Minnesota's Parental Bill of Rights, Part III

Brief examination of rights and roles in the Parental Bill of Rights

Phyllis VanBuren, Ph.D. March 28, 2023

As a parent, grandparent and life-long learner and educator, I was invited to join a small group of concerned citizens—concerned about our children and their academic preparation, especially in our government-funded schools. As members of this group, we believe that the views and academic concerns of each community are determined by the elected school board members—elected by us, the members of the community. We also believe that parents have the right to respectfully address this body, the administrators, and teachers about the children and receive open and honest responses.

When Gary asked me to pick out specific rights in the Parental Bill of Rights, I found four that related to two more general topics—surveys and curriculum.

Rights # 8 and #9

Parents generally assume that schools now are like the ones they attended—whenever that was. Unfortunately, school personnel and policies are very different in the majority of schools. Much of that has come from political bodies and funding sources. We say, “Follow the money.” While curricular decisions are to be made at the local level, the funding strings that come from federal and state aid determine what may be taught in the schools. Additionally, the postsecondary teacher education programs are also driven by funding dollars. Then add in the pedagogical “bandwagon,” and schools are radically different than a generation or two ago.

As an educator, I experienced many “bandwagons” that only lasted until another came along. The lasting effect was not usually enduring. But like the duck gliding across a still pond and paddling furiously beneath the water, school systems paddled rapidly to enact profound changes in education.

Even though I am “rewired” (retired) from a daily presence in the classroom, I have maintained an active interest in education at the state and national level. Regrettably, I must admit that one survey in Minnesota escaped my attention until early 2022. Even though it was created by the Minnesota Department of Education in 1989, I never heard of it as a parent or as an educator.

In 1988-89, the governor was Mr. Perpich (Democrat), and both bodies in the Legislature were also controlled by liberals. When I read the surveys, I was not surprised by the ideological slant of the questions.

The brief notice that I read at that time of enlightenment contained two gems:

(1) The survey is voluntary for the school district, and if the school district chooses to offer the survey, parents may decline their students’ participation without negative backlash. (2) There was a link to the battery of questions for grades five, eight, nine and eleven. Yes, I read them all, pulled my hair, and cried. If I had been a student taking the survey, I would have blushed and tried to hide. I most certainly would NEVER have shared anything about the questions with my parents; parents have the right to ask those questions, but not complete strangers and why?

The language from the MDE website states: “The survey is an anonymous statewide school-based survey conducted to gain insights into the world of students and their experiences.”

The official explanation adds: “The survey asks students about their activities, opinions, behaviors and experiences. Students respond to questions on school climate, bullying, out-of-school activities, healthy eating, emotional health, substance use and connections with school and family. Questions about sexual behaviors are asked only of high school students. All responses are anonymous.”

The language of the two previous paragraphs are a very watered-down version of the pages and pages of questions asked at each grade level. Each level gets longer and more invasive. The majority of parents would be angered about the invasion of privacy, not only for the children, but also that they have with their children within the sanctity of their home.

NO parent with whom I spoke at the time had ever heard of the survey and certainly had NOT received information from their children's school.

At the time, I was unable to find (even at the MDE website), the rationale for this triennial expropriation of underage learners’ privacy. As I looked at the enumerated rights in this document—Parental Bill of Rights, I wanted to revisit this right (# 8 and #9) since I knew that this survey comes with the obligation to inform parents of their rights.

Surprisingly, I found a report from Scott Smith, MDE, MDH Communications (https://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2022/stsurvey122322.html). The 2022 report indicated an increase in mental health issues, as multiple news sources have done following the pandemic. It added the good news that reported “risky behavior” was less. Bullying and cyber-bullying increased at all grade levels. For 11th graders, from the MERE six questions (from more than 100) related to education (the reason why we send our kids to school, right?), the data showed a decline from 75% in 2013 to 60% in 2022. Visit the above website and all the embedded links to learn more about this data-mining tool in our government-funded schools.

If the schools do not inform parents of such surveys, parents should ask them directly for them. The next time this Minnesota Student Survey will be administered is January to June 2025. But what other surveys are given to our students (for example, daily—SEI—Social Emotional Learning)? Do teachers employ this tool for personal reflection or as a way to insert racism and discrimination into the schools that claim not to teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)?

Rights #5 and #13

Let’s start with a clarification of terms. Curriculum refers to the entire course of study; for our purposes, let’s assume the class for the year or semester at a particular grade level. The curriculum does NOT mean the daily lesson plans. I fear that these two terms are understood interchangeably by the general public.

Teachers know the curriculum before the school year starts—before they know the students personally—the students’ interests, their previous learning, their motivation, their academic skills. Teachers assume a starting point and know the desired goal for the academic period. They have a road map—a curriculum. From that they develop unit plans, each probably about two weeks in duration given the structure of many textbooks. They gather supplemental resources to enrich the lessons. Next the teachers break up the unit with plans for desired activities and achievements for each day. Enter the kids and the plans MUST BE ALTERED.

Have the students retained previously “learned” materials and continue to make progress? Or do they need time to recycle (review) —just moving ahead does not help students learn even if the teachers are keeping to their lesson plans? Do teachers answer students’ questions (relevant questions related to the academic class) or push ahead to stick to the lesson plan?

GOOD teachers probably do not know the exact lesson plan for the next day until about 10:00 P.M. (or later) when they have corrected student work from that day and evaluated the need for review or even the possibility of skipping ahead because all seem to be responding to the materials presented to that point. Then the teachers have to adjust the anticipated plan, gather or develop materials for the next day. Then early the next day before students arrive, they locate some resources, prepare others (paper) for distribution, etc. Hopefully, that is the majority of classroom teachers. Admittedly, a few proudly announce they use the same lesson plans that they used in their first year in the classroom.

Parents should always feel welcome visiting their children’s classes. Please make arrangements to visit the class in advance (no SURPRISE—GOTCHA YA ones) and allow the teachers to prepare the class for visitors and explain why the visitors are there. Even my students at the postsecondary level felt invaded when uninvited guests came. They did not participate, interact, respond—they were terrified. How about younger students?

Ask for a copy of the curriculum (year-long program of study or maybe a semester—depends upon the type of school and their calendar), ask for the unit plan...and then after the class, ask the teacher if there were any adjustments to the lesson plan and why. Do not judge teachers as “bad” for not following the public plan if they are teaching according to the responses and inquiries from the students—tailoring the learning to the kids. That a follow-up conversation might occur in person at the end of the day. There’s probably another class following the one you visited. Or communicate via phone or email later that day. Make an arrangement for that communication. That builds the mutual respect between the adults that care for our youth.

Children learn more from our actions than from our words. Let’s be involved and SHOW them that we care.