January 2025, Part One

Excerpt from Chapter One: Education as Politics

Photo Description: A replication of intersecting street signs. The signs are in blue with white lettering. One sign says “politics” and the other sign says “education.”

January 2025, Part One

Below is an excerpt from Chapter One: Education as Politics. Would love your thoughts and reactions in the comments…

“There is nothing more political than public education.” -Eli Gottlieb

It is Wednesday night.

The digital clock on the wall is flashing 9:00pm in bright red.

It is the first school board meeting of the school year. The seven school board members are seated in a slight semi-circle at the dais behind their designated nameplate and microphone.

The board secretary reads the language from the cue card that she has read countless times before.

“It’s time for comments. Please remember you have 3 minutes to share your comments. Your mic will be turned off at your time. I will be calling your name to come-up the podium. I will also call the next name on the list so please be ready.”

Some comments heard from the community…

“No parent should ever have to worry about their child being exposed to explicit materials”

“When we limit access to books we deprive children of the opportunity to grapple with the complexity of the real world they must learn to navigate”

“As an elected board member your job is to service your community not to police someone’s lives.”

“As a current student in this school district, I think it is important for you to listen to us and what we have to say. We should be the first group you talk to for any decision. Every decision you make impacts us immediately.”

“There is all this talk of socio-emotional learning but there are many cases of bullying in the area. I know because I have done my research and homework, but nothing happens because no one stands up.”

“Our enrollment is down because we do not have the offerings that other districts have, we should be putting more money into athletics. The upcoming bond should not go forward without that.”

This scene may be familiar to you. You may have been in attendance, streamed it from your computer or saw a viral clip on the news. A formally mundane part of education systems has become public theater. And it doesn’t end in the board meetings. Anyone and everyone involved in education has felt a shift in the topics and the accompanying tension that is a part of every day and it shows up in our classrooms, hallways, sports fields, districts offices and community events.

The question is now what? This shift is not going to change anytime soon so we need to learn how to move forward.

I’m not asking you to run for president. I’m not even asking you to run for the school board. All I want for you at the end of this book is to understand how education is political, what it has to do with you, and what you will do about it.