The education
community in Maryland has been abuzz about Governor Hogan’s executive order for
Maryland Schools to begin after Labor Day since he issued it in August. It’s a divisive issue and has two clear sides
from what I have seen so far. Governor
Hogan cited giving children more time with their families, creating more
tourism revenue, and keeping students out of un-air-conditioned schools as his
reasons for creating the executive order.
However, some education officials believe that the governor is acting
outside of his control and that his listed interest in the schools are less
than genuine.
On October 11, Governor Hogan issued
a second executive order outlining specific guidelines for schools in Maryland
to ask for waivers to begin school before Labor Day. The new order states that only charters and
low-performing schools may apply for waivers and only if they have a school
schedule that requires them to be open in the summer. The order also states that districts can seek
waivers if they have been closed for 10 days within two of the last five school
years for bad weather. A spokesperson
for Hogan said that this order was created as a best solution for the concern
and confusion about the waiver process.
I will admit that I as a teacher I
was very excited to begin school after Labor Day and to be guaranteed to end
school a few days earlier in June. I
think that the students really do have a harder time learning when it is nicer
outside, and I know in my experience, keeping the students engaged during the
summer months of June and August becomes twice as difficult. When I went to elementary school, Catholic
schools never started before Labor Day.
They didn’t start going back before Labor Day until I was in high
school, although some still remain closed until then. I have always thought, even before I was
teaching in public school, that schools stay open too long and go back too
early. It seems like kids don’t even get
to have a summer break any more.
This type of
executive order is unprecedented in Maryland and many people believe that
governor Hogan has over-stepped his authority.
They believe that he is taking away control from local school boards.
As with a
lot of issues in education, I find myself in middle ground. I personally don’t think that school should
start until after Labor Day. When I was
in school, we never started before Labor Day, and I learned the same things
that my counter-parts in public schools learned. However, I understand that my view is a
little biased because of how I spent my summer.
When I had summer breaks, my family was able to go on vacation, my
grandparents or a baby-sitter could watch me while my parents were at work, and
I had access to books that I could read all summer long. I understand school officials’ concerns that
lots of families cannot afford enriching experiences for their children during
the summer, and that starting school later would be harmful to them both
educationally and financially. From what
I have heard people within the education community, in addition to the concern
about the actual education, are concerned because if Governor Hogan enacts
executive orders like this they worry about what else he will enact orders
about within the education community.
This may
seem pessimistic of me, but I have a hard time buying into the fact that people
on boards and people in politics have genuine agendas when it comes to
education. I put a lot more stock in
what actual teachers and staff think when it comes to school policies. I tend to think that people always have some
other type of agenda, even if it’s just a power struggle. For example, a lot of “school officials” are
concerned about Governor Hogan’s orders because they think it will be
detrimental to education, but I have to wonder if they really feel that
education will suffer that much or if they are just concerned because they didn’t
come up with the idea. Baltimore,
Carroll, and other counties created two calendars—one that starts before Labor
Day and one that starts after, and their boards will vote on them in either
November or December. When discussing
the original executive order, school officials and TABCO representatives were
trying to explain to the public that students must be in school for a certain
number of days and that schools had to be open before Labor Day to accommodate all
of those days. However, if Baltimore and
other counties have created two calendars, I wonder how true that is. To me, if they can create two calendars, it
means that there is a workable option to have students be in school the
required number of days while starting after Labor Days. This makes me wonder if school officials are
actually concerned about these students’ education or just the fact that the
governor is encroaching on their territory.
I wonder what would have happened if Governor Hogan had enacted an
executive order with which a lot of “school officials” agreed. Would they still be questioning his authority
or would they be more inclined to let it go.
I think that a lot of time in
education, particularly when politics come into play, there seem to be a lot of
power struggles, and the students and teachers kind of get caught in the
crossfire. They get stuck following
policies (or being stuck in schools without air-conditioning) because people
who are making decisions have lost what their purpose is supposed to be. I think that Baltimore and Carroll counties
did the right thing by creating two options.
To me this shows their actual concern for students’ education because
they took action and made two workable options so whichever way this debacle
turns out, they will be prepared.
I’m interested to see what becomes
of this issue. I want to know what will
happen if it is determined that Governor Hogan is within his authority to enact
the order. What will school boards that
oppose it do then? I also wonder what
kind of doors this is opening for other executive orders within the education community. In general, and I know this probably every
teacher’s dream, I wish that politicians, board members, and educators could
work together to determine best policies for students, but I feel that too many
power struggles and additional agendas get in the way.
The article that discussed the second executive order is from The Baltimore Sun and can be found at this link http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-hogan-school-start-order-20161011-story.html
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