When there are sudden changes in the usual conditions on the path around the Falls, the stage is set for significant learning experiences. For people in the education business, this can be called a “teachable moment.” Such was the case Monday morning when the area had its first significant snowfall.
The roads were slick, and those people involved with keeping the streets and sidewalks clean were hoping that temperatures would warm enough so that the snow would melt, which it did eventually. Prior to that happening, it was a time for drivers to learn or relearn their winter driving skills. The first storm or two can be a real education. We are not aware of any fender benders, but there had to be a number of them. Underestimating stopping distances and traction while turning had to be big factors.
Driving with a clear mind on Monday morning might have been confounded a bit for Packers fans who were slightly giddy after watching Sunday night’s game with the Bears. The Chicago team had a hard time getting any traction, even before there was any snow cover. Perhaps just the thought of snow had an effect. The blowout might have caused many to ask where these guys were when the last game was played, since it seemed like a completely different team.
Whether it was the late start to the game or just the longtime rivalry, the Bears fans were more unruly than usual as they entered the stadium. The fans who came up from Chicago certainly had a different mindset at the end of the fourth quarter than they had when they entered the stadium. That was a teachable moment that will be long remembered.
With last week’s election results further solidifying Gov. Walker’s power base and the slight shift to increase the Republican Party’s hold on the Legislature, it will be a very interesting time for Wisconsin’s public school system. Proposals that did not make it through the last session will be back on the table. Two of the most likely to make it through this time around include expansion of the private school voucher program and the tossing out of the Common Core State Standards.
The voucher expansion will divert state resources away from the constitutional mandate to provide support for students in the public school system. The re-emergence of the debate on the Common Core will focus on the fear that the standards are an attempt by Washington, D.C., to force something very unhealthy down the throats of the vulnerable young children in our classrooms.
The changing condition of the Legislature and the stronger than ever mandate held by the governor is indeed a teachable moment, and not about teaching educators a thing or two. This is the opportunity to listen and act with reasonableness while working toward the common good.
The plight of Wisconsin’s rural schools is one area where some good could be done. Last May, at the eleventh hour of the last legislative session, a report was issued by the Speaker’s Task Force on Rural Schools. A bipartisan group of legislators held a number of hearings around the state to listen to the concerns of rural educators. Those on the task force got an earful.
The task force came up with a number of recommendations, but given the timing at the end of the session, “nothing could be done.” Rep. Jeff Mursau from our assembly district (and born in Oconto Falls) served on the task force. In a listening session he and Sen. Tom Tiffany held in Oconto Falls last spring, he hinted there was no money to do anything with the recommendations until the new budget was put together. That’s happening now.
The crafting of the new budget will be a teachable moment for all of us. We will have the opportunity to learn if there will be any response to the concerns brought to the rural schools task force or if the process was an attempt to calm the waters by giving educators a chance to vent, with little more to follow.
The snow always seems to come early. We never are as prepared as we could be. We would hope that the process to put together the next state budget is not another type of snow job that leaves support for children in our rural public schools out in the cold.
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