Something Special This Way Comes

In spite of the invective generated by all parties during the bitter nine-day June strike by Los Angeles schoolteachers, something special came out of that dispute that should lessen the chance for a recurrence of the polarization between teachers and school management.

That something became evident last week when teachers, administrators and parents met at USC for the first of a series of training sessions for “shared decision-making,” 1980s newspeak for the common-sense approach of having parents, teachers and school principals meet to talk about and decide what is best for children’s education.

The training sessions are preparation for the school-based councils that will govern local schools; the councils were specifically required as part of the terms of the strike settlement and are the initial step toward a broader school-based management plan that will take effect next year. While councils are not a new idea, Los Angeles’ plan for a council at each of the district’s 825 schools is acknowledged as the most extensive nationwide, and it is being watched by educators across the country.

The councils will meet regularly to make group decisions that will affect daily school life. That means that if a particular school needs additional textbooks, or more field trips, or special teacher training on how to handle student drug abuse, the council can make it happen. It even means that the council can decide to buy a new copying machine or decide who can use it and when it can be used. Believe it or not, some principals’ restriction on the use of the school copying machine was a major irritant to teachers; the machine became a symbol of the pettiness that marred some of the strike negotiations.

At the first council training session, there was evidence of bruised feelings, particularly among principals who will have to relinquish some administrative control in order to share it with teachers and parents. Each group expressed some lingering distrust.

Considering recent history, some growing pains are natural. But principals, teachers, parents, school staff and students must give their best effort in this attempt to make the little changes--whether they involve copying machines or the fifth grade science books--because it is the little changes over the long run that can make significant morale and learning differences. After the teachers’ salary increases gained this year are long spent, it is the move to involve parents and teachers directly in the life of a school that will be the most enduring and positive legacy of the strike.