The Dickey Dispatch

With this being the last week of our 2023 scheduled session, there should be (and there is) A LOT of legislation to update you on, however I am going to go in a different direction this week and talk again about one of the largest pieces of legislation that we passed this year which also was the first piece of legislation that we passed this year: School Choice. This past Monday, April 24, the Fairfield Community School District Board meeting took place. For any of you that would like to watch, here is the link:

https://www.fairfieldsfuture.org/article/1086760

Over the past few months there had been a petition circulating around the school district requesting the removal of Superintendent Noll. It stated:

“We no longer stand behind nor support our Superintendent. Dr. Noll has failed in her duties to our district, our teachers, and students. Her inability to lead and her overall performance do not meet the level of comprehensive standards.”

And at the time of the meeting, there were over 800 signatures on it. The scheduled school board meeting was anticipated to be well attended, largely because there were several members of the public planning to speak during the public participation segment of the meeting.

Now before I go any further, my writing on this issue is not because I am a proponent for retaining or terminating Superintendent Noll. What I found disturbing in watching that school board meeting online from the Capitol was the manner that the school board treated - no, the manner that the school board downright DISRESPECTED - their own teachers and parents that attended. Even more disturbing is that the first 3 items in the school board's “Code of Ethics” were completely tossed out of the window with how they treated, and their comments towards, the parents and teachers that were in attendance.

Hello District 44!

With this being the last week of our 2023 scheduled session, there should be (and there is) A LOT of legislation to update you on, however I am going to go in a different direction this week and talk again about one of the largest pieces of legislation that we passed this year which also was the first piece of legislation that we passed this year: School Choice. This past Monday, April 24, the Fairfield Community School District Board meeting took place. For any of you that would like to watch, here is the link:

https://www.fairfieldsfuture.org/article/1086760

Over the past few months there had been a petition circulating around the school district requesting the removal of Superintendent Noll. It stated:

“We no longer stand behind nor support our Superintendent. Dr. Noll has failed in her duties to our district, our teachers, and students. Her inability to lead and her overall performance do not meet the level of comprehensive standards.”

And at the time of the meeting, there were over 800 signatures on it. The scheduled school board meeting was anticipated to be well attended, largely because there were several members of the public planning to speak during the public participation segment of the meeting.

Now before I go any further, my writing on this issue is not because I am a proponent for retaining or terminating Superintendent Noll. What I found disturbing in watching that school board meeting online from the Capitol was the manner that the school board treated - no, the manner that the school board downright DISRESPECTED - their own teachers and parents that attended. Even more disturbing is that the first 3 items in the school board's “Code of Ethics” were completely tossed out of the window with how they treated, and their comments towards, the parents and teachers that were in attendance.

1.I will listen.

2.I will respect the opinion of others.

3.I will recognize the integrity of my Predecessors (Paul Miller, who spoke as a member of the public, is a former school member) and associates and the merit of their work.

To stir these emotions even more, just before that meeting, the public was told that Superintendent Noll had submitted a Family Medical Leave request, which would make it even more difficult for the board to address the petition that over 800 teachers and parents asked to be addressed. To say that the atmosphere in the room was “charged” would be an understatement.

With that being said, when it came time for the public participation segment of the board meeting, President Welsh informed the public they would only have 3 minutes to speak, even though the school board agenda said, “It would be appreciated if you would limit your comments to 5 minutes”. To my understanding, the school board can shorten the allotted time if a lot of the public intends to speak, however, it does not mean that it is RIGHT that they do so.

That evening 7 people shared their concerns as to the direction that the school district was going, concerns to the lack of leadership that the parents and MANY of the teachers (again, over 800 people signed this petition) felt was taking place, and the fiscal impact that the school was feeling as a result of these concerns. 7 people. Not 100, just 7 people spoke. If everyone spoke the full 5 minutes as the agenda stated that they would have (although not all would have talked for a full 5 minutes), we would have been talking about an additional 14 minutes of public participation. 14 minutes. That time is not a big ask of the board to allow the simple courtesy to these teachers and parents. However, President Welsh chooses not to and in return, charged up the crowd all the more. The majority of the Fairfield School Board instead sent a clear message that they did not value, nor did they want to hear from parents and teachers on what might be the biggest issue facing the school district in 20 years. The school board did not listen to these teachers and parents. And for that, I have 2 words. School Choice.

School Choice was signed into law several months ago over this very issue: to provide parents an option when their school board and administration do NOT listen to their parents. In my 3 years in the Senate, I have done a complete 180 on this issue. I LOVE my Pekin Community School District and public schools, I graduated from there and my children also attended that school. However, I continue to see examples where administrators and school boards are not listening to their parents and without school choice, parents' options are very limited. Monday night was the best example yet for why I voted for School Choice.

