Wouldn’t It Be Nice

In addition to being a retired superintendent of the Medina City Schools and an educational partner with the Kettering Foundation, Charlie Irish serves on the transition team for the Ohio Public School Advocacy Network.  In a recent conversation with Charlie, he posed a thought-provoking question that has important implications for OPSAN’s grassroots initiative to give Ohio’s citizens a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy.  His question was:  If we take money out of the equation, what do we have to discuss with our state’s elected representatives?  Unfortunately, the need for more money for our schools is often the sole focus of our discussions.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a discussion with them that wasn’t only about money?  I suspect it would take some preparation as they would likely be leery of our motives.  Even then, it would likely feel strange since they aren’t used to this sort of interaction.