PEYTON WOLCOTT - COMMENTARY - U.S. PUBLIC EDUCATION

Conservative Commentary - Activist Alert

P E Y T O N W O L C O T T

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question, one school at a time.

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Heads up to grassroots school
reform activists: Be smart, be
effective
By Peyton Wolcott
Updated Thursday, November 15, 2007 - 9:10 a.m.

our local school districts, unfortunately most of us
generally approach them armed with facts and the
same rational thinking that enables us to pay for
our houses and cars and the property taxes that
fund our local schools. Generally this is our first
mistake.

If we compound our mistake by also being angry,
we might as well go stand in front of the
administration building and shake a big bag filled
with rattlesnakes -- it's no good to act surprised
when they react by hissing and trying to bite us.

Watching pushback from schools, especially here
in Texas, escalate over the past few years (more
at right) leaves me troubled.

I believe based on my own experiences and
observation of others' that many of the difficulties
parents and taxpayers are experiencing can be
avoided by changing our approach.

Learn to turn rattle-
snakes into Teddy bears

A special heads up
to citizen journal-
ists & bloggers

The Internet is a
tremendous gift. We've
seen changes here in
public education in the
past five years which I do
not believe would have
been possible without
the Internet.

Many parents and
taxpayers are finding
themselves pressed into
service as citizen
journalists who have no
formal journalism
background. Most often,
it is these well-
intentioned folks who
appear to be getting into
the most trouble. We've
seen here in Texas in
the past two years alone
one SLAPP suit filed and
another on the way, plus
an amicus curiae by a
third district. Worse,
we've had onerous
anti-sunshine legislation
encumbered on all of us
as a result during this
past Lege.

While the second SLAPP
suit appears to have
died in its tracks with the
emergence of an
attorney willing to serve
pro bono, the first SLAPP
suit continues its way
through the courts;
tossed out by the first
judge, at last report it is
now in the appeals
process.

How to change rattlesnakes
into teddy bears
It starts with changing our mindset. After trying rational thinking, facts and figures, reports and
studies with our local administrators, all to no avail, I realized a new way of doing things was
necessary.

Because of my experiences over the years as a volunteer organizing other volunteers for charity
fund raisers, it was a natural next step for me to organize friends into a group.

1. No adjectives.
They tend to be
inflammatory.

2. Ask questions
rather than make
accusations.

3. Be very sure of
your facts before
publishing -- have a
paper record in
hand. Wishing
doesn't make it so.
Your opinion doesn't
make it so, either.

4. Give your
opponents an
opportunity to
respond. Note in
your blog that your
phone calls to the
district were not
returned, etc. Ask
the person about
whom you're writing
if they disagree with
any facts you're
publishing and if so
and can they please
provide a paper
record or some
such supporting
their factual
disagreement.

Parisian ladies
knitting at the guillotine

5. Who are you?
Put your photo and
your goals on your
home page along
with an easily
accessible email
address. One site I
looked at recently
posted email
addresses for all of
the school district's
trustees and top
administrators --
then made visitors to
the site fill out an
obnoxious form in
order to send an
email to the site.
What's good for the
goose is good for
the gander. A group
in another state
prides itself on its
integrity -- yet
operates completely
anonymously
whereas the people
the group attacks
(constantly) have all
been willing at some
point to come
forward with their
names and contact
information.

6. Mind your
manners.   Attribute
everything, and
properly.

7. Curb your anger.
Anger's a funny
emotion. It
permeates
everything we do,
renders our
best-intentioned
work useless, and
leaves us worn out.
If your
administration's
done something truly
outrageous, sleep
on it before posting
an angry response.
Remember: In order
to accomplish
anything you're going
to have to organize
however small a
group which means
being positive
enough in your
approach and
outlook that people
will be drawn to you
and your cause.
Negativity repels.
Positive enthusiasm
is a magnet.

8. No community
comments.   Several
reasons. You may
run hot for a while
but when things start
winding down and
your local
administrators see
(0) comments again
and again they will
assume you have no
community support.
Also, a lot of
anonymous venting
can occur. Let your
local newspaper
handle this -- they
can afford lawyers --
or talk to each other
in the parking lot of
your local barbeque
joint or over the
produce section at
the grocery store.
Venting is a form of
gossip, and may or
may not support your
goal. Anything that
takes away from your
goal is a distraction
and to be avoided.

9. Be nice. People
will like you more
and you'll sleep
better at night.

10. Be friendly.
Treat your
administrators
and/or board
members and/or any
other opposition as
you'd like to be
treated. I didn't
make this up; it's
called "The Golden
Rule."

