After Thursday: where we are, and what comes next
Hi everyone,
Thank you. Thursday was a long night. Some of you were there for both meetings, some for one, some had to leave early to get kids home. However you showed up, you showed up, and that turnout was the message.
Here is an honest picture of where things stand, what moved, and what we are asking of you next.
What Thursday looked like
The community meeting with the district was hard and it was not the open dialogue I had hoped for. Even so, a lot of people raised real, specific concerns about what their children are experiencing. The responses did not always line up with what parents are seeing. That gap is the heart of this, and Thursday made it clearer, not smaller.
Ahead of the meeting, I asked the board and the superintendent not to defer technology-related public comment, as had happened at the prior meeting. The request was not accommodated. At the meeting, the board president instructed anyone intending to speak about technology to pass during the main public comment period and wait for a separate session after the Strategic Plan presentation. Other topics were heard in the open period. The result was the same as last time. Parents who came specifically to speak on this issue had to leave before that later session, and did not get the chance. I will continue to object to this before every meeting until it changes. Whether comment is heard, and when, matters as much as what is said.
The comments that were made were powerful. Parents spoke. Medical professionals spoke. Educators spoke. A student spoke about their own experience with education technology. I am not going to recount those here, because they belong to the people who shared them. The board heard them, and they are part of the public record now.
Hear those comments for yourselves here: Zoom Link
Public comment starts at the 49 minute mark.
The part that does not show up in the minutes
Outside the board room, something else was happening, and it mattered as much as anything said inside.
Bene Pizza generously donated dinner. Kids were everywhere, doing arts and crafts, running around, being kids. Our daughter set up her first face painting station (with mostly good results). Parents rotated in and out of the chamber so everyone could hear public comment and no one had to choose between participating and watching their kids.
That is what this is. Not a campaign that shows up angry and leaves. A community that brought its families, fed them, and stayed. We should hold onto that, I know I will.
Where we have made progress
I do not want this to get lost in a challenging week.
The district provided written preliminary answers to our twelve questions ahead of Thursday. That is a transparency step we asked for and did not have a month ago. The answers raise further questions, and we will keep working through them, but they are on the table in writing now.
Board members are engaging with this directly and on substance. The conversation has moved from "is anyone listening" to "what happens next and how fast." Those are different conversations, and the second one is the one we want to be in.
And the community keeps growing. Every person who signs up, shows up, or speaks up changes what is possible here.
One thing worth naming, because it comes up a lot
When people hear concerns about classroom technology, a common response is that children need to build digital skills early for a digital world. We understand that instinct. It is worth saying clearly what we are and are not saying.
We are not anti-technology. The point is narrower and, we think, reassuring. There is a difference between teaching children digital skills and using devices to deliver everyday instruction, and most of the concern is about the second. The digital skills that genuinely matter are more straightforward to build than many of us assume, and they do not need to start as early as they currently do. Starting later does not mean falling behind. In a lot of cases it means learning the skill faster, when a child is developmentally ready for it.
This is the conversation we most want to have with parents and teachers who are not yet sure where they land. There is much more to say here, and we will, including what the district's own answers show. For now, if this is the question holding you back, it may be the most important one to talk through with the people around you.
What we are asking of you now
Keep going.
Reach out to your board member. Each of you is represented by a specific board director. They want to hear from constituents, not only from us. A short, personal note about what you are seeing with your own children carries more weight than anything we could write. If you have been at these meetings, tell them how this process is feeling. The district's School Board page has the member list and a director district map so you can find who represents you: https://bisd303.org/40415_3.
Talk to your child's teachers. We want to hear from educators, and we want them to know this is not about making their jobs harder. It is the opposite. We have heard from teachers who share these concerns but do not feel they can say so publicly. If you have a relationship with your child's teacher, ask them what they are seeing and what would actually help. What we learn this way matters.
Meetup this Thursday. 930am @The Marketplace. The folks at The Marketplace have generously offered to host. We know this time may not work for many but there is no time that will work for most. Our approach will be to host more meetups at different times and days moving forward. This is a chance to be in a room that is ours, not a board chamber, and to talk together. If you are planning on coming, reply to this email so we can get a rough count. (I will send a reminder out Wednesday)
The next milestone is the Board's Strategic Plan vote on May 28. The work between now and then is quieter than a packed board room, but it is the most important. Conversations with board members. Honest conversations with teachers. A community that stays together.
We are not stepping back. We are digging in for the part that actually changes things.
More soon,
Jordan and The Intentional Tech Team
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