The Dallas school district has been in the news quite a bit recently.  First, there was the realization that they were $64 million in the hole, then they decided that the only way to make up that difference was to fire hundreds of teachers.  But somehow, they didn't calculate things properly and 50-60 of those teachers got hired back a week or so later.  The latest thing is that HR used fake social security numbers to fast-track some of the new bilingual teachers who had just immigrated to the US.  Just when you think things can't get any worse. . .
Now, I have always been a defender of public schools.  I am a product of public schools, though it was a suburban district.  At the museum, many of the best behaved schools are from DISD.  There are truly some great things happening in DISD.  But with all the turmoil of the last few months, it's been hard to be a defender.  It's even harder to defend the district when your own institution starts to see the ripple effects of the scandals.  A few weeks ago, a teacher called our reservations coordinator in tears.  She was a 2nd grade teacher, and the 3rd grade teacher had been laid off.  To balance out class sizes, she had been moved up to 3rd grade.  A week later, the 3rd grade teacher was rehired , and the 2nd grade teacher went back to her class.  In the meantime, they had missed some key deadlines for field trips (not our deadlines) and had to cancel.  Her kids weren't going to get to go on a field trip this year because of the district's turmoil.  And how much learning happened as the teachers and the classes were shuffled?
On Friday, I got to participate in Career Day at an elementary school in south Dallas, not too far from my museum.  Driving up, I could tell the neighborhood was poor, but the houses were well kept.  When I walked into the school, there were two older kids (probably 6th grade)  that greeted me.  They were so polite!  And they looked so proud to be at the front door.  One of them walked me back to the registration area (the school had a strange layout and I definitely needed the help!).  Two more students helped me sign in and gave me a packet.  All of the staff I met were incredibly nice and professional and helpful and just grateful that I had shown up.  I visited three classrooms--two 4th grade and one 5th grade.  The kids were engaged and asked great questions.  One class was in the midst of preparing for an "alien Thanksgiving," which cracked me up.  The teacher explained "We've done the Plymoth Rock thing; it was time for us to figure out ways to explain this tradition to someone not familiar with it."  I started off the conversation with the kids by asking them what they might find in a museum.  All of them had been to a museum, and I thank ArtsPartners for this.  ArtsPartners is a non-profit that gives grants to DISD schools for field trips--about 30% of our field trip attendance is through this program.  They had some great answers--they totally understood that a museum can be many different things.  My favorite answer: "a museum is a place you enjoy"  I also asked them about the kinds of jobs that make a museum work, and I was impressed with the variety they came up with.  Of course, some of the kids were really interested in security issues--I think this was because there were a lot of cops at Career Day too!  But they listed tour guides and people to keep track of the stuff and janitors and all sorts of other things.
I also got some really good questions.  There was one that stumped me: Who is your role model?  I told them that any names I gave them, they wouldn't recognize but there were certain museums I admired.  And then, another kid asked me what my favorite car was.  The teacher told me I didn't have to answer that one!  But the kids asked me about where I went to school, how old I was when I started working in museums, how stuff winds up in the collection (which led to this really bizarre question: "what if a microwave had been used by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King?  Would you want that?").  And several kids inisted that they had to come see me soon!
I got to eat lunch in the library with some of the other volunteers.  And as I left, I got a small goody bag.  It was a really great day and seemed like a really great school.  But it all makes me think again about how the kids are affected by all of these issues.
Today, there is another huge, front page article about how the district might have lost the $64 million.  There have been few stories about how all of this affects the classroom.  And the superintendent who was in charge when these gross errors were made?  The superintendent that insisted that DISD would win a huge prize for being the best school district in the country by 2010?  Yeah, he's still employed and refuses to step down.  The school board that oversees all of this?  Just voted to increase the length of their terms to 4 years.  I just can't believe that any of this will be solved very soon.  And I worry about the kids.  It's just not right.

Tags: museum stories