Ships Passing in the Night

Over the past 25 years, I’ve turned to the work of the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, to help me better understand some of the most important challenges facing our public schools.  One of Kettering’s research questions continues to be:  Is there a public for the public schools?  While I don’t pretend to have all of the answers to this pivotal question, I have a theory that I’d like to share.  Since most citizens only have a vague idea of the education taking place today in our public schools, it is no wonder that there’s such a wide gap between what our public schools are actually doing and what much of the public thinks they are doing.  As a result, most of our public schools and the communities they serve are like two ships passing in the night.  To help close this gap, the public needs to hear directly from our teachers about how they are trying to address the educational needs of our children and the barriers that are getting in their way.  To learn how some of our educational leaders are taking steps to strengthen the connection between the public and their local public schools, contact me at wocallaghan@earthlink.net/216-389-1298.