Now that the holidays are over and we're back to paying close attention we have many decisions to make. On a personal note I've been focusing on historical research, heavy reading, and focusing on where my own town seems to stand, (which is in a disappointing place as far as the select board and school committee is concerned).
As this is a blog focusing on education I will stay away from political issues that don't have a focus on that topic. However, when educators inject themselves into political debates beyond typical expectation, (education, budgets etc), then it is appropriate to retort. This is where I shift to my own town of Falmouth, Massachusetts. Increasingly becoming an overrated disappointment.
If you don't live on or engage with Cape Cod then you likely have this vision in your head of a wealthy community, a bit out of touch with middle and lower class concerns, wonderful schools of majority rich (mostly white) kids from old money wealthy families just living it up here on the beaches saving average concerns for the lower classes with whom we are all disconnected.
I can assure you this is untrue. Here in Falmouth 40% of our students qualify as lower income, (that comes from the towns own 2026-27 school year projections). The cape is changing and it's not a measure of whether or not that's good or bad. Obviously, any increase in poverty rates in any given area is a bad thing, unless of course it's intentional and by design which is debatable.
On the note of intent and design, (again from the schools own 26-27 education plans), Falmouth Public Schools are, unfortunately, heavily engaged in the DEI, (diversity, equity, and inclusion), standards. Headlining it in it's own presentations to the Falmouth School Committee. You can find the proof here in the 1/13/26 meeting. I warn that this is a 4 hour meeting but the DEI proof is in the earlier half of the meeting. I don't expect you to sit through this if not a Falmouth resident but I've provided this as proof of my accusation.
It's interesting to note that the radical leftist superintendent Lori S Duerr, who is all in on green energy nonsense, convinced those on the school committee with whom she aligns to violate the open meeting law in order to renew her own contract last year.
Lindberg’s determination also identified that Duerr was present during the first half of the executive session. “She [Duerr] knew that the committee was convening in executive session to discuss the contract with her. By failing to identify her in the notice and in the announcement prior to entering executive session, the Committee violated the Open Meeting Law,” Lindberg wrote in the determination letter.
What's interesting here is that some of the members of the school committee, (admittedly a minority of members 2 out of the total 9), say off the record that they were misled into executive session and violated the open meeting law without knowledge of doing so. The scrutiny of the recent newspaper article has put them, perhaps unfairly, on defense.
However, let's get back to DEI for a second. It's no surprise that in light of the re-election of President Trump there has been stunning, (whether you agree or not), reversal of direction on many issues including DEI.
Let me ask you something. Assuming you, the reader, is for lack of definition the average person. Regardless of whether you would identify as Republican, Democrat, Independent, Other, on the right, left, or center politically. If you know anything about the World Economic Forum, (WEF), what is your initial feeling towards it?
It is my belief that the average person has a less than favorable view of the forum. The average person on the "right" would accuse it of being a group of globalists actively engaged in the destruction of western society. The average person on the "left" would accuse it of being a group of rich elites whom they would oppose in the interest of class warfare.
If my assessment is at least broadly accepted as true enough then you need to read this. DEI is not some wonderful educational guideline established by educators and child advocates as many of you would like to assume.
Over 500 people from over 30 nations registered to attend, and every seat was filled to hear the roster of 35 speakers, including Valeshia Butterfield, founder and CEO of SEED Media; Wanji Walcott, chief legal and business affairs officer at Pinterest; and Chris Foster, CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group (OPRG). These speakers shared their vision of a more diverse future and presented strategies to tackle some of the most pressing global challenges, such as leadership, technology, and the evolution of equity and belonging.
Now wait a minute. I thought this was just about combating racism etc. What exactly does equity, diversity, and inclusion mean on a global scale of radically different societal standards and systems of government?
It's no secret that our student scores have gone to levels we, (in the broader context of educators, parents, and curriculum), should be ashamed of.
I have previously written on the last 2 major changes to our educational policies. The first being the work of President Bush (43), and the late not so great Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, called "No Child Left Behind". The results of which in hindsight have shown a far closer result to what should have been called an, All Children Left Behind, policy. With reading, writing, and arithmetic, (arguably the 3 most important pillars of education), all suffering as a result.
Did the government learn it's lesson? Of course not, (hell no! if you prefer), the Obama administration doubled down on dumb with the, "Every Student Succeeds Act", (ESSA), in 2015.
Now we have the third "out" in this terrible inning, (forgive the baseball analogy). With DEI. Disconnect from your political bias and cognitive dissonance for just a moment and let's talk results.
We are facing a crisis, especially in reading, and you may not be aware just how bad the literacy rate in the US really is. Look at this. I'm not sure whether to shake my head or just weep for America's future if this trend continues. From the above link to https://www.sparxservices.org/:
Historical Perspective (2014 vs. 2020):
We hear a lot of talk about funding, teacher pay, diversity, and enrollment. Everyone loves to act like an expert in education, or at least the insistence that we trust said experts to make the right decisions. However, it's worth noting that the charts used above shows a disastrous trend before the pandemic of 2020, (often the scapegoat used to define diminishing scores among our students).
While it's no secret that the Covid 19 pandemic had a disastrous effect on our schools and students I think the loss of literacy and sliding test scores among our students was in fact a story already being written without the need to close schools.
What was far more damaging in my opinion, (as a father of 5), was the lost of extremely necessary social interaction and the development of social skills, especially in our younger children.
Whereas technology, social media etc., was already having a negative impact on our children in regards to anxiety levels, suicide, depression, loneliness, and physical fitness etc. The closure of schools was an explosive accelerant to these problems.
Every parent saw this coming a mile away but were the teachers and their union representatives interested in hearing any of that? No. Were they upset about paying teachers to not do their jobs for over a year? No. Instead, you were vilified for stating the obvious.
I don't want to stray too far off of topic nor make this article any longer than necessary so I'll close it with this. My town is but one of many sliding in so many different ways and the fact of the matter is that all we get from our leadership is smoke and mirrors and self induced pats on the back.
Our local elections tend to have abysmal turnout rates and community engagement. Every year Falmouth has a choice of replacing 3 out of 9 school committee members. The real genius of our system is our frequent elections and numerous elected positions at all levels.
The flaw in our system is the voters that don't engage in it and the establishment of comfortable candidates whom have come to expect not to be held accountable for results.
Why is it that most of us routinely show that we are dissatisfied with congress regardless of the party in power but we sit back and watch local elected officials in offices like school committees, select boards, town councils etc. get reelected over and over in elections where few show up and fewer still run for office?
In the end it is not disconnected elected officials with whom we should be disappointed for less than satisfactory results. It is the disconnected public with whom we should be disappointed for not holding said officials accountable for the results with which we are disappointed.
In the local elections we routinely reward failure in ways not acceptable in other aspects of our lives and societies. This is a problem that will only be fixed when the public increases it's awareness and engagement.
Most people would agree that maximum transparency from government officials at all levels is desired by the majority of the public regardless of political ideology. Why then does the public not punish the elected officials whom fail so often to meet that very simple request and standard?
Perhaps when we realize that answering that question is far more important than any other in the national political conversation we will start to see the real hope and change, that Obama so elegantly pretended to stand for, in our local communities.
