This story was originally published by Daily Montanan:
URL: https://dailymontanan.com
This story has not been altered or edited.
(C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
------------



Arntzen's dangerously hard-to-follow logic – Daily Montanan

['More From Author', 'June', 'Mary Moe']

Date: 2022-06-12 00:00:00

Sheesh.

When it comes to the current hullaballoo over minimum school standards, our Superintendent of Public Instruction is impossible to follow. Before I count the ways, a little background on school accreditation: Montana’s Constitution assigns the control of public schools to local school boards. In order to ensure the quality and equality of opportunity the constitution guarantees, the Board of Public Education is tasked with general supervision of these schools. It does so primarily by setting general standards for which programs to deliver, by whom, and with what results. Those standards are reviewed periodically, typically every 10 years, to make sure they’re still relevant and adequate. They’re being reviewed this year.

Enter Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. In May the task force she convened gave her several recommendations for changes to the standards. She agreed with some. She added others. But she gutted their recommendations in three critical areas – staffing requirements for counselors, as well as library media specialists, and requirements to offer middle school students elective opportunities in music, art, world languages and career/tech. Why? Buckle your seatbelts. Her reasoning is impossible to follow.

Mostly that’s because she just doesn’t make sense.

Her position on school counselors, for instance. The state’s current standard is one counselor for every 400 students. It’s clearly not enough. The task force she appointed unanimously recommended a 1-to-300 ratio … still not enough, but better. Elsie’s response? Eliminate the ratio entirely.

Counselors are alarmed. With six school shooting incidents in America last month alone, hypervigilance is high. Montana’s child suicide rates are twice the national average. And attending to students’ mental health is only a fraction of what counselors do. Hundreds of Montanans have pleaded with Arntzen not to worsen the situation by eliminating a minimum expectation for caseloads.

Arntzen expresses sympathy for all that counselors have “on their paper plate.” But eliminating the requirement, she insists, will “free up” schools to do more. That’s nonsense. Schools are already free to do more; many do. Not to set a minimum expectation for access to counselors jeopardizes kids and denies some of them the equal educational opportunity our constitution guarantees.

But Elsie’s only warming up. The state has no business telling local schools what to do, she says. Why do we have a BPE and a Superintendent of Public Instruction then? Sure, preaching local control sells like hotcakes. But by her deeds shall ye know her. When the issue is new graduation requirements or the thinly veiled threat to overrule a school district’s enrollment policy, she’s had no problem telling local schools what to do.

Sometimes the Superintendent’s nodding acquaintance with the truth simply dozes off entirely. Defending her recommendations around the state, she’s served up enough whoppers to open a Burger King. Examples:

“These standards are archaic. They haven’t been changed for ____.” (The number she cites changes by the day and the audience. Sometimes it’s 30 years, sometimes 40, sometimes 50. In reality, the official version of the standards shows they’re regularly reviewed and upated.

Meeting the standards has “nothing to do with school funding.” (Actually, state law ( 20-9-344 MCA) allows the BPE to order the Superintendent to withhold BASE aid if a school fails to meet them.)

When you set minimal expectations, “that’s all local schools do.” (That is simply and insultingly untrue.)

Removing the electives from the required middle school offerings doesn’t really eliminate them because the learning outcomes for them are still there. (But those learning outcomes only apply if you offer the program.)

I could go on, but you get the drift … and I do mean drift. On this issue, the Superintendent is impossible to follow – in more ways than one. Her task force members dedicated long hours to making the initial recommendations on minimum standards. Arntzen didn’t even extend them the courtesy of prior review of her contrary recommendations. After the fact, she had the awkward-acity to assure them, plain facts notwithstanding, her recommendations were “in alignment” with theirs.

It gets worse. Her recommendations now go to her negotiated Rule-Making Committee. Its members too, have expressed concern about the negative impacts eliminating minimum requirements for counselors, library media professionals, and middle school electives will have on quality and equality of opportunity in Montana’s schools.

Unfortunately, as Elsie well knows, the committee operates by consensus. All members must agree on alternative recommendations or only her recommendations will go to the Board of Public Education. Elsie has placed two of her employees on the committee as voting members. Not surprisingly, their positions are not “in alignment” with the majority of other members’.

Sheesh.

The changes Arntzen is advancing are neither trivial nor temporary. If adopted, they’ll likely be in effect for at least a decade. Meanwhile, the need for counselors is a no-brainer. In today’s media tsunami, so is the need for professionals trained to help kids access and evaluate information. And without professionally taught middle school programs in the arts, languages, and workforce disciplines, sparks that light life-changing passions never get ignited and the level of achievement in these areas is diminished.

I hate to be so critical of someone who could be living the dream and instead chose public service. But minimal expectations for public education in Montana ensure that all Montana children have the basics they need to thrive. Being hard to follow is Elsie’s challenge. Staying afloat in her wake will be theirs.

[END]

[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/06/12/arntzens-dangerously-hard-to-follow-logic/

Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/