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Paul Richard Hain
Janis,
Your question about what changes in education I have seen in 43 years really caught me unprepared to answer. I am better at listening to teachers and parents, liking to hear things that not only confirm, but also conflict with my own beliefs. I do believe I can spot a dedicated teacher that is devoted to their students with very little input. That’s why I asked for Ron Zager’s opinion. I’m guessing he’s the kind of teacher I’d love to have in my school.
Enough delay of answering you. I took a walk last night thinking about your question, not sure I could begin to tell my experience in some concise answer. I realized an important part of my career was shaped by my early years as a teacher. If I focus on one change in education that I feel is most important, it is educating students with disabilities.
I started teaching on the cusp of education for persons with special needs. In 1975, Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, P.L. 94-142, and later, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) P.L. 101-476, in 1975.
I started teaching in 1968. Fairview School District 72 in Skokie was ahead of its time. We were already expected to include children with physical, cognitive and emotional problems in our classes. We had lots of support from physical therapists, psychologists and social workers. It was experimental in the early stages of how to educate kids with disabilities in regular schools. With no special training to work with disabled students, but confident I could learn I became part of a team of teachers each with a specialty.
Seven years later, I retold my special education teaching experience as part of an interview for my first elementary school principal job in a very poor school district. My new superintendent said, “You’re hired. And, I’m making you our district Special Education and Title I coordinator.” What did he say?. Holy crap! This was way more than I expected, but there I was faced with running my school and guiding the special education program for 47 children identified with learning disabilities out of 1,600 students district wide. I had 1.5 travelling teachers of Learning Disabilities, a half-time speech therapist and two full-time reading specialists serving all four schools, K-8. Admittedly, the first year was totally experimental. The second year, we worked from the text of the law with assistance from the county cooperative and built a respectable program where the children were taught in one of two ways: they were in a special education classroom or a travelling special education teacher would pull a small group out of class and work with their deficit areas.
Some years at this went by. Our program had grown to 250 students and a larger special education staff. I was becoming convinced that we were going about this the wrong way. Kids really were not getting better. Separate classes and pulling kids out of class was not the best we could do. IDEA says children with disabilities are to be educated “with their peers.” This meant literally in regular classes where they can socially interact, learn norms, be challenged, develop cooperation, play and horse around with all the others. This change was not something that could be imposed. It would have to grow from within the faculty as a good idea. Acceptance depended on trust.
I am self-described as a transformational leader. I empower those who desire to become leaders among their peers. This takes several years. I hired two special education teachers who believed like me. Over two years, they developed rapport with regular classroom teachers and the special ed support staff of speech therapists, psychologists and reading specialists. These two teachers helped me identify leaders from the regular staff that were interested in fully including kids with disabilities in regular classes. The power of peer encouragement brought teachers from the periphery on-board as team members. No teacher was forced to participate, and I ran a regular program for them.
My school was a fourth and fifth grade intermediate building where all children from across the district (47 miles of half rural, half villages). When we had the plan fully developed, and most importantly, the teachers ready, we met with all the severely learning disabled student parents and explained that next year, we were going to enroll their children in regular classes with a regular curriculum and bring our staff into the rooms to help their children and the teachers. These children had never been in a regular education class. Faculty members explained the details. These were teachers who the community respected for their judgment and teaching skills. Not even one parent objected to the idea! In fact, some said this is what they had hoped for all along.
The Board of Education was apprised of the plan and gave their consent. My job was to watch everything in real-time, meet with my teachers frequently to find solutions for problems that developed. Their ownership made my job different from a typical administrative role. We were not a top-down organization. We were level and I had my role. I was always available and would go where needed. The relationship was not the typical administrator/teacher construct. The respect I had for what my teachers and support staff was reflected in their respect for me. We ended the first year with more teachers that wanted to participate next year. The parents all wanted their children to continue in the program next year, as well.
My faculty was not some pushover namby-pambys. No, my teachers were union officers and members. When they got some push back from teachers at other schools that didn’t like what they were doing, let’s just say, they silenced it effectively. But, that did not stop them from expressing themselves.
Collective bargaining with the Board of Education had begun to break down. My school building contained the School Board offices. My teachers decided to show their displeasure by removing all displays of student work in the halls and to stand on either side of the sidewalk as school board members entered the building. This incensed the board members. They called me in closed session and demanded I do something to stop it or they would hold me accountable.
I had nothing to do with the teacher’s decision. Here’s what happened. I held a faculty meeting after school with the usual popcorn, soft drinks and laughter. The laughter was overheard in the hall, the reports of which made some board members suspicious that the laughter had been about them. I finally got serious with the teachers. I told them I understood what they were doing and would not step in their way if they want to continue. I told them their protest hit the mark because the school board hit the ceiling. Cheers and high fives erupted. Then, I reminded them that I answer directly to the board of education and they intend to punish me if the protest continues. I told them there was nothing they could do that could permanently hurt my 22 years of experience and support in the community, so they should do what they thought best. I left the faculty room and went to my office. They met and then left the building.
The next day, all the student work and decorations were back on display. At their next meeting, the board members came and went without the “walk of shame.” You would think the board members would be happy. No, they were madder at me than ever. Back in another closed session of the board the conversation went like this: “Were you behind this all along?” No, I had nothing to do with it. “What did you threaten them with to make them give in?” Nothing, they did it themselves. My superintendent was doing one of those folded-arm things where you are holding the corners of your mouth down to keep from smiling. I knew I had his support, but it was my battle to win. And, I did. Not only was I the winner, but the teachers and a great program that served children with disabilities better than anything I experienced in 22 years as principal.
I took on a new role, still supervising a newly hired special education coordinator and expanding technology program, but now I was the CFO of the school district, hired by the same board of education ready to hang me out to dry a couple of years earlier.
There is an ethnography written in the early 1960’s called, “The Man In The PrincipaI’s Office,” about the life of a principal in Northbrook, Illinois. There is usually only one principal and many teachers in a school. The author wanted to describe what an elementary school principal does with their day. It is an interesting, but dated insight into an occupation that you can make solitary or enormously interactive. I’m the latter type, yet to this day many school principals deal with the legalistic and mundane in isolation, missing out on the joy that comes from taking calculated risks for the sake of the children.
I hope you see how important educating children with disabilities is to me. I put my all into it and the results were rewarding for teachers, parents and especially, the children. I see members of my old faculty on occasion these days. Hugs, a cup of coffee or two and lots of good memories get retold. This was my finest sense of accomplishment as an educator. There were others, but this one is tops. As you may imagine, not everything that happened in 43 years was so good. But, that’s a story for another time.
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