Dr. Burc Oral

Lifelong learning with love and joy… With my daughter at LHS, I observe that this crucial educational tenet has been forgotten. Students have become a dumping ground for information. We are all about metrics, about measurements of retention and scheduling, than about validating and endorsing the genuine Interests of students. Rather than cultivating a sense of vocation, we are about getting to the next stage: better SAT scores, top colleges. This approach manifests in our students as unwelcome stress.

 

I am running for a one-year term to make lifelong learning with love and joy a reality. I intend to advocate for and support learning in depth, in the classroom. If we can make class time fruitful and organized enough we should be able to avoid the excessive hours of homework that have become the normal burden of our motivated students., Teachers should know their students as well as their subject. For this, communication needs to happen between teachers, as well as between teachers and students.

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Once a student is stressed, it is too late.  We rather need to talk about prevention. Stress is another term for load, which translates into demand. A school's duty is to manage its demand on students, which has many sources such as: a rigorous schedule, challenging subject choices, a heavy burden of homework, and frequent exams.

 

The mere comic relief of teachers wearing clown noses for a day does nothing of consequence to address the problem, when the next day repeats the usual stress pattern.

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Since students do not belong to a single class which shares a common schedule, the academic load imposed by each teacher is unknown to other teachers, until a student implodes (to play out my physics metaphor)! Counsellors might be a vehicle but have limited availability—they are also overloaded. They need to spend more time with students, meet regularly  to understand the demand on a student, and communicate it to teachers. I propose that current home-room time could be put to better use. This gathering could be leveraged to understand the students’ state and communicate back to teachers.

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As a technologist, I support meaningful and reasonable technology use: technology as a facilitator not the goal. As a humanist, I support compassionate and responsible, as well as invigorating, teaching, and a school environment which is friendly and supportive of diverse learning styles, as well as competitive.

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I also believe that abstract, conceptual learning of core curriculum works best when combined with a phenomenological perspective. This means we encourage our teachers to direct students’ attention first to what they actually see; working from the observable world to the concepts others have formed about it. This encourages thinking “outside the box”.  
 

My Main Goal will be to promote a focus on students really loving and enjoying their studies. I see this happening through increased classroom involvement and decreased testing and homework. Students’ strengths and challenges should be known to their teachers without reliance on these ‘crutches.’

 

I will call for an assessment of current teaching practices and personnel. Degrees and tenure do not ensure a compassionate and communicative teacher. Also, I believe it is time for evaluations to be democratized. Students, especially young adults, as well as parents, should participate in evaluating their teachers, department heads, deans and counselors.

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Lexington is a highly sought after community for raising children. We offer a rich education with top-notch staff. Of course spending has a direct correlation to quality and 98 million dollars is a lot of money to spend. Our 2017 education budget has increased %5.9, while town revenue increased by only %4.6. I believe we are at a point where return on investment has been maximized. Learning can happen anywhere: with or without fancy tools, cool lights and comfy chairs! I believe fiscal constraint and scrutiny is necessary, and that remedial measures can be taken without sacrificing quality.

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Reallocation of current funds, and increasing taxes to raise new funds, is the conventional approach. Charging fees for new programs is an option. It is plausible to seek private funding. We have plenty of programs already in place, I would rather scrutinize existing programs for  quality and suitability.

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To address the large influx of students, modular buildings offer an efficient ‘band-aid’ solution for the next 10-years. In the interim, we can easily realize new brick & mortar plans, as well as options for grade reconfigurations. All current construction plans are merely “additions” to current building capacity. In lieu of the Muzzy High to LHS legacy, it may be prudent to create a new elementary school at the Hastings location. Built appropriately, Hastings could consolidate two districts and allow for the expansion of the middle school into the vacated elementary school space.

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Redistricting incoming students is only a first step to alleviate overcrowding. This problem is being caused by the increase in housing developments, which increase population density, and also create high rental resident turnover. Overcrowded area residents with less tenure  can be         directed to schools where seats are available. This can be a preventative measure for high turnover in housing developments. Housing developers should contribute to school infrastructure based on unit sizes and occupation capacity. New condo owners and renters should chose Lexington with knowledge of school crowding and willingness for their children to attend where space allows (based on a tenure system).