The latest blow-up to hit N-MUSD

We tend to think of marketing as a means to sell toothpaste. Education, we’d like to believe, is above such blatant commercialism.

But we know it isn’t true.

Institutions of higher education are undeniably bold. Over the past few decades they have increasingly resorted to shameless marketing and public relations efforts to bolster their application numbers, endowments, athletics programs and international reputations. It is no small irony that they engage in these sales pitches by trading on their supposed commitments to lofty, ivory-tower ideals and academic integrity.

But as we’ve watched universities parade themselves before us like beauty pageant contestants, less consideration has been given to the ceaseless creep of marketing into the K-12 system of education. Unfortunately, it’s there too, has been for quite some time, and plays a major role in how we view our schools.

The thing about marketing is that it works, even when we’re quite aware of how we’re being manipulated. Even so, it’s worth keeping our radars attuned and set to skeptical level whenever we hear about our schools’ latest and greatest educational initiatives, shiny new programs, awards and proclamations of superiority.

Marketing has become such a powerful presence in education that schools barely even bother to conceal it any longer.

A recent Los Angeles Times article, for instance, detailed the ways in which traditional public schools in Los Angeles have taken to using the same kinds of marketing tactics employed by their charter school rivals. These strategies include glossy fliers, Facebook pages promoting school activities, banners, posters — even advertisements on the sides of trucks.

The story also revealed that L.A. Unified had hired a marketing director last December.

Education officials could argue that, in an age of heightened scrutiny and amid an increasingly demanding, competitive environment, schools must take steps to inform the public about all they do. If that means borrowing a page from the consumer products industry, then that’s just a sign of the times we live in.

One of the problems with this rationale, however, is that parents often hear only about the good news. School officials routinely take credit for strong educational outcomes that are largely a result of favorable demographics, while mistakes, failures, controversies and complications are downplayed, swept aside or explained away with facile talking points.

Thus, we witness news — such as the modest growth in new state standardized test scores — touted as a positive outcome by many school leaders, while the fact that the scores are still distressingly low is deemphasized in carefully crafted statements.

Too often, instead of an honest public acknowledgment of the huge challenges and painful, incremental measures of progress that are the daily reality for our schools, we get slogans and cheerleading.

This image-obsessed dynamic is routinely at play in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

In recent years the district has been plagued by so many controversies and scandals it could make a political campaign look boring by comparison. We’ve been witness to allegations of misconduct and harassment in legal claims by former administrators; fallout at Mariners Elementary over its former principal’s possibly misleading application for an award; and revelations of unusual extra payments made to Deputy Supt. Paul Reed on top of his lucrative compensation package that entices him to postpone retirement.

Not that we would know about any of these issues if we only paid attention to the positive spin coming out of the district. The upbeat press releases, awards and accolades handed out at school board meetings, and the general glossing over of problems, mask the real issues within.

The latest blow-up to hit N-MUSD provides another case in point.

Many parents and teachers have been pleading with the school board and Supt. Fred Navarro to abandon the deeply flawed Swun Math curriculum. They have been met with a deliberately muted response by district leadership and no outright acceptance of responsibility.

Swun Math, which the district began using in 2013, was plagued with problems from the start, including factual errors, issues with the teaching of key math principles, and a lack of congruity between teaching materials and tests. N-MUSD teachers have been employed to fix the errors, but after three years of dealing with these issues, many say the program remains so inferior it’s beyond redemption.

Yet it is only now that opposition to Swun by many parents and teachers has grown so loud and forceful that the district has begun an effort to replace it. It has assigned a committee to study the matter, pilot new math programs and make a recommendation for curriculum to be used in the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. In the meantime, Swun will continue to be utilized.

That isn’t fast enough for many parents and teachers who believe that Swun could easily be replaced a with state-approved math curriculum by the middle of this school year. And by getting organized, putting forward a coherent platform and publicizing their concerns and demands, they’re showing the district that marketing strategies can also work for them.

At the most recent board meeting, a truck parked outside had the following words painted on its side: “Dump Swun Now! Kids Deserve Better.” Now that’s an effective marketing message, and one that district officials would be foolish to ignore.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.