EDUCATIONAL SPEECH

I work in a field where lives hang in the balance each day decisions are made that can spark or end a dream and minutes know seconds can change the trajectory of someone's life I am an educator I love working in the schools I love the promise and potential of the students I love the passion and professionalism of the teachers I even love the sight the sound and the smell of the buses as they roll in every morning and they leave every afternoon for over three dozen years I have dedicated my life's work to education 25 of those years as a principal at every school level during that time I've observed a lot of change in education gone is the one-size-fits-all industrial model where we rolled out the same education for every child schools are using time more creatively the last school that I was at we started school at 9:25 because that was what was best for students and we gave our students an hour in the middle of the day to use to enhance their own learning differentiation meets the needs of students with a wide range of abilities and interests acceleration gives students the opportunity to graduate with a two-year college degree before they graduate from high school problem solving and creative thinking are replacing activities that can be answered by Google students in today's schools are creating their own future there's one thing that hasn't changed in our schools the children children still want to be loved they want to be good at something and they get excited when they succeed at a challenge what has changed is the world we live in can you imagine being without your cell phone or the internet children today are growing up in a world where they don't have to look up anything they can just ask Siri or Alexa we stand at the intersection of a great opportunity never before have there been so many choices in the education our children can have we have home schools charter schools virtual schools joining private and public schools each one offering something different but with choice comes the challenge of ensuring equity of opportunity for all students the quality of a child's education should not depend on the family that child was born into Eleanor Roosevelt said education is the cornerstone of Liberty it's our responsibility to ensure that all children especially the marginalized that often don't have a voice and can't speak for themselves can profit from the American dream that still stems from our education system when we think about education most of us think of our own personal education or maybe the experience of our children what is interesting in the work I do I travel throughout this country and I can tell you unequivocally that school today vary by the community they serve you see our schools are reflective of our communities and no two schools are alike it's fascinating to look at statistics on education the US Department of Education reports ninety percent of students here in the United States attend public schools with all the choices that we have education in public schools is still the mainstay for our students the Gallup Organization's does polls about just about anything every year they poll parents and they ask them how satisfied are you with the school that your child attends overwhelmingly parents report that they are satisfied with the school that their child attends as a matter of fact in 2017 the satisfaction rate was higher than it's been since 2010 if clearly most of our children attend public schools and our parents are satisfied with the education their children are receiving why are there conversations that call to question the current status of public schools it's interesting to look back on education in the 1920s only 22% of young adults completed four years of high school but the world was different then there were options for adults who did not graduate from high school many young men joined the military factory jobs were abundant family farms required support and the role of women was quite different today graduation from high school cannot be an option it's the foundation of our children's future for years I've told my students that graduation is a destination it's the threshold to your future graduation is an opportunity to move into adulthood equipped with the tools to continue your education or enter a career that will promise a successful life in order for our economy to be strong and our democracy secure we must ensure that we educate all our students so they can graduate and are able to positively contribute to our communities our schools are change agents for our country Abraham Lincoln said the the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next we must acknowledge the significance of the impact of our schools not just for today but for this and future generations to ensure the continued success of our schools we need to take a look at current conversations about education involving the supply of teachers funding for public education and the current policy discussions supporting school vouchers first we must have the best and the brightest people in our classrooms teaching our children as we forge forward with initiatives to fill jobs in careers like science technology engineering and math and all of the other areas we need to remember first to promote the profession that makes all other professions possible we need to encourage young people to enter the field of education without outstanding teachers the future of all other careers dims before I was an educator I had a very cessful career in law enforcement but someone reached out to me and said why don't you think about being a teacher I had not thought about being a teacher I had never thought about being a teacher but that one person reached out and planted that seed we need to be planting that seed not just in young people but in people that might be transitioning from one career to the next throughout this country there are hundreds of teacher vacancies that go unfilled each year due to a lack of applicants we need to change the conversation to invite and encourage people to become educators and create a positive momentum toward careers in education the second conversation we need to examine is support for public schools when those tax bills start rolling out the conversations start and you hear people saying well I don't have children in school I don't know why I should pay to support public schools when those conversations starts I immediately start thinking about our public roads there are roads in our community in our state well in our country that I will never drive on yet I realize the importance of promoting and supporting public roads in our country you see much like the quality of our roads improves the quality and safety of our communities the qualities of our public schools impact our communities in ways we may not recognize [Applause] go ahead yes absolutely in one day I experience the impact of our public school students and graduates when I was helped in the grocery store when I had the air in my car tire checked when I got a flu