2021 March 28 How Do We Fix Our WCSD Schools? Part 4 of a Series

by Reva Parks | Mar 28, 2021 | Uncomfortable Truths

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” (John Adams – 2nd President of the United States)

How Do We Fix Our WCSD Schools? Part IV of a Series

Overview:
For over a decade, the Washoe County School District (and all Nevada public schools) have ranked last in the nation or almost-last in the nation in quality of education. WCSD superintendents and school boards have primarily blamed our failing schools on a lack of funding. That is probably false because 10 states fund their public schools equal-to or LOWER-than Nevada, and all 10 of those states outperform our schools.

But if the solution for improving our schools is NOT more money, then what is it?

Our failing schools result from 6 main issues that need to be dealt with. Each issue will be explained in more detail in this column and in the three succeeding ones.

Part I -(Feb. 23) FACTS MATTER – WHAT TO DO about our WCSD schools –
Part II – (March 2) WASTE LESS MONEY on buildings and non-instructional support services)
Part lll – (March 16) WASTE LESS TIME and MONEY on instructional-related employees
Part lV – (March 28) MORE ACCOUNTABILITY regarding WHAT is taught and HOW
Part V – BETTER DISCIPLINE and CONTROL of student behavior
Part VI – BETTER LEADERSHIP
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Part IV: MORE ACCOUNTABILITY regarding WHAT is taught and HOW

HOW Subject Matter is Taught Matters
WhatEVER our WCSD schools are teaching, it’s clearly not being done in a way that ensures the students’ mastery of curriculum skills. This has much to do with how future teachers are being taught how to teach. Education programs at universities like UNR have devolved into saturating future teachers with Leftist ideologies, rather than instructing them in how to clearly and accountably present learning objectives in a way that results in students mastering those objectives. Additionally, as WCSD school discipline has become weaker, teachers have to deal with more in-class student drug use and disrespectful behavior, which destroy the orderly classroom environment that’s required for any real learning to take place.

WHAT’s Being Taught?
It’s becoming almost impossible to find out!
Using the unjustified excuses of “school safety” (before Covid), and “Health concerns” (since Covid), combined with passing Board Policies that threaten teachers who try to teach BOTH sides of controversial issues, rather than presenting ONLY WCSD’s Leftist political agenda, the Superintendent and Board have completely closed off unannounced classroom visits by Board Members, parents, and concerned community members. This means that the community’s only way to get an accurate picture of what goes on in our schools, is from students themselves, or from the rare teacher who is willing to speak openly.

Refusing to tell the community how bad our school situation is, teachers use the morally unacceptable justification that they fear for their jobs. If more teachers don’t start speaking out, teaching in our schools will become even more dangerous, abusive, and frustrating than it already is, and the flow of good teachers leaving the district will continue to increase.

A partial list of what’s being taught in our schools that should NOT be taught, includes the following.

Social Studies
Students are taught a distorted, inaccurate history of the United States and its social issues. They are indoctrinated with curriculum materials promoting the teachings of groups like Black Lives Matter, the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory proponents. Students are taught, among other things:
• That the American Revolution was not fought for freedom and liberty but to protect slavery
• That America is a white supremacist society that has never benefited anyone of color
• That our Founding Documents are no longer relevant and need to be changed
• That our Founding Fathers did not create an exceptional nation, and that there has been no significant progress in race relations since 1776.

Sex Education (S.H.A.R.E program)
The SHARE sex education program is nothing more than a how-to primer for encouraging under-age (and illegal) sexual activity.
• At age 9: they’re teaching children the details of sexual intercourse
• At age 11: the curriculum asks girls how they decide what to do “when” they’re attending alcohol-fueled parties and get asked by “men” if they want to have sex.
• Teens are taught the most minute details of every type of birth control, their right to not be controlled by their parents’ decisions, all the specifics of abortion

Moral and religious values virtually don’t exist in the SHARE sex-ed curriculum. “Abstinence” and marriage are only slightly mentioned a couple of times as vocabulary words, parents are non-essential in a child’s decisions about sex, the law against minors having sex is de-emphasized, and the explosion of STD’s among minors is ignored.

Homosexuality is NOT taught objectively as what it is:
• A legally protected lifestyle that is chosen by less than 5% of the population
• Homosexuality is 100% a choice; there is NO genetic/hereditary connection
• A choice that leads to a 40% higher suicide rate and a 400% greater run-away rate for teens
• A choice that the CDC says results in 2% of the population (homosexual men) accounting for 70% (!) of the new HIV infections annually.
• Gender is 100% biological; it is NOT a choice.

What IS taught about homosexuality?
• It’s all about your feelings. If you THINK you are, you ought to consider the possibility.
• Sexual promiscuity is neither mentioned nor discouraged, and graphic sexual how-to’s are described in detail.
• It’s “normal and good” – NO downside regarding statistics is mentioned
• It’s conflict with most religious teachings is not mentioned
• Homosexuality is presented as a possible solution to the common, confused sense of identity and feelings in teenagers

The SHARE curriculum – for both heterosexuality and homosexuality – is nothing but an overt attempt to abnormally sexualize and pervert the natural innocence and trusting nature that is inherent in ALL children.

To summarize, our WCSD students and schools continue to rank worst-in-the-nation for one reason. The teaching of essential academic skills and the enforcement of a normal, accountable plan for student behavior have been almost entirely superseded by the desire of the superintendent and Board President to promote their Extreme Leftist views on politics and race, respectively. As long as the community allows this to continue…it will.