Your good name
The name of your group is more important than you can imagine. I do not recommend including
any of the following in your name: Watchdogs, Concerned (as in "Concerned Citizens of
Clearwater"), Watch (as in "We're watching you and we're never going to be happy with anything
you do"). "Accountability" and "responsible" are also good ones to avoid. Same for "taxes" and
"taxpayers." Better to choose an innocuous name that your district can't slam you on for being
negative, something like "Friends of Clearwater Schools." Your district will learn what you're
about soon enough.

Here's something that I had a very hard time accepting: While a few people will give you a
thumbs-up for your negative campaigns, most people want to associate with something they
perceive as being positive and will run from anything they perceive as being negative.

Think of the scene from the musical, "Oklahoma!" in which Curley
gives up his horse and his saddle -- everything he owns -- in order to
buy Miss Laurey's box dinner. "It's for the new schoolhouse," says the
auctioneer.

We all love being part of something larger than ourselves, some
greater good.

In order to accomplish anything, you're going to have to have
broad-based community support, and this only occurs with positive
goals and campaigns.

Pick a goal, any goal
Find a goal you and your small group can agree on, and distill it into
one sentence. This is useful because when reporters come calling
you'll already have your sound byte ready.

Your goal should be important to you and your group and your community and one you can easily
and quickly accomplish in a short period--two or three months and no more than six.

If you're not sure where to begin -- the list is so long -- or can't agree among yourselves, a good
first goal might be to ask your school district to post its check register online if it hasn't already.
(How to here) It's an easy, quick goal.

Think of yourselves more as guerrillas than Rotary. No fixed meetings every Tuesday, no
announcing how many members you have or who they are, no lists of members, no lapel pins.
Instead of meeting at meetings, communicate via email and phone.

When you accomplish your goal, your community will sit up and take note, favorably. Then
disband and take a breather for a while until you figure out what you want to accomplish next. Your
next goal will likely mean different participants because not everyone will be interested in
participating in everything.

One more thing about goals
Many times we want to start big and large, at the state level.

Better to start small, start simple, start local. Prove that your idea can work locally and others
will pick up on it, copy it. This is how ideas spread.

Oklahoma movie poster

Some basic things to think about:

1. You can be angry and upset -- however
righteously so -- OR you can be effective. You can't
be both.

2. Using a carrot is more effective than using a
stick. Think about it. Would you rather have
someone come after you with a carrot or with a stick?
Don't you become defensive when somebody shakes a
big stick at you?

3. Our school districts -- including administrators,
board members and those profiting from friendly
relations with them -- may say they want more parental
involvement. For some of them this is true. For too
many others, what they mean by parental involvement
is "Come write checks and say nice things about us
and don't question anything we say or do."

4. Our school districts may say they want to improve;
here again, some really do want to hear from us; for
many others, they don't really welcome your helpful
suggestions even when you know you're right and
they're wrong. As my wise school board trustee friend
told me years ago: "When you criticize them, you're
calling their baby ' ugly.' " Your administrators and
trustees and their minions will take your factual
comments and questions personally and attack you
personally in response.

5. Our public schools are essentially socialist
models and their engine and currency is the realm
of emotions and people skills.

6. The world of public education is a world of
feelings. Think about how often you've sat through a
superintendent's budget presentation to his/her board
and/or the community and at the end the supe says, "I
feel good about this budget."
For many of us who live in the rational world we're not
much interested in our supe's feelings about the
budget. We want to know that based on his expertise
with budgets (too often, too little) he has presented a
budget which will make ends meet.
When you talk with educators, talk about your feelings
about a topic rather than your thoughts about a topic.

7. In any endeavor, it's always a good idea to
consider your opponent. Really look at them. If the
product your company produces is packaged ice,
you're not going to head north to Alaska to sell it. No
matter how nice you are, they're not going to be
interested up there.
Along these lines, keep in mind that most school
districts today are well-oiled (with your tax dollars)
PR machines. The average parent wading in to
engage with them armed with facts lubricated by some
degree of righteous indignation stands little or no
chance of winning. It is like watching lambs marching
into the slaughterhouse.
Further, public schools are generally the largest
budgets in our counties; for this reason they have
access to resources such as money and legal help.
IMPORTANT: Because your schools can dominate
any playing field available to them, you must pick and
choose a different playing field.
Emotions win over facts every time. No matter how
well prepared your spreadsheet is -- you Spreadsheet
Dads know who you are -- if you do not have some
compelling facts to present to your community, facts
which will grip their imaginations and hearts, your
spreadsheet will accomplish little.

8. No matter how powerful you may be in your
world, your work arena, school is a different arena.
You're playing on someone else's turf and it behooves
you to pay attention to how they play the game. Your
rules don't work in their arena. The sooner and better
you can master their rules including their jargon the
sooner you can be effective.

