The ESSER Lesson
Every year around Labor Day I recall an event from childhood. It’s not necessarily a highlight, but its obvious impact contributes to a classification of meaningful. I grew up in a standard, “Close the door, turn the lights off — you weren’t born in a barn,” household. Lights and air conditioning cost money, and “it doesn’t grow on backyard trees.” My Dad had some tried and true favorites, and his fiscal responsibility knew very few bounds.
Between mid-August back to school and Labor Day weekend, I had received a lecture nearly daily. “Untie your shoes before taking them off. It breaks down the back if you don’t.” Everyone came into our home through the back door, abandoning their shoes, with my Dad arriving home last to complete his daily inspection.
“Jamie, if you don’t stop this, you’re not going to like the consequences.” His foreboding words had little impact on me, and yet came to full fruition the Friday of Labor Day weekend. “That’s it — you’re writing sentences.” Ala, Bart Simpson at the chalkboard.
The sentence? I will untie my shoes before taking them off.
My response: “How many times?”
His response: “100.”
My response: “What if I don’t do it?”
Let’s pause and just honor the stubbornness. The full-on petulant pre-teen attitude. It is a force to be reckoned with.
His reply: “For every day you don’t do it, it’s 100 times more.”
I was exiled to my room and told I could come out for meals and the bathroom. The fact that this was a long weekend? Well, that worked out for both of us. Me because it meant I could lean into my joy of a full bookshelf of Babysitter Club books on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. My Dad, because it meant that his punishment would end up completed in a grandiose 3-day, 300 sentence way by Monday night.
And while this story has little to do with ESSER funding, it comes to mind in a pointed way. While I may have more shoes than I “need,” I untie those shoes before I take them off. Because I agree, it preserves the integrity of the shoe. And I only buy cute shoes, so preservation is critical.
I learned the lesson.
Call me cynical, but I do wonder if those of us in education are being tested with these funds.
I wonder if legislators are “throwing money at a problem,” to then point out that “throwing money at a problem” doesn’t work.
I wonder if we have the right state, district, and school leadership in place to handle this magnitude of opportunity.
I wonder if we can begin to use this funding in a responsible or even purposeful way
while we are still in the midst of a surging pandemic that continues, and with the introduction of the Delta variant more gravely, to affect our students.
I wonder how many education publishers are lining up with their hands outstretched. (Answer: All of them. I work for one.)
I wonder how many are proposing to use this funding on astroturf for the football field — I’m looking at you southern Illinois school that’s in the spotlight for this very proposal right now.
I wonder how many who hold leadership positions are asking the question: “How do we spend all this money?” instead of “What do we want to accomplish for our students? How does this funding align to our goals? How does it expand our potential? How do we create equitable and sustainable changes for students?”
So perhaps we need an exercise in futility. Perhaps we need to quite literally write it out. With these thoughts in mind:
I will listen to stakeholders — including my students, my educators, and my families — before making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
I will seek out best practices from the mental health field — because I know that the Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbated the mental health issues we see amongst our youth — before making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
I will work with a dynamic group of leaders within the school community to plan for the use of this funding — and in that process, build plans to continuously monitor the integrity of the funds spent — before making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
I will consider the solutions that will have staying power — long past this funding window — before making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
I will honor that this past year and a half has been easy for no one, school leaders wholly included — and seek out help when I need support — before and while actively making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
I will not sway from our vision for students — that all students can learn when given the opportunity and support — before making a decision on the spending of ESSER funds.
No need to write it 300 times, my fellow educators. Let’s just embody the thinking, honor the tension in these choices, and make decisions with integrity.
We might make a misstep and have to go back to the drawing board.
Maybe this one’s worth writing time and again:
We’re not here to be right. But we are here to get it right.