“We have it in our power to begin the world (and our schools) again.”
(Thomas Paine – 1776)

Feedback is welcomed. Contact Paul White at white.pauld@gmail.com

2021 March 16 How Do We Fix Our WCSD Schools? Part 3 of a Series

by Reva Parks | Mar 16, 2021 | Uncomfortable Truths

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” (John Adams – 2nd President of the United States)

How Do We Fix Our WCSD Schools? Part III of a 5-Part Series

Overview:
For over a decade, the Washoe County School District (and all Nevada public schools) have ranked last in the nation or almost-last in the nation in quality of education. WCSD superintendents and school boards have primarily blamed our failing schools on a lack of funding. That is provably false because 10 states fund their public schools equal-to or LOWER-than Nevada, and all 10 of those states outperform our schools.

But if the solution for improving our schools is NOT more money, then what is it?

Our failing schools result from 5 main issues that need to be dealt with. Each issue will be explained in more detail in this column and in the three succeeding ones.

Part I -(Feb. 23) FACTS MATTER – WHAT TO DO about our WCSD schools

Part II – (March 2) WASTE LESS MONEY on buildings and non-instructional support services

Part lll – WASTE LESS TIME and MONEY on instructional-related employees

Part lV – MORE ACCOUNTABILITY regarding WHAT is taught and HOW

Part V – BETTER DISCIPLINE and CONTROL of student behavior
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Part III: WASTE LESS TIME and MONEY on instructional-related employees

Much is written and spoken about reducing the “administrative bloat” in our WCSD schools, but no one ever provides the details. At last, here’s a list:

• WHICH instruction-related jobs should be eliminated or modified • WHY

Total “Bloat reduction” savings that could be realized: $12M – $20M per YEAR!
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1) WCSD Superintendent’s “Leadership Team.”
Here is where the “bloat” starts. Go to this link to see the head of the snake. https://www.washoeschools.net/cms/lib/NV01912265/Centricity/Domain/97/WCSD%20Or%20Chart%2009%2017%202020.pdf
How critically important do the following jobs sound to you? “Chief Strategies Officer,” “Chief Accountability Officer”, “Chief Information Officer,” “Chief Communications and Community Engagement Officer,” ad infinitum. WCSD schools consistently rank worst in the nation, offer no accountability for their failure to teach our kids, and stonewall community requests for information or interaction. What exactly do these “Leaders” – and the dozens of people who work underneath each one of them DO all day that is improving our students’ education? Answer: Little and nothing.

Bloat Reduction Action That Could Be Taken Immediately:
As a career educator, I assure you that you could entirely eliminate 1 out of every 3 “Leadership” departments, AND eliminate 1 out of every 3 employee positions in the REMAINING “Leadership” departments. No one would ever know they were gone. Any possible slack that needed to be picked-up could easily be handled if the remaining “leadership” departments simply provided taxpayers with an honest day’s work.
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2) Do We Really Need FIVE Extra Superintendents?
For approximately 60,000 students and 100 schools, the WCSD superintendent hires an ADDITIONAL 5 “Field Superintendents” to help her supervise school operations. Compare this with the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District. He is responsible for 1,000 schools and 600,000 students (10X more than WCSD) and he only uses SIX Field Superintendents.

Bloat Reduction Action That Could Be Taken Immediately:
If you think 3 or 4 of WCSD’s excessive Field Superintendent positions could be eliminated immediately without ANY decrease in education quality, AND at an annual savings of close to a million dollars…you’re right!
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3) School-site Administrators and Non-teaching “Specialists”
Unless they were willing to devote hundreds of hours to research, WCSD superintendent McNeill has made it virtually impossible for the public to see how many non-teaching administrative positions there are at each of WCSD’s 100 schools. This is intentional on the superintendent’s part, because it enables her to hide the absurd amount of administrative bloat. The Board needs to demand that the superintendent immediately provide a concise list of all the non-teaching positions at each school, so that the Board can easily spot the wasteful over-staffing and eliminate it.

Bloat Reduction Action That Could Be Taken Immediately:
A school of 600 or fewer students does not need ANY assistant administrators. Larger schools only need one assistant. With approximately 100 schools, WCSD could eliminate an average of 2-3 administrative positions per school (200-300 positions). Additionally, the large number of non-teaching “specialist” positions funded by extra subsidies should be eliminated and the money re-directed, because these positions contribute little or nothing to the overall education of our children.

What could WCSD do with the several hundred displaced individuals who are qualified as teachers but don’t teach? Offer them full-time classroom teaching positions – at a teacher’s pay scale. That would immediately eliminate WCSD’s teacher shortage, lower class size, and save millions of dollars.

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4) A Non-teaching Educator is an Oxymoron –
The majority of WCSD administrators, including principals, are licensed to teach students but DON’T – and HAVEN’T for decades. That’s why their policies and expectations for teachers are unrealistic and counter-productive. That’s why they don’t have any real soul-connection with most WCSD students.

Bloat Reduction Action That Could Be Taken Immediately
EVERY administrator, from the superintendent on down, should be required to teach one class per day – every day. I know it works because as a principal and superintendent, I did it for years, and so did ALL our school administrators. It’s an easy activity to schedule and gives the students the thrill of being taught by a “boss.” Teachers appreciate their supervisor working alongside them in the “trenches”, and the administrators gain renewed respect for the challenges that teachers face all day/every day. This proposal would provide WCSD with at least 600 extra teaching hours per DAY. That’s the equivalent of 120 full-time teachers per DAY – at NO extra cost. Teacher and substitute teacher shortages would become a thing of the past.

“We have it in our power to begin the world (and our schools) again.”
(Thomas Paine – 1776)

Feedback is welcomed. Contact Paul White at white.pauld@gmail.com