MLK Senior Men's Club forum

Remarks as prepared for the Martin Luther King Jr., Senior Men's Club School Board Candidate's Forum.

I became interested in running for School Board around the time we were looking into Kindergarten options for our daughter. One of those programs was Kennedy Academy.

The phrase “students ready to learn” was used many times in the presentation there. This is the key factor in admissions, and the fact it is stressed emphasizes that many children entering Kindergarten aren’t “ready to learn”.

Then I thought back to when I had mentored a fourth and then fifth grader at Eggleston Elementary. His teacher held after school sessions with what she called her “Homework Club”. The Club consisted of about a half dozen 5th graders who – while eager – weren’t ready to learn. They didn’t have the skills or the habits needed.

How can that be? More importantly, what can we do about it?

For one thing, two and one half hour long classes are not enough time for our children in Kindergarten – and they don’t work well with most family’s lives. Additionally, the state has created barriers to our success by allowing Kindergarten to be optional and by having the earliest age cut-off date for school admission in the nation. To top it all off, there is a popular practice of “redshirting” Kindergartners – holding them back beyond the legal entry date – that many school systems condone.

This combination of factors creates several negative outcomes and they are particularly onerous for children with disadvantaged backgrounds. I don’t have time to make the case here, but you’ll find my source materials – including a recent Harvard study – on my website wheeler4rkids.org .

But let me present this First Grade scenario: Some children will enter at age six with two years of high quality pre-school and a year of Kindergarten under their belts. In the same classroom, there may some seven year olds in their first formal education setting ever. Their teacher will have about twenty students. Does this level of disparity make any sense? Does it work towards positive outcomes? I don’t think so. And I'd add that, unless and until we can assure ourselves our children leave Primary Centers ready for the next step, it's awfully hard to properly evaluate any of our later programs.

We have made progress in our schools, but it’s clearly uneven. That’s why I’ve proposed a Teach for South Bend initiative – asking the business community to partner with us – to create a fund to reward teachers willing to take on the really tough assignments. And to create a robust mentoring program to ensure these efforts succeed.

Finally, the school board needs to form a new partnership with the community. Let’s return to having half the meetings in schools – at times it's easier for people to attend. Let’s embrace community involvement and respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

As a business manager, it was my habit to urge my department heads to find the easiest way possible to do the job correctly. Identify barriers - and eliminate them.

That would be my approach as your Trustee.

Don Wheeler