“They don’t really know from a student’s perspective what’s really going on,” Duncan, 15, said of district officials.
Some education reformers have praised aspects of Knudsen’s plan, saying that decentralization will allow teachers and principals more autonomy. Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, described the proposal as long overdue and perhaps not bold enough.
“This should be a reinvention of how kids enroll, how we hire people to serve them, how we serve the community in general,” Allen said.
Still, school commissioners heard boos and catcalls at a May 31 meeting as they approved the first step in the overhaul: A pared-down, $2.5 billion budget that even Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon described as “bare bones” and “not adequate for the children that we serve.”
“We still do not have enough nurses, counselors, librarians, arts and music programs, sports, and support staff,” Nixon said.
Nurses, in fact, have picketed weekly outside district offices since nearly 50 were laid off in December. They say the cuts endanger students, whose medications are now often dispensed by staff with no medical training.
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District leaders stress the overhaul proposal is still being refined. At the meeting, they tried to tell the raucous crowd that students are suffering for the financial sins of previous administrators, as well as cuts in aid, rising costs, and a weak economy.
But it was hard to hear their defense above the chanting: “They say cut back, we say fight back! They say cut back, we say fight back!”
The passion in the room left Gym, perhaps the district’s most outspoken activist, at an uncharacteristic loss for words as she stood to address the commissioners. Her voice faltered briefly before launching into the eloquent and hard-charging criticism for which she is known.
Afterward, Gym said she was overcome by the emotion overflowing from the broad coalition of students, parents, teachers, district staff, clergy, union leaders, and residents.
“It’s a real last stand around public education,” Gym said. “And to have all these people come out … was, I thought, just incredibly powerful.”
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