shot when I saw EMS driving down the road to respond to an emergency and when I was helped at a restaurant later on that evening you see I benefited from knowing that these students had been students in my school but I want you to think about the students and graduates of our public schools that impact your day the doctor the mechanic the cashiers the engineers the police officer the nurses the bankers the real estate agent the post-office workers the accountants the list is as personal as each person in this room the quality of our public schools influences the quality of our days every day we need to support public education funding not just for the children that are in school today but for the quality of life they provide to everyone in our communities we need to change the conversation to support public education funding and celebrate education for the positive impact it has on our communities the third conversation that we need to explore is a hot topic in education policy now school vouchers as I think about the essence of education and our country's foundational belief in a strong public school system I'm concerned about policies involving school vouchers school vouchers indirectly take away from the support of public schools by allowing potential tax dollars to be shifted to private schools with absolutely no accountability the way most vouchers work is a corporation makes a contribution to a private entity in return that corporation receives a tax credit and then students the most impoverished students in underperforming schools are given an opportunity to apply for those vouchers it sounds like a good thing however if we believe all children need to receive a quality education think about this what happens to those students who remain in the school that is impoverished and the community now has a smaller tax base to support that school vouchers do nothing to support or improve underperforming schools most of our underperforming schools are a result of the struggle to find certified teachers and the weak support of public schools how can we offer the opportunity for to apply for vouchers to students in underperforming school and expect the quality of those schools to increase for the students who remain we need to change the policy conversations surrounding public school vouchers education is a public trust when I'm in schools working with students I'm convinced our future is secure the students in our schools today will be the ones who address the problems that exists as a result of our generation and the generations before us they will create opportunities and impact the world in ways we can only imagine the most precious resource in our country is our children if we want to protect and promote democracy enhance and secure our economy we must invest in and ensure our public schools have the resources they need to make every public school a school of choice a school that you want your children to go to I've dedicated my life's work to education because I believe in the greatness of each child we must change the conversations about public education to ensure our schools have the teachers the funding and the policies in place to meet the needs of our communities our state's and our nation Nelson Mandela said education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world what are we doing to ensure our children's education prepares them to be the change we are counting on let's take a risk let's step out of our comfort zone and start changing some of these conversations thank you [Applause] I [Music] work in a field where lives hang in the balance each day decisions are made that can spark or end a dream and minutes know seconds can change the trajectory of someone's life I am an educator I love working in the schools I love the promise and potential of the students I love the passion and professionalism of the teachers I even love the sight the sound and the smell of the buses as they roll in every morning and they leave every afternoon for over three dozen years I have dedicated my life's work to education 25 of those years as a principal at every school level during that time I've observed a lot of change in education gone is the one-size-fits-all industrial model where we rolled out the same education for every child schools are using time more creatively the last school that I was at we started school at 9:25 because that was what was best for students and we gave our students an hour in the middle of the day to use to enhance their own learning differentiation meets the needs of students with a wide range of abilities and interests acceleration gives students the opportunity to graduate with a two-year college degree before they graduate from high school problem solving and creative thinking are replacing activities that can be answered by Google students in today's schools are creating their own future there's one thing that hasn't changed in our schools the children children still want to be loved they want to be good at something and they get excited when they succeed at a challenge what has changed is the world we live in can you imagine being without your cell phone or the internet children today are growing up in a world where they don't have to look up anything they can just ask Siri or Alexa we stand at the intersection of a great opportunity never before have there been so many choices in the education our children can have we have home schools charter schools virtual schools joining private and public schools each one offering something different but with choice comes the challenge of ensuring equity of opportunity for all students the quality of a child's education should not depend on the family that child was born into Eleanor Roosevelt said education is the cornerstone of Liberty it's our responsibility to ensure that all children especially the marginalized that often don't have a voice and can't speak for themselves can profit from the American dream that still stems from our education system when we think about education most of us think of our own personal education or maybe the experience of our children what is interesting in the work I do I travel throughout this country and I can tell you unequivocally that school today vary by the community they serve you see our schools are reflective of our communities and no two schools are alike it's fascinating to look at statistics on education the US Department of Education reports ninety percent of students here in the United States attend public schools with all the choices that we have education in public schools is still the mainstay for our students the Gallup Organization's does polls about just about anything every year they poll parents and they ask them how satisfied are you with the school that your child attends overwhelmingly parents report that they are satisfied with the school that their child attends as a matter of fact in 2017 the satisfaction rate was higher than it's been since 2010 if clearly most of our children attend public schools and our parents are satisfied with the