At the end of the meeting the School Board spent 15 minutes talking about their “highlights” of the night. I found it ironic that the “highlight” for most of the board members was how many people were in attendance that evening.

Let that set in for a minute. They spent more time talking about how nice it was to see a “packed house” than they would have if they simply let everyone speak the allotted 5 minutes as their agenda stated. Board member Von Stohuber even stated,

"I have taught for 36 years and I never recall being at a board meeting (as a teacher or a board member) and seeing this many people!”

Talk about rubbing salt into the wound to the teachers and parents that were in attendance! The reason why all of these teachers and parents were in attendance was to express their concerns as to how the school district is failing them! And the school board continues to not understand why their enrollment has been on a steady decline for 8 years!

Dane Kool, who is a coach in the Fairfield School District and started the petition, opened up the public comments with some very sobering statistics. In the 2015-2016 school year, FCSD was a plus 46 students in open enrollment, which added $368,000 to the school’s budget. In 2022-2023 they were a negative 83 which was a $664,000 decline. That is a change of over $1 MILLION in 8 years. Maybe at the next school board meeting the board could allow more time to hear from parents and teachers and LISTEN with the goal of learning and changing the things causing the decline!

Brittany Teller, who is an educator at the Jefferson County Park and an active parent within the FCSD, took her 3 minutes to inform the school board of a survey that was taken among the teachers and school associates. The survey can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Fairfields-Future-Matters/100091741221681/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

In her 3 minutes, she was only able to read these 2 questions from the survey:

“In the last 10 years, what direction do you feel our school district has moved?” 1% said positive, 10% unsure, and 89% said a NEGATIVE direction.

“Are you afraid to speak out with concerns out of fear of retribution from your superintendent?” 14% unsure, 18% no, and 68% said yes.

Leslie Eland, another former teacher in the FCSD, stated in her 3 minutes:

“No one is listening to the pulse of the school environment. When teachers and community voices of unheard and parents’ voices are BLATANTLY ignored, parents will move their children to schools that will listen!”

Again, from the actions and comments that the Fairfield school board made Monday night, they are nearly begging parents to take their children elsewhere and for their teachers to quit!

At some point in the meeting I think I heard a board member mention “teacher shortage”. If that is a real concern to the Fairfield school board and administration, you might want to invite Mrs. Teller back to the next board meeting to discuss the results of what YOUR staff has provided and allow her more than 3 minutes to discuss the results!

Other comments I heard school board members make were:

“We need to adjourn, we are not going to put up with this crap!” which appeared to have been said by school board member Tim Bower, in regard to the parents' and teachers’ frustration with the allotted time being cut.

At another point, I heard President Welsh threaten Paul Miller, a former school board member with “calling the police” when he was displeased with her arrogant choice to cut his speaking time.

On another issue, board member John McKerley, objected to the FCSD renewing their Iowa Association of School Boards annual dues. He stated:

“Our lobbying power is effectively zero….. This is $6,000 being flushed down the toilet. I don’t believe the legislators that we have support public education.”

Well, I agree with Mr. McKerley on one issue, the IASB is ineffective. In 3 years in the Capitol I have NEVER been talked to by a member of the IASB. In fact, I have never been talked to by a single lobbyist by ANY education-affiliated lobbyist group or association in 3 years! However, the second half of Mr. McKerley's statement is way off! As your state senator, I fully support public education, maybe just not Mr. McKerley’s view of public education. The steep decline in enrollment over the years at Fairfield CSD is NOT because of legislation that has passed, it is because of actions being taken by the Fairfield School Board and administrators. The actions by the legislature are simply giving parents choices when they feel their schools are failing them and their school boards and administrators are not listening.

School member Tim Bower commented:

“We had an event in Fairfield that was canceled last weekend because legislators don’t care about our local area anyway….”

I cannot speak on behalf of Rep. Shipley or Rep. Hays, however, I never committed to being at the forum last Saturday because I had a conflict set long before the forum was scheduled. Fact is I represent 5 counties and I have attended 9 forums this session. Further, I went back through my emails and in 3 years I have only received correspondence from board member Mark Porter. Not another Fairfield school board member in 3 years has taken the time to reach out to me. Not President Welsch, not Tim Bower, not John McKerley. School board members are so quick to criticize Republican legislators for their own school districts' downward slide, however, they have never actually reached out to me and it is pretty obvious that Monday night they had limited interest in listening to their parents and teachers.

I only want GREAT things to happen in and for all of our public schools! However, I am optimistic School Choice will be a wake up call for these administrators and school boards that they need to listen to their parents and their teachers!

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