system and as a parent for the last eight years. My gut notion is that the problems we are experiencing in education are microcosmic problems of our society as a whole. At base, we are not collecting & distributing tax dollars appropriately. This is a post-modern American problem writ large. Because we can’t get our collective heads around this foundational problem we certainly can’t sit down at the Table of Ideas and discuss the reasons behind waiting on mom & dad to show up.
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I am not opposed to feeding kids breakfast in our public schools. I do find it strange that I am living in a world where kids don’t eat breakfast with mom & dad, or just mom, or just dad, and instead get dropped off to eat breakfast in a cafeteria provided by the Lunch Lady that is now the Breakfast Lady & quite possibly one day might be the Dinner Lady. Again, we are waiting on mom & dad.
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My experiences at Dundee Elementary over the last seven years have taught me one thing: it takes a neighborhood. A core group of families in Dundee are consistently criss-crossing groups & committees & getting involved. For example, it would not be unusual to find the President of the Dundee-Memorial Park Neighborhood Association at a Dundee Elementary Parent Teacher Association meeting heading up the Craft Night committee. No surprise would be found if a Dundee merchant donated gift certificates to be given away at PTA meetings leaving all involved winners. Dundee Elementary is not waiting for mom & dad.

I am in my first year at Lewis & Clark Middle School. I sense that the administrators & teachers are waiting on mom & dad more than we were at Dundee Elementary. Kim & I are looking forward to learning about Lewis & Clark and getting involved.