My Monthly Column – April 2018

Portland schools must keep moving forward

By Xavier Botana

Each year, we give our proposed Portland Public Schools school budget a name. This year, the title for our 2018-2019 budget proposal is “Portland Public Schools at a Crossroads.”

That title underscores that we in the Portland community face a clear choice. Do we support our current school system’s needs in the face of what likely will be ongoing decreases in state funding? Or, do we significantly reevaluate what we provide in the form of programs, services and the number of options available to our families?

I hope and believe that our community will answer “yes” to the first question.

Portland’s public schools are on the move – and we want to keep moving in a positive direction. This past fall, our district was ranked by niche.com as one of the top 10 school districts in Maine. Our test results show we provide a high quality education; our middle class students perform on par with their peers in surrounding communities. A recent student-growth rating of schools nationwide places Portland’s schools in the top 10 districts in the state and the 91st percentile nationally.

As Maine’s most diverse school district, we also have opportunity and achievement gaps for some of our students from poverty and students of color, but we’re actively striving to change that through our new Portland Promise initiative. We have established Achievement, Whole Student, Equity and People goals and have set strategies and five-year targets to achieve them.

Achieving those goals and sustaining quality schools require a continued fiscal commitment from the Portland community. Portland taxpayers have been generous with our schools and our results show why that matters.

Let me give you a brief summary of the budget challenges we face.

I’ll start by saying that we have a revenue problem, not a spending problem.  This year, the Maine Department of Education made changes to the school funding formula. Those changes contributed to a shortfall in our state education subsidy – for fiscal year 2019 we have $3.4 million less in state revenue than in FY 2018.

State education aid is influenced heavily by the total property valuation of a community – and property values in Portland are climbing. High valuation districts, like Portland, get less state money and are expected to contribute more locally.

To address the revenue shortfalls and rising costs, I proposed on March 6 an investment of $113 million in FY 2019, a 7 percent increase over FY 2018. We forecast this same amount in our multi-year budget last June. It reflects the increase the state school funding formula expects Portland to contribute.

The increase covers rising costs, such as our contractual obligations for staff salaries and health insurance, additional debt service for the new Hall Elementary School and investments tied to achieving our Portland Promise goals. It would add almost $20 a month to the tax bill for an average Portland home valued at $240,000.

I am grateful to the Portland Board of Public Education’s Finance Committee for its thorough public review of my budget proposal. That committee first evaluated reducing the budget by $3.8 million. That would have lessened the tax burden but cut deeply by closing our island schools, making class sizes larger, eliminating world languages in elementary schools and electives in middle school and increasing elementary school class sizes.

But many parents and community members opposed these reductions. In the end, the committee reduced my proposal more than $1 million through personnel cuts and a retirement incentive and advanced a $112 million budget proposal that meets the needs of Portland students while being cognizant of the challenges our budget situation poses for local taxpayers. That budget would add $168 to the annual tax bill of a $240,000 home. That’s about $14 per month to keep our schools on an upward trajectory.

The school board approved this budget April 12 and will present it to the City Council on April 18. The council sets the bottom line of the school budget, so please continue to stay informed and engaged throughout this process.  Here’s a budget timeline: https://www.portlandschools.org/district_home/school_budget

We stand at a crossroads. Please make your voices heard about the direction you want our schools to take.

My Monthly Column – March 2018

A Pivotal Moment Against Gun Violence in Schools

By Xavier Botana

Students who survived the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on Valentine’s Day are telling us that they don’t want other students to experience what they did. They created the #NeverAgain movement to advocate for stricter gun control, resulting in the National School Walkout March 14.

Portland’s high school and middle school students decided to join in this peaceful statement against gun violence. Because school was closed March 14 for a snow day, we allowed for a brief intermission during school on March 15 to permit students to express their viewpoints in a constructive, non-coercive way. Students with different viewpoints also were allowed to use this time to speak their minds. We’re proud that our students chose to advocate for their beliefs. As educators, we look for teachable moments to engage students in civic life. This is one of those moments.

I am encouraged that students are leading the way on this issue. These senseless tragedies have become all too familiar to us, but this time – thanks to our young people – we appear to be at a pivotal moment.

Adults need to do their part as well. We educators must ensure that our schools remain safe learning environments.

Unfortunately, in spite of our best efforts, we can’t completely protect our schools from every possible threat. That is something that I lose sleep over.

However, we can plan and prepare to minimize the circumstances that lead up to these situations.

Enhanced security measures are a part of this, as are drills and practice. Also a part of this is staying connected to our students and having strong mental health supports in our schools and in the community. Another part is training our staff to recognize signs of disconnectedness and to know where to go for help.

I also believe that we educators must take a proactive role in changing the policy climate in which school shootings have become far too commonplace.

Policies that limit access to guns must be part of this. As an educator responsible for the safekeeping of about 6,700 students each day, I am dismayed that our state and federal lawmakers cannot seem to agree on reasonable legislation to decrease the likelihood of such catastrophic events.

I’m distraught that a bill before the Maine Legislature would allow those picking up or dropping off students at schools to have firearms in their cars.  LD 1761 has the potential of making schools less safe and is opposed by the Maine School Management Association, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition and many other parties. I urge you to contact your legislators to vote down this bill, which was still pending as of this writing.

I’m dismayed by calls to arm teachers. Make no mistake, teachers and school staff will put themselves in harm’s way for their students, as we witnessed in the recent Florida school shooting and in many others. But no teacher or principal, no matter how well trained, should be asked to decide whether to leave the children in their immediate care to become first responders. It’s time for serious legislative proposals, not red herrings.

I’m encouraged by a proposal before the Maine Legislature, titled: “An Act To Create a Community Protection Order.” The bill would provide an avenue to petition the courts to temporarily remove weapons from a high-risk individual that potentially poses a threat to others or themselves. LR 2943 is still in draft form but could be finalized for a public hearing soon.

I’m also encouraged by the response from educators. Maine Educators United Against Gun Violence held a rally March 15 on the steps of City Hall, in which I and many of our teachers and staff participated. I look forward to being part of subsequent actions by this coalition.

As a voter, I support laws that limit access to weapons, including bans on certain types of weapons, strong background checks and the elimination of loopholes for obtaining guns. I encourage my colleagues to express their guaranteed right to free speech on this issue.

We need a thoughtful and proactive discussion if we’re going to effect the change our students and schools need.

My monthly column – February 2018

Teaching about Consent to Combat Sexual Harassment

By Xavier Botana

The