For the first time in years, the South Dakota’s Governor’s Camp at USD was also graced by the presence of its namesake.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard offered his support, but left before the end of the ceremony. Gifted education hasn’t been a priority of his administration, but the state has added resources for advanced students under Daugaard’s watch, including a dual credit program so high school students can earn college credits before they graduate.
After, students expressed disappointment with his comments. Impassioned children and teens demanded more. [emphasis mine]The general attitude towards education can be summed up by a couple of phrases in the commentary: "For the first time in years," and "left beffore the end of the ceremony."
As with teacher pay, South Dakota lawmakers hide behind the mantra of “local control” to justify not taking action to support gifted education. But to say, “The state doesn’t have to fund gifted education; local schools can raise and spend all the money they want” is to ignore the practical reality demonstrated by the end of state funding for gifted education in 1995. Take away state support for a K-12 program, and fewer schools will offer that program. In the case of gifted education, the 1995 cuts meant seven out of eight schools lost their programs.
“Local control” is a sham excuse if local districts don’t have resources to control. The South Dakota Legislature and the Governor should stop making excuses and restore funding for gifted education.This mantra impacts not only gifted programs, but all aspects of our children's education. This became articulated in the Black Hill Pioneer on August 14, 2015. In the article the Spearfish district states exactly what has been lost (This is a little long, but the depth of the impact to programs is important:)
According to budget reduction information provided by Peters, from 1999 to 2005, the Spearfish School District cut its teaching staff by 15. At the elementary schools, six of those staff cuts were regular teaching positions, resulting in larger average class sizes, increasing from 19 to 25 in K-5. Two librarians were replaced with an aide and classified staff reductions included four full-time employees
Programs that were eliminated or reduced at the elementary level include: the gifted and talented program, the swimming program, the parallel block scheduling, and planning time and staff development.
At Spearfish Middle School, seven teaching positions have been eliminated and the assistant principal replaced with a part-time Dean of Students. Two teacher aides have been eliminated, as well as 14 coaching positions, and core classes are at a 30-student average.
Middle school programs that have been eliminated or reduced include: foreign language, home economics, conflict resolution/peer mediation, industrial technology, alternative education, creative expressions (drama, art, writing), library, band lessons, staff development, and all sixth-grade extracurricular activities.
At Spearfish High School, eight teachers and two full-time equivalents in classified staff have been cut since 1999. Programs and departments that have been eliminated or have suffered a reduced number of staff since the 1999-2000 school year include: family and consumer science, industrial tech, art, physical education, auto shop, band/choir, social studies, math, English, business/computer and foreign language.
Since then, nearly 30 high school courses have been eliminated, including: advanced speech, American cultural studies, auto mechanics I, auto mechanics II, auto mechanics III, child development, clothing and textiles, creative writing II, drama II, electronics, family living, foods I, housing, independent living, industrial technology, jazz band, life skills, multi media art history, marriage and family, mixed mediums, music theory, mythology, nutrition and foods, power mechanics, survival cooking, swing choir, and journalism.
Nearly a dozen high school activities have been eliminated, and several others have been impacted by cuts in salaries, supplies, meals, travel, dues/fees, and professional services.This is happening to schools all over the state. As the Blue Ribbon Panel looks into the funding issue, I hope that this is something that they consider as part of the equation. It is time for our legislators to do more than give lip service to making education first.
It's not much different in the Sioux Falls School District where there are currently 14 open positions - double from this same time last year.
"We had a math teacher position at one of our high schools where we had two applicants," Sioux Falls School District Human Resources Supervisor Becky Dorman said. "We have a science position open at a high school, and that's probably going to be about the same. We've had special ed. teaching positions open for awhile where we had no applicants." (Aug. 7, 2015)One of the key issues behind the shortage is the lack of pay for the profession. This is one of the key areas of focus for the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel.
The story cites that the teacher shortage is “a result of the layoffs of the recession years combined with an improving economy in which fewer people are training to be teachers.” That doesn’t alleviate the shortage, but it flies in the face of what some would have you believe about South Dakota. (Dakota War College Aug. 10, 2015)How do New York shortages fly in the face that South Dakota grossly under pays compared to all surrounding states and that the experts in South Dakota are pointing directly at the salary issue as being on of the key issues for the lack of teachers?
