By Anne L. Bryant
2/8/05 -- Last week, I had the privilege of taking part in an amazing event -- one that could change the relationship between the city, its public schools, and its citizenry.
The city: Tulsa, Okla. The public schools: Tulsa, Jenks, and Union school districts in the Tulsa metropolitan area. The partners: the mayor, three institutions of higher education, the YWCA, the Eastern Oklahoma Labor-Religion Council, and the interfaith community led by the National Conference for Community and Justice. The event: a press conference Jan. 20 to launch “Tulsa Talks.”
Tulsa Talks is a wide-ranging partnership of community leaders and organizations that is hosting a citywide dialogue in the form of as many as 1,000 study circles focused on the public schools. Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, and Tulsa Community College are the lead colleges.
Throughout the next year, up to 10,000 Tulsa-area citizens will meet in a series of conversations to offer their ideas, hopes, and expectations for public education. They will be asked to help guide a community-based action plan to inform the decisions of public school administrators, business leaders, and community leaders.
ýhe superintendents and board presidents from the three school districts were on hand to support this effort. But the primary behind-the-scenes leader who was the driving force in getting this initiative off the ground is our own Paul Thomas, the president of the Tulsa school board.
Paul called me a few months ago to tell me about the concept and asked if I would speak at the press conference to kick off the initiative. “Why me?” I asked. “Because the Key Work of School Boards is all about this project,” he told me. “Our board has been using the principles of Key Work, and we really believe in it. And I thought it would be great if the NSBA executive director could help us launch this effort.”
As Paul talked about Tulsa Talks and the people and the institutions that were involved in it, and the more his spirit and enthusiasm (and tireless energy) became apparent, I knew I could not say no.
There was one problem, though. On the day of the press conference I had a commitment to be at a Simmons College Board of Trustees meeting in Boston. However, thanks to technology, I was able to do both. With a “live feed,” from the Simmons College media center to an equally wired executive board room at OSU-Tulsa, I was able to appear at the press conference.
Because all of us could see and hear each other, I can tell you that the enthusiasm was palpable. And judging from the questions, the press was a bit shell-shocked at the prospect of 10,000 people being involved in this initiative.
Why do activities like this inspire me? The same reason they impress you. Tulsa Talks is a project in which leadership counts -- literally. This initiative is based on the understanding that if we truly want to lead education reform efforts and raise the expectations for high student achievement, we will need the community behind us.
Reaching out to businesses, the faith community, organizations like the Y, colleges, and universities means we might hear things about public education we do not like. We might have to answer difficult questions.
÷ut, in the end, it also gives us a chance to share our challenges and to invite innovative solutions. The bottom line is those solutions will be better and will be longer-lasting if they involve the greater metropolitan, suburban, or rural area.
I will bet you a Tulsa bus token that two years from now, Tulsa citizens will be heard to speak about “our schools,” not “those schools.” The schools in the Tulsa, Jenks, and Union districts will be closer to being centers of their community, not just places to vote or to watch a football game.
Engaging the three institutions of higher education is sheer genius. First, I will bet that their leadership is highly regarded. (I could tell from my 45 minutes with them!) Second, Tulsa Community College’s four campuses will serve as host sites for facilitator training and will provide some of the training staff, along with the Study Circles Association.
If we do not start an ongoing dialogue with both higher education and business about their future students/employees, then none of us will be building a system of learning that is producing students with 21st century skills. That is our mutual goal. We really do need to build a preK-16 model, versus K-12, to best serve our students, communities, and our nation.
Designing systems within elementary and secondary education that meet these demands is hard work. There is no single solution. There is no simple solution.
Even a perfectly crafted No Child Left Behind bill does not result in the kind of education we need -- an education that provides arts, music, and demanding courses that require critical thinking, expository writing; an education that includes team problem solving, and meaningful work that introduces students to real problems as often happens with service learning.
I’ll gamble that once Tulsa citizens start talking together, this will be a major part of the conversation.
Business leaders know this “stuff” -- they live it. They know what kind of people they want to hire. They know what kinds of skills and knowledge their employees need. We need to work with them so they will work with us.
The Key Work of School Boards starts with reaching out to the community to set a vision and goals for our schools. It creates a system of accountability so all the players -- from the superintendent to the principals, teachers, and staff -- know what goals and measures will be used to evaluate success.
The Key Work is about creating a positive climate for teaching and learning, and, finally, it is about continuous improvement -- always.
Tulsa Talks is the epitome of community collaboration.
I wish Paul Thomas, the Tulsa board, the union, board President Derek Rader and Superintendent Cathy Burden of Union Public Schools, board President Gary Stanislowski and Superintendent Kirby Lehman of Jenks Public Schools, Tulsa Superintendent David Sawyer, and Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune great success. You folks are awesome!