Paul Robichaux came to our staff development meeting today and filled in the monthly “Ten Minutes of Pedagogy” slot. I have numerous problems with his presence at our meeting (his unopposed agenda presented to us, his discussion had nothing to do with pedagogy, he didn’t contribute to staff development in any meaning of the phrase, etc.) and I have numerous problems with his ideology. He did raise a good point, though, that I would love to have a hand in correcting.
Paul Robichaux’s Web site is only one part of his message. His desire to move to a unified school district is only a piece of what he has to talk about. It’s unfortunate that this is the piece of his message that is loudest; his other message is far more important and worth discussing solutions to.
While I clearly disagree with what Mr. Robichaux has to say and the way he is going about promulgating his message (at one point today he said, directly to a room full of teachers, “I do not trust you”; what a nice way to engage in a dialogue…), he does make one point very clearly and accurately: Silver Creek is not doing a good job in communicating with the community.
So, what can we do to improve that communication? I would go so far as to work right next to Mr. Robichaux on a solution to that problem. If we find that splintering off from ESUHSD in order to create an Evergreen Unified School District (EUSD) is the best way to increase communication, great. First, though, we need to keep our focus where it counts. This is, after all, all about the kids.
How does this increased communication with the community help our students? Start that discussion, show evidence that this really is all about the kids, and you’ve got my attention, Mr. Robichaux. Point fingers and wave your flag of distrust in my face and our conversation is over before it began. Maybe Mr. Robichaux doesn’t need to be part of this discussion, though. Maybe Mr. Robichaux has done his job in reminding us that we need to do better. So now what?