Gagnon, Grana, Nelson, Daura, Gulino, & Mongon-- Advocating for ALL

Each week, the Advocating for ALL slate running for the Sparta Board of Education in November will highlight an important issue currently facing our district. Our goal is to provide insight on matters we find important and showcase the quality of work we’d bring to the board by bringing the focus back to education. We believe we can achieve this by advocating for every student, every staff member, every administrator, and every parent alike.

Our teachers, our administrators, our students, our community….

Since COVID-19 took hold two years ago, our community has been frustrated, overwhelmed, and fearful of many things. Mask wearing, vaccination mandates, and remote learning all elicited different and often emotional responses for everyone. The pandemic and its associated economic devastation, a breaking point in racial injustice, and an ever-intensifying political polarization have all disrupted public education and have created barriers to interpersonal and communal trust.

Finding common ground to forge a path forward feels all but impossible lately. But I believe that the challenges we've faced in the past have created a great potential for unity in our town.

Having a specialty based in health science and having worked in schools as an Occupational Therapist, I know and understand that great schools are relationship-centered. But in our schools those relationships have been allowed to atrophy or weaken. Fundamentally, relationships are all about trust. Judging by the teachers and support staff leaving our district and the families choosing to enroll in options other than our public schools, many have lost trust in the Sparta district. To address this, we must embrace a strategy that depends on public education.

If we want to restore trust in our public schools, we need to balance the "power structure" between the Board of Education, administration, parents, teachers, and students. We need to rebuild these relationships by centering our work on our shared purpose: to give ALL every opportunity available to ensure success, health, well-being, and independence. We need to promote justice, equity, and educational excellence for ALL.

The teachers are at the forefront of this, as we must trust and value their input and expertise in educating our students. Our teachers and staff are with our children for the larger part of the day. We trust in them to not only teach, but to guide our children, care for them, provide for them, and build their character. We need to trust them when it comes to our children's education. We need to display engagement and interest on a family level and extend our empathy and support to our teachers, administration, and therefore, our students. A strong relationship between these groups is the backbone of child development and will empower Sparta schools to meet their fullest potential.

A strong relationship between the family system and the school system requires much more than community meetings, teacher conferences, and school events. It requires binding confidence and honesty between all parties. It requires trust. Trust is a crucial pillar of a well-functioning education system.

So, the question arises... How can we rebuild public trust in education?

The answer is not simple, but it starts with respect. We need to respect all stakeholders while valuing divergent beliefs and opinions. We need to respect the roles of the Board of Education and the administration. We need to respect our teachers, support staff, and professionals and respect the expertise they have in their fields. We especially need to respect our students.

Students are the future of this country, therefore, they must be involved in the public education process. When I was in high school, I never would have thought of speaking at a board meeting! Times have changed for the better. Having a student representative to communicate the needs, real life experiences, and insightful ideas of students should be considered a valuable component of any Board of Education.