ANN
BIANCHETTI
Diary #22
How
Red Tape Tied Down My Kids
Dealing with
disappointment is something we all have to learn to live with. Red tape?
Another one of life's entanglements. My student council students and I
learned a great deal about disappointment and red tape this week. We have
begun to move past it, but it still stings.
Last weekend was our annual trip to the National Association of Secondary
School Principals/National Association of Student Councils conference
L.E.A.D. (Leadership Education And Development). This conference is for
student council students from middle to high school. It's centered on
workshops and social activities that teach leadership skills and gives
kids an opportunity to meet other student leaders like themselves.
My kids brought
back a great deal of information from last year's conference that they
implemented at our school. Last year we worked hard to raise money to
go and we were only able to take our four officers. This year our principal
had set aside enough money in the budget to pay for all 16 students to
go as well as myself and two parent chaperones.
The months leading up to the conference were filled with excitement as
each student received her conference packet, workshop assignments, and
agendas. The conference was being held near historic Valley Forge so we
planned to leave early enough on Friday to allow for sight-seeing at Valley
Forge National Park. The students eagerly planned who was rooming with
whom in the hotel rooms and who was going to which workshop to make sure
at least one of our students was represented at every workshop. Of course
there was also some exciting discussion about who to dance with at the
Saturday night dance.
I was so proud of my student council kids as I sat back and watched them
meticulously plan their leadership weekend. All of them were open to debate
and willing to divide up the workshops evenly to ensure we got all the
conference had to offer. All of them were focused on the potential this
conference would have for the school. Those who had gone last year excitedly
shared their memories, strategies, highs and lows to prepare those who
had never been to a L.E.A.D. conference.
Students who went last year also shared ideas on how to deal with "accidental"
stereotypes. They talked about how to deflect statements like, "Are there
many black kids in student council?" and "Why do you talk like that?"
They discussed how to neutralize their own stereotypes about what white
kids do and how they act. They talked maturely and poignantly about their
own lessons from last year, both about leadership and about how to accept
others different from ourselves.
My students had become so savvy in their organizational skills that they
pretty much planned the whole trip. All I had to do was fill out the requisite
paperwork for the district to approve our trip, get the superintendent's
signature, and book the hotel and bus. Just as last year, I used my credit
card to hold the reservations until the district gave me the checks.
The ax falls
Everything was done. I had the paperwork returned with signatures and the accounting office had left me a message saying the checks would be cut and delivered the day we left. Then, one and a half days before we were to leave, I got another message. The wrong paperwork had been filed, the trip had to be cancelled.
I was floored. I had filed the exact same paperwork I'd filed the year before. I even had the approval form signed by the superintendent! I had filed the paperwork two months in advance to ensure everything would be completed on time.
Things are different now, I was told.
Last year my district had been under state control with a state-appointed superintendent. This came about due to poor test scores and mismanagement of budgets. A New Jersey court decision called "Abbott" (see my introduction) allocated new funds for failing districts and put the state in charge of running the districts until things improved. The court said that once things improved, the state would slowly back out and return the district to local control.
Paterson
(our district) had been in the process of returning to local control over
this school year, and it seems the paperwork had been in the process of
changing, too. I had not filed the (new) correct paperwork. I was told
that I should have filed something called an "action" plan and gone before
the school board. All overnight trips had to now be approved by the school
board, not just the superintendent.
I asked why I had not been told this two months ago when I filed the incorrect
paperwork. If I had been told then I would have had time to go before
the next board meeting—now it was too late, the board had already
met for March. I also asked why I had been given signed and approved field
trip request forms. I was told the person going over my paperwork had
just skimmed it, not realized it was an overnight trip, and sent it back
to me with approval and signatures. It was only when the accounting office
went to cut the checks that they realized the correct paperwork was not
there and refused to process the payment.
I scrambled to cancel the hotel and bus. The registration fees ($1,330),
however, were past the deadline for cancellation. Some of that amount
would be charged to my credit card and some would be a balance held against
my school. Until that balance was paid, my students would not be allowed
to participate in any other conferences.
Coping with their disappointment
Worse than any of this was having to tell 16 excited middle school kids that we were not going after all.
Many cried, some burst out in anger, many kept asking me, "Isn't there anything you can do?" I explained as best as I could about red tape, miscommunication and accidental mistakes. In their concrete world, the explanations were not enough.
We spent
some time that afternoon talking about disappointment and how to handle
it. We discussed being the bigger person and not carrying grudges. I directed
them away from laying blame on any one person and helped them get out
their feelings in journals and poems.
My principal was disappointed right along with us. She even suggested
we plan our own personal leadership retreat at a local campground, since
the money for the trip was now still in the budget.
The students
left me their journals and poems to read. One in particular touched my
heart. It was written by our student council vice president, a seventh
grader: "I know I am angry. I know I want to blame someone. I feel like
I want to hate. But Ms. B said hate will get us nowhere. I am sad about
this. I wanted to go. I even already packed my suitcase. I hardly ever
get to leave Paterson. But Ms. B said the principal said we could plan
another trip. I trust Ms. B. She won't ever let us down."
That last statement almost broke me down. Middle school kids so rarely
let their teachers know they appreciate them. Here in the midst of her
anger and disappointment, she held me up as one to help her through it.
As a teacher, I can ask no other reward than this. I
know that I will hold on to that statement in moments (days!) when I feel
like the worst teacher, when I can not get class control or when a lesson
is flopping.
I have to wonder, though. How can I be sure I won't let her and all my other students down when so much is beyond my control? If I needed further proof of that, I got it shortly afterward. Even as I was exploring campgrounds to plan a student council retreat, I was informed that our budgets had been 'frozen' because now that we were not under state control we did not have as much money as we did last year.
The board of education doesn't know how they will be able to support the same budgets as last year. Every school budget is now in the deep freezer. Along with that freeze went any hopes for planning and paying for a retreat. Despite these setbacks I will not be deterred. I will fight for opportunities for my kids. I will have as many bake sales and car washes as it takes to get those opportunities.
As my student
said, I will not let them down.