“Don’t call us stupid,” state Sen. Deb Soholt said Friday, addressing a crowd of hundreds of K-12 leaders from across the state.Okay, how about just slow on the uptake. Maybe the reason that so many people are tired about this issue is because it has been talked about over and over and over for well more than a decade. As educators, we are tired about hearing about the concern of education and how we wish there was more funding, but then see educators called out for being lazy, greedy, and oh, just incompetent by the leaders in Pierre. Finally to be told that gee, golly, we just can't seem to find the money, but we have plenty to put into a rainy day fund!
“Their advice to us has been, be bold, be courageous, do something, but we can’t do it alone,” Sly said. “We have to have them also being bold, being courageous.” (Argus Leader Aug. 8, 2015)What the heck does that mean? Are you saying that education officials are the ones sticking their head in the sand and avoiding the problem? They are the ones trying to do the best they can in a situation that gets tougher and tougher.
And if the Blue Ribbon panel delivers a bad plan, educators can give Soholt, Sly, and the panel an F and fight that plan.
It would be sad if, as Senator Soholt says, we squander the six months ahead of us. But teachers won’t squander that time with their conscientious public statements. Legislators will squander it if they don’t take the teacher shortage seriously and focus on solving that problem.
Rounds and Huckabee have a long relationship dating back to when the two were both governors. Rounds served as Huckabee's national chairman during Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid. And Huckabee campaigned for Rounds last fall when it appeared that Rounds' Senate bid might be in jeopardy.
"I am supporting Mike," Rounds said during a press call. "I think he is a great American and I have the utmost respect for him." (Argus Leader 8/6/15)As you can see that this comes at no surprise, but what does Huckabee stand for that has earned Rounds devotion?
"The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse," Huckabee said at the first Republican presidential debate. (NBC 8/6/15)I suppose that Huckabee and possibly Rounds would be opposed to allowing women to serve in the military or for that fact allowing "colored" men fight side by side in the military. Just a few cases that the military transformed the culture of our country.
"If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it." (Arkansas Times June 26, 2014)Maybe it is his views on gun control?
I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced — forced at gunpoint no less — to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it'd happen. (Wikiquote)Or just maybe it is his views on making America a Theocracy:
I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family. (ThinkProgress Jan. 15, 2008)In the end I would put it at Mike Rounds owes someone a favor. I think that he will jump on whatever ship is going to help his political career.
The United States has led the world in economic dynamism, innovation and entrepreneurship thanks to exactly the kind of teaching we are now told to defenestrate. A broad general education helps foster critical thinking and creativity. Exposure to a variety of fields produces synergy and cross fertilization. Yes, science and technology are crucial components of this education, but so are English and philosophy. When unveiling a new edition of the iPad, Steve Jobs explained that “it’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — that it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.” (Side note: I have to love a quotation that uses the word defenestrate. It is one of my all time favorite words.)Unfortunately Daugaard has fallen into this narrow paradigm of thinking. Most recently it was noted that at a meeting at the Gifted Education Summit. During the meeting it was pointed out that education must be well-rounded, but not by the Governor. It was pointed out by one of the student speakers.
Governor Daugaard owes each and every camper and staff member at the SD Governor's Camp for the Gifted (no relation to politics) an apology. The same man that refuses to support gifted education just told an audience of almost 300 kids - the brightest, most creative world changers you'd ever have the honor of meeting - that creativity is economically worthless. They should avoid "intellectually worthy", but otherwise (what he views as) worthless college degrees and focus on STEM.
STEM has it's merits of course (speaking as a robotics coach), but it's not the be-all and end-all. (Megan Dahle, July 31, 2015).A newer acronym is beginning to make the rounds and that is called STEAM. The letter A stands for the arts. We need to recognize the importance of all forms of education and not just focus on the STEM. As Larry Edmunds stated on the International Society for Technology in Education on May 30, 2014:
This means that neither STEM nor the humanities alone can be the answer. We need to share funding across these crucial disciplines to create a teaching mélange in which STEM skills are supplemented by citizenship, effective communication and practical life skills.
In other words, as always, one basket does not fit all the eggs. Today's students certainly need STEM courses to understand the physical and theoretical world, but they also need courses that will help them to better understand the people they will meet along the road of life. We must create funding schemata that will allow our students to succeed in the world, not just in the laboratory or the class room.Daugaard, Obama (Obama is also too over-focused on STEM), and other leaders that try to "fix" education need to remember that a STEM can only hold something up, but STEAM can power the world!
