If you care about public education, you should have too.
According to the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, 77% of the 966 SAISD teachers and support personnel who responded to an open poll in May said that they disagree with the statement “I have confidence in SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez”. 53% of those strongly disagreed.
In contrast, 10.4 % agreed with the statement, of whom 6.4% strongly agreed.
One in ten SAISD educators express confidence in Superintendent Martinez. One in twenty profess strong support. Let that sink in. Think about what that means. Almost eight out of ten educators in one of San Antonio’s largest districts have no confidence in the Superintendent’s leadership. It’s worth remembering that statistic when you read about Mr Martinez’s support from the “business community”, or from his rubber stamp of a board, none of whom spend their days educating San Antonio’s young people.
One in ten SAISD educators express confidence in Superintendent Martinez. One in twenty profess strong support. Let that sink in.
75% of those surveyed disagreed with the statement, “I have confidence in the SAISD Board of Trustees”. That's almost eight in ten educators working in the campuses at the heart of our communities.
Think about what that means when you consider the extent to which district leadership steamrolls its plans over teacher, parent, and community opposition.
SAISD's board and superintendent are arguing through their actions that they know better than everyone else what is needed for our schools and communities. When they refuse to consult with parents, teachers, students, and community members, they send a message that democratic input is unnecessary in the public's schools.
We need to transform public education, not just in terms of academic performance, and funding equity, but in terms of the way in which public schools manifest the people’s will.
It’s an extraordinarily patronizing and paternalistic idea. And most importantly, it’s fundamentally anti-democratic. The idea that decision-making in public institutions should be so concentrated that it allows for no meaningful participation by the majority of stakeholders is a threat not only to public education, but to the idea that a public sphere should exist at all - to the idea that the people should have a role to play in shaping the decisions that directly impact all of us.
We need to transform public education, not just in terms of academic performance, and funding equity, but in terms of the way in which public schools manifest the people’s will.
It’s our contention that public schools belong to the people - an idea that seems anathema to many school leaders these days. We’re a small editorial collective committed to expanding the scope of democratic public participation in public life - that’s what this new site has been created to do - and we’ll be publishing the voices of students, teachers, parents, and community members that are too often excluded from participation in these conversations.
We’re going to be arguing for democracy. And it’s probably time to think about whose side you’re on.
We’re going to make the case for expanding community control of education. In the current neoliberal climate we expect to find ourselves in conflict with concentrations of private power, and with their representatives in the institutions that control and shape public policy.
We’re going to be arguing for democracy. And it’s probably time to think about whose side you’re on.