Learning Matters: There never seems to be a shortage of education issues
As summer vacation moves steadily closer to the early August start of school — now just over two weeks away — both students and their parents are likely feeling the mix of anxiety and anticipation that comes with new academic years.
But as I reflect on the concerns of this year’s school-goers, I’m struck by the never-failing supply of education issues. There’s always something for parents to worry about, something for the PTA to discuss. Locally and statewide, challenges that were satisfactorily addressed one decade reappear with new twists the next, like new strains of the flu. With public schools evolving as communities evolve, it can feel like nothing is ever solved.
But such feelings obscure the progress made and relationships built through years of solution-seeking by parents and educators working together for the benefit of students. So, in hopes that a look at past concerns might somehow help alleviate a few current anxieties, I offer an incomplete and unranked account of three decades of worry, culled from my experience and that of other “graduate” parents.
Population growth was the issue that first grabbed my attention as a parent. I’ve previously described the enormous jump in school enrollment between 1987 and 1994, when immigration increased and new apartments replaced single-family homes in south Glendale.
By the early 1990s, nine of the district’s 20 elementary schools had transitioned to year-round education, and working parents had to scramble for “off track” child care. Planning vacations was an art for families with older children who remained on traditional schedules.
Two decades later, as housing prices increased and student population in Glendale and across California dropped, year-round schools gradually reverted to a traditional calendar.
Instruction for English-language learners was an issue that grew along with the immigrant population. As reflected in the emotion-filled crusades for and against Proposition 227, California grappled with demands for “English only” instruction. Communities worried about changing demographics, and some families turned to private schools.
Years later, with the advent of the Foreign Language Academies of Glendale, or FLAG, dual-language immersion programs turned the language acquisition “problem” on its head. Native foreign language-speaking students began modeling authentic accents for their English-speaking classmates, and families began clamoring for spots in the district’s FLAG schools.
Class size, as distinct from school size, is another issue with a roller-coaster history. For many years, California vied for the distinction of having the highest average class size in the country (and the lowest per-pupil funding), at 29 students.
Then, in 1996, California enacted Class Size Reduction. Gov. Pete Wilson surprised and delighted parents and teachers when he signed Class Size Reduction into law right here in Glendale. In the brief span of that summer, bungalows appeared on playgrounds, new teachers were hired and schools opened with primary class sizes of 20.
Many parents who had left public schools returned. But then came the Great Recession, followed by budget cuts, and California discontinued Class Size Reduction funding. The mood of parents and teachers changed again, and the issue simmers on.
Health and safety have been ever-present concerns, with targets of worry that have included drug and alcohol abuse, sex education, gangs and violence, bullying, teenage depression, stress and suicide.
“The main issue of my Council PTA presidency was AIDS education,” wrote Susan Hunt, executive director of the Glendale Educational Foundation, in an email. “[It was] very much a controversial topic because… it required people to actually talk about sex. We finally managed to show ‘Secrets,’ a film produced by Kaiser, after school at the high schools. Students had to have parental permission to see it. Glad we’ve come a long way since then.”
In an email from another past Council PTA President Lynn Miyamoto wrote, “The educational issues that took most of my time were arts in the classroom, the lack of career and college counseling, and parent engagement… so they would learn the importance of parents being involved… and being the first teachers.”
Her advice to parents is to be visible in their children’s education “…so your child knows you are there for them… when the time is needed.” She also thinks parents “…make lifelong friends if you become involved in PTA by sharing and working together.”
Hunt’s advice now, as it was when her children were in school, is “to trust public education….Our students are better served in an environment that has ethnic and economic diversity, choices about classes to take and activities to join.”
Public education may have its ups and downs, but there’s great company to be found along the way.
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JOYLENE WAGNER works in support of college and career education for the Verdugo Workforce Development Board and is a past member of the Glendale Unified School Board. Email her at jkate4400@aol.com.