education their children are receiving why are there conversations that call to question the current status of public schools it's interesting to look back on education in the 1920s only 22% of young adults completed four years of high school but the world was different then there were options for adults who did not graduate from high school many young men joined the military factory jobs were abundant family farms required support and the role of women was quite different today graduation from high school cannot be an option it's the foundation of our children's future for years I've told my students that graduation is a destination it's the threshold to your future graduation is an opportunity to move into adulthood equipped with the tools to continue your education or enter a career that will promise a successful life in order for our economy to be strong and our democracy secure we must ensure that we educate all our students so they can graduate and are able to positively contribute to our communities our schools are change agents for our country Abraham Lincoln said the the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next we must acknowledge the significance of the impact of our schools not just for today but for this and future generations to ensure the continued success of our schools we need to take a look at current conversations about education involving the supply of teachers funding for public education and the current policy discussions supporting school vouchers first we must have the best and the brightest people in our classrooms teaching our children as we forge forward with initiatives to fill jobs in careers like science technology engineering and math and all of the other areas we need to remember first to promote the profession that makes all other professions possible we need to encourage young people to enter the field of education without outstanding teachers the future of all other careers dims before I was an educator I had a very cessful career in law enforcement but someone reached out to me and said why don't you think about being a teacher I had not thought about being a teacher I had never thought about being a teacher but that one person reached out and planted that seed we need to be planting that seed not just in young people but in people that might be transitioning from one career to the next throughout this country there are hundreds of teacher vacancies that go unfilled each year due to a lack of applicants we need to change the conversation to invite and encourage people to become educators and create a positive momentum toward careers in education the second conversation we need to examine is support for public schools when those tax bills start rolling out the conversations start and you hear people saying well I don't have children in school I don't know why I should pay to support public schools when those conversations starts I immediately start thinking about our public roads there are roads in our community in our state well in our country that I will never drive on yet I realize the importance of promoting and supporting public roads in our country you see much like the quality of our roads improves the quality and safety of our communities the qualities of our public schools impact our communities in ways we may not recognize [Applause] go ahead yes absolutely in one day I experience the impact of our public school students and graduates when I was helped in the grocery store when I had the air in my car tire checked when I got a flu shot when I saw EMS driving down the road to respond to an emergency and when I was helped at a restaurant later on that evening you see I benefited from knowing that these students had been students in my school but I want you to think about the students and graduates of our public schools that impact your day the doctor the mechanic the cashiers the engineers the police officer the nurses the bankers the real estate agent the post-office workers the accountants the list is as personal as each person in this room the quality of our public schools influences the quality of our days every day we need to support public education funding not just for the children that are in school today but for the quality of life they provide to everyone in our communities we need to change the conversation to support public education funding and celebrate education for the positive impact it has on our communities the third conversation that we need to explore is a hot topic in education policy now school vouchers as I think about the essence of education and our country's foundational belief in a strong public school system I'm concerned about policies involving school vouchers school vouchers indirectly take away from the support of public schools by allowing potential tax dollars to be shifted to private schools with absolutely no accountability the way most vouchers work is a corporation makes a contribution to a private entity in return that corporation receives a tax credit and then students the most impoverished students in underperforming schools are given an opportunity to apply for those vouchers it sounds like a good thing however if we believe all children need to receive a quality education think about this what happens to those students who remain in the school that is impoverished and the community now has a smaller tax base to support that school vouchers do nothing to support or improve underperforming schools most of our underperforming schools are a result of the struggle to find certified teachers and the weak support of public schools how can we offer the opportunity for to apply for vouchers to students in underperforming school and expect the quality of those schools to increase for the students who remain we need to change the policy conversations surrounding public school vouchers education is a public trust when I'm in schools working with students I'm convinced our future is secure the students in our schools today will be the ones who address the problems that exists as a result of our generation and the generations before us they will create opportunities and impact the world in ways we can only imagine the most precious resource in our country is our children if we want to protect and promote democracy enhance and secure our economy we must invest in and ensure our public schools have the resources they need to make every public school a school of choice a school that you want your children to go to I've dedicated my life's work to education because I believe in the greatness of each child we must change the conversations about public education to ensure our schools have the teachers the funding and the policies in place to meet the needs of our communities our state's and our nation Nelson Mandela said education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world what are we doing to ensure our children's education prepares them to be the change we are counting on let's take a risk let's step out of our comfort zone and start changing some of these conversations thank you.