Future of Education panel sets first public input session for Oct. 21 Commenter asks to make education jargon understandable

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont will hold its first in-person public feedback session from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21 at the Randolph High School/Technical & Career Center, 17 Forest St. in Randolph. It will be preceded by a full commission meeting from 1  to 4 p.m. at the same site. According to the Agency of Education, the meeting will be “virtual” but not “livestreamed.” More information will be available at the AOE’s Future of Public Education in Vermont website page.

Act 183, which created the commission, mandated that it hold no fewer than 14 such meetings, with one in each of the state’s 14 counties. Randolph is in Orange County.

The statute says that in writing its final report with recommendations for changes in the education system and its finances, the commission will incorporate public feedback into those recommendations. The commission must also include all public feedback received in an addendum to its final report.

In previous meetings of the commission and its sub-committees, interim Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders has said she wants to receive what she referred to as “informed input” from the public. But the systems for delivering and financing education are complex and members of the Communication and Engagement subcommittee felt a long presentation to those attending the input session was not a good idea.

“I think we need to be concerned about too much time in presenting. If we drone on for 45 minutes to an hour, we may lose people,” said John Castle of the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative, who created the draft agenda for the session. Castle thought it might be good to spend less time on the commission goals and more on listening.

“We want to set the stage for some informed dialog, but the intent is to hear from the public so we don’t want to consume a lot of time setting the stage,” said Oliver Olsen of Londonderry who represents the Vermont Independent Schools Association. Members recommended a number of ways for the public to get in-depth information on the education system including handouts, recordings and internet links.

Subcommittee chair Meagan Roy said it was important to be sure that people understand the complexity of situation.

The group also looked at prompts to get the public discussion going. Members suggesting that the prompts be “asset based”* later provoked a public comment from Allen Gilbert,  who said that “asset based” is an example of the sort of language that has meaning in the education world but also makes presentations by educators difficult to understand. Gilbert is the former Executive Director of the Vermont ACLU.

“I’m not asking for an explanation, but I’ve gotta tell you, use of terms like this turns people off instantly,” said Gilbert. “They immediately think, what does ‘asset based’ mean, why did I come to this meeting?”

“Ironically, educators seem to be among the least able people to talk effectively to a public audience,” said Gilbert who added he has been at a lot of meetings run by educators and has found himself lost in the shorthand and jargon. He suggested finding someone who can make the materials produced by the commission understandable to an average person. In addition, he said commission members should keep clarity of expression in mind.

*According to several education websites, an “asset based” approach focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses and the discussion of how to structure the input session turned to asking probing questions like “what do you value about education in Vermont?”

Toward the end of the meeting, Roy told the panel that the Request for Proposals for a communications consultant to help the Communications and Engagement subcommittee with its work has gone out. She praised the AOE for getting it done quickly and said that on an accelerated schedule it’s possible that a consultant could be hired in November. The subcommittee should expect to be reviewing responses at its Nov. 18 meeting.