Morgan County Elementary School

March, 2007 

When running for the Board of Education, I promised you, the voter, to bring transparency to our schools. A few weeks back I wrote about our Primary School. Today I’d like to continue in turn with the school which seems to be the most overlooked, especially in light of its many accomplishments. 

I’ve always had a special love for Morgan County Elementary School. MCES is where my ravishing wife and I first got started with the PTO. (If you’re already tired of me, these are the folks you should blame.) It’s also the school we toured when we first visited Madison, trying to decide if this slice of paradise was where our family really wanted to settle down. I still remember the 5th grade girl who gave us that tour. She was confident, knowledgeable, and incredibly poised. That young lady was the reason we settled here, (so I guess you can blame her too.) 

MCES has the distinction of being the “Best PTO in the Nation” in 2002. Their chorus program has twice been recognized as one of the best in the state. Their amazing chorus (voluntarily) director puts on an impressive three performances as year - I’ve never heard of any other Elementary school putting on more than one. Parent involvement is encouraged and maximized, and there are more PTO activities than I can possibly recount. The principles and front office are as professional as I have ever seen, while the teachers exhibit a perfect blend of nurturing and academics. While I’d love to laud their many personalities (I’m especially fond of the librarian), it’s the academics I’d like to talk about. 

Elementary School is when the dreaded “testing” begins. Parents who want their kids to live pastoral, carefree lives are shocked when their 3rd grade cherubs have end-of-year tests. But that’s the reality of what it means to live in the 21st Century. It’s far too late to wait till Middle or High school to figure out Johnny can’t read.  

MCES faces this problem head on. The teachers there are absolutely committed to every child. Unwilling to push problems down the road, they take extraordinary steps to ensure each child’s success. 

I described the Primary School as being “engaged.” Engaged is most definitely the thrust of MCES. Teachers there do a wonderful job smoothly transitioning from the caring warmth of the Primary school to the eclectic challenges and opportunities at the Elementary School.  

To accomplish this, they’ve instituted many new reforms. QUEST is a comprehensive after-school program designed to help struggling students, providing 8:1 student-teacher ratios to help them succeed. Last week I observed the entire faculty being trained in MAPPS, a new, innovative approach that helps children organize their thoughts. (This is especially helpful with those pesky word-problems, which children can do if they learn how to manage the data.) But to me, the most intriguing program is WOW.  

At first glance “Working On the Work” seems to be one of those clever little acronyms some advertising agency dreamed up. Upon closer inspection, however, I found that WOW is surprisingly similar to the “Lean” program made famous by Toyota. This cutting-edge system is being used by major companies everywhere (even the US Air Force) to improve value and reduce waste. Imagine that, a bureaucratic organization that’s learning from corporate America…  

Now, our children are not cars, and all of them are far too precious to waste. Rather, WOW concentrates on keeping students engaged by challenging teachers to constantly improve the quality of their lessons, discovering and re-discovering what engages each student, and bringing value to each task. Work must always have meaning to students, yet also meet clear learning objectives. The goal is to make every lesson the best it can be, ceaselessly striving for ever-increasing student performance.  

It is a monumental, never-ending task. As a board member, I am constantly amazed at how much is expected of our teachers. That’s why I believe any task that distracts our teachers from actually teaching should be viewed with skepticism. WOW addresses this fundamental truth, embracing tools that help teachers: discarding tasks that don’t. 

To quote Phil Schlechty, author of WOW, we must “keep the entire school focused on the core business of the school, creating quality work for students and removing barriers that distract teachers from this focus.”  

In the Marine Corp they say there are only two kinds of Marines: the soldier on the ground and everyone else who supports him. The same is true of our teachers. Board members, superintendents, principles – we’re not the ones who are in the classroom, teaching Susie how to add and divide. Teachers perform this noble task: everyone else should support them. 

Life is getting more competitive, not less. Globalization means our children must be smarter, more literate, and more mathematically savvy than ever before. Morgan County Elementary meets that challenge in a way that is welcoming, sensible, and smart.