9. The broader your base, the broader your focus,
the more you want to serve rather than get (get
something for yourself and/or your family -- or get
even) the more likely you are to succeed in your goal
of helping your district.

10. Let go of the idea you're a victim or you've been
wronged. Both will hinder your efforts.

Austin, Texas courtroom:
Lake Travis ISD SLAPP suit;
plaintiff's attorneys (L) and defense (R)

Walk softly
and carry a
big stick.
-- Teddy Roosevelt

Trust but
verify.
-- Ronald Reagan

Bloggers/Citizen journalism 101

Every battle
is won
before it is
ever fought.

--Sun Tzu,
The Art of War

During the 2004 election:
Bush is playing chess
and Kerry is playing checkers.
-- Dick Morris

HOME

IT'S POLITICAL;
HOLD YOUR
NOSE AND DO
SOMETHING

Our local public schools
are political entities.
Almost none of us, me
included, like politics at
all. Ugh. Ick.

That said, the
fundamental recourse
available to you is to
make changes in your
school board.

However, without public
signed written pledges
you have no guarantee
that your candidates will
"remember to dance
with those whut brung
'em."

A group I helped
organize did this but we
went one better when
we asked our
candidates to sign a
public written pledge
that they wouldn't do
business with our
schools -- a primary
issue during 2000-2004
-- and then succeeded
in putting all five of them
on the school board.

When you -- rational,
law-abiding tax-paying
folks that you are --
engage with your local
public schools, too often
you're reacting, which
gives the schools the
upper hand every time.

Increasingly schools are
upping the ante by filing
SLAPP lawsuits and
forbidding parents from
entering their kids'
campuses to the point of
arrest.

Be smart:

Achieve the changes
that need to be made by
setting your own course
and your own goals.

STRATEGERY

(1) The changes you seek are political.
Our local public schools are governmental
entities. They are not private schools and
they are not private corporations.

In practical terms this means that your
spreadsheets and dry facts and incredible
open records findings will change nothing
until you find a way to make your facts and
findings come alive to your community.

NEWS FLASH: You're not going to win your
neighbors over to your point of view by being
angry or by assuming the role of victim. You
may get 5 minutes on the local news along
the lines of "Angry Taxpayer Speaks Out" --
but the attention of your community starts and
stops there and nothing will have changed.

(2) The changes you seek must occur at
the local level.
The fundamental recourse available to you for
making changes is your local school board;
you must not only get your people elected but
also use pre-election signed public pledges
to hold them accountable in office.

To do anything effectively in your local schools
you are going to have to develop your PR
skills. Simply taking "the facts" to your
administrators and/or your school board
and/or local reporters and/or your local
community and expecting anything to change
because you think they should change is not
enough.

Parent & taxpayer alert:

Plan your moves....

Set your own course.

Think very clearly about
the goals you want to
achieve in your schools
and that they're goals not
benefiting just you and
your family or friends but
that they have broad-
based community
support.

While you're setting your
goals, please take a
moment and think
through what the results
might be of your actions
with your school district.

Chess, not checkers
Plan your moves ahead
of time. Keep your goals
-- your endgame --
clearly in mind. If you
take action (a), how
might your district react?
What (b), (c) and (d)
might be the result?

Your resources
Do you have the same
resources readily
available--legal, financial,
public relations--as your
school district?

For instance, are you
prepared to mortgage
your house to pay your
legal bills? If your
superintendent and
school board decide
you've filed hundreds or
thousands too many
public records requests
they can run the legal
clock in a variety of ways
without ever once dipping
into their own pockets.

Might there be another
friendlier way of making
the changes you believe
need to occur at your
district?

A good place to start is
by asking your school
board and superinten-
dent to voluntarily put
your district's check
register online.

One thing we've
learned is that well-
run districts really
do welcome more
transparency.

Just
because
you can
doesn't
mean you
should.

CHESS,
NOT
CHECKERS

Most parents and
taxpayers are rational
beings whose lives work
because we operate in
them rationally.

When we experience a
precipitating incident which
warrants our dealing with

ACTIVIST ALERT: Friends, the changes you seek in your local public schools are political.
This means if you're not happy about something in your schools, in order to change it you're
going to have to work with people successfully even if you don't like or agree with them.
You're going to have to move beyond facts and spreadsheets and personal anger and victim-
hood into a place of inner strength and confidence. You are not Sleeping Beauty waiting for
Prince Charming to come rescue you. You are an adult in the greatest and freest country in the
world, and brave warriors have secured these freedoms for us. You can do this. -- P.W.

Act:
don't react.