My message to the school board last Thursday night.

People have asked me what my message was to the School Board last Thursday. Well here it is...

My name is Michael Oehler, and I have a son in Kindergarten at EK Powe, and a daughter who will be at Powe next year. I was a teacher for 8 years, hold a MT degree, and for the past 6 years have been the primary caregiver of my two children. I have a blog: supportdurhamschools.blogspot.com that I started to gain support around the idea of a tax increase to support our schools.

First, I'd like to thank you all, the school board, for the time you devote to Durham's children. My grandfather Sassaman was a School Board member in Hummelstown PA, and I'll never forget the stories he told me of parents showing up at all hours of the night demanding a teacher be fired for some reason or another. I never really imagined myself as one of those parents, but stranger things have happened. Anyway, I know he never looked back on his time on the SB negativiley, but he focused on the positive. Thanks again.


I don't have any magic potion that will generate $20million, but I do have a few ideas:

It seems as though a perception exists that DPS is a top heavy organization. Although 60 positions have already been eliminated from Central Office , when I examined the budget, I wanted to find a way to increase the HOPE of the community and create a feeling a shared sacrifice as well as address this perception of DPS as a "top heavy" organization.

My idea first idea is to relocate all offices in the Fuller building to empty classrooms in school buildings across the district. Imagine Human Resources or Elementary Curriculum and Instruction sharing the basement of EK Powe, right next to the backpack food program storage closet. How would anyone have the gall to talk about those administrators at Central Office not understanding what it is like in the trenches when they, too, had to fight for parking spots, smell the cafeteria food cooking, or have their meetings interrupted with fire drills or water leaking down the walls when it rains. Imagine the synergy created between HR and Maintenance when Dr. Becoats was coming for a meeting and the floor was wet because a toilet leaked?

Next, I'd also like to see a line by line itemization of the cost of ALL of our testing programs. From benchmark's to EOG's. While I support testing and accountability, we need to spend money on programs that have a greater return than an assessment. It is NOT the TEST that teaches, but the teacher, and when facing such a severe fiscal crisis, I believe that knowing the true cost of the tests is crucial-- I can't imagine that my Kindergarten son needs to be given a standardized test every four weeks--although apparently Judge Manning does.


Finally, I believe that enough dollars could be shifted from the TEST heavy focus of our schools to spending money on programs that have proven returns like successful magnet programs like the one at RN Harris, AVID, Saturday Academy, and teacher mentoring. These are proven small programs with big

As someone who has always believed in the power of public education in America, I can see the pressure the schools are under all across the nation. However, I know that you all will not take the easy way out, but make a courageous choice to fully fund our schools.

Thank you.