If we want to know the priorities of a school system, then follow the money. Sometimes that trail of dollars leads down rabbit holes which are sketchy.
No public school employee should be working as a consultant for a company which is doing business in their local school system. No public employee should be accepting gifts, money, or employment from companies which are influencing local policy and/or superintendent hires. Here are three circumstances which maybe blurred the line between acceptable and not….
- Mathematics. When I first moved to Kingsport, I had to understandably complete some trainings in order to be ready to deliver math lessons. One of those trainings was in order to get up-to-speed on their math program. I actually liked that math program. As an employee, I hadn’t met a soul in the school system. I was sent to another state in order to be trained. Low and behold, the trainer who was working for that textbook company, introduced themselves as an employee of my system. I wondered then, and I wonder now…that can’t be too ethical. That is a conflict of interest, and it shouldn’t be allowed. Was there future influence by that employee (within the school system) to use that textbook company?
- Literacy consultant. There were people working(research if I remember correctly) with/for a Literacy consultant while our local school system was paying him to work here. The consultant was at best an average consultant. However, we kept bringing him back despite his lack of professional knowledge. I always wonder if the system employees(who were working with/for him), maybe were also responsible for influencing his repeated trips here.
- Confucius Institute. I always found this to be a rather uncomfortable relationship between a local system and the Confucius Institute. A local superintendent wanted Mandarin Chinese taught in his system. At first glance, that is a noble and forward thinking vision – I have no problem with that on the surface. The problem is that the Confucius Institute has been shown to be a propaganda instrument of the communist party of China. The State Department even had to issue a warning to US academic institutions about their activity, and also designated them a foreign mission. We had people taking trips in conjunction with the MTSU Confucius Institute. I am not entirely sure who paid for those trips(or even if they had a choice in the decision…meaning they were made to go), but it is well worth asking. Regardless of who paid for those trips, the CI was using those trips to gain valuable and unmonitored influence on American education systems. MTSU ended their relationship with that institute, because they found that Institute to be nearly indistinguishable from the communist party! In Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee began to work to shut down CI’s as there was concern about gifts that CI was offering participating institutions. And where was the oversight in this? I don’t think it has even been addressed in hindsight. Honestly, I don’t think many(at the time) who attended those trips knew that the Confucius Institute was sketchy. I do know there were questions at the time as to what type of influence the Confucius Institute was gaining with these cozy relationships. It is a GREAT example of why BOEs and Central Office personnel need to vet every entity doing business with our local systems. And they need to ask for FULL disclosure of any school system employees who are accepting gifts, money, or influence from those entities.
I have more. This is a huge problem nationwide. I am holding two conflicts of interest in reserve for later posts. One involves leadership and COVID closures. The other involves high level leadership which is influenced by a local, educational think tank.
The above are examples of relationships which were at best too cozy, and at worst, unethical. We need to know if any employee or government official has accepted money from entities which either do business with our local school systems OR which are working to influence local policy. If these relationships aren’t illegal, they at least border on being unethical. In addition to being a blog dedicated to innovation, it will also be dedicated to financial accountability. Why? Find the money, and we will find where a system’s priorities are. If we are dedicated to creativity replacing excessive data driven programs, we need to know what we are paying for and who is getting paid.
I wonder how many of the people who participated in the three examples above were able to leverage those relationships to leadership positions in our region both in education and the private sectors?
