Thank you for your question. This is an excellent question that gets to the heart of so many important matters surrounding the goals/vision we have for District 65 as well as how we as a community should approach managing the challenges we face. At the core, a school is a place where our children gain academic knowledge and skills under …
Thank you for your question. This is an excellent question that gets to the heart of so many important matters surrounding the goals/vision we have for District 65 as well as how we as a community should approach managing the challenges we face. At the core, a school is a place where our children gain academic knowledge and skills under the guidance of their teachers. Our ultimate focus should be on nurturing the relationships between our students and teachers to promote academic excellence. Over time, schools have been asked to do much more than their core function including providing childcare, providing nutrition, offering community gathering spaces including green space and parks, among many other things. I worry sometimes that we ask our schools (and especially our teachers) to fill in gaps in our safety nets and social structures without adequately supporting them or recognizing that we are trying to address problems that have their root cause outside of the school system itself. This doesn't necessarily mean we should not try to solve or ameliorate some of these problems, but it does complicate the picture. I see many parallels to this on a daily basis in the healthcare system. I appreciate this question and could definitely go on- I would be happy to talk to you about this more at any point. Please feel free to contact me through my website: www.brandonutter.com
Thank you for your question. This is an excellent question that gets to the heart of so many important matters surrounding the goals/vision we have for District 65 as well as how we as a community should approach managing the challenges we face. At the core, a school is a place where our children gain academic knowledge and skills under the guidance of their teachers. Our ultimate focus should be on nurturing the relationships between our students and teachers to promote academic excellence. Over time, schools have been asked to do much more than their core function including providing childcare, providing nutrition, offering community gathering spaces including green space and parks, among many other things. I worry sometimes that we ask our schools (and especially our teachers) to fill in gaps in our safety nets and social structures without adequately supporting them or recognizing that we are trying to address problems that have their root cause outside of the school system itself. This doesn't necessarily mean we should not try to solve or ameliorate some of these problems, but it does complicate the picture. I see many parallels to this on a daily basis in the healthcare system. I appreciate this question and could definitely go on- I would be happy to talk to you about this more at any point. Please feel free to contact me through my website: www.brandonutter.com
Thank you Brandon for your thoughtful reply. It's clear you've been pondering this essential question for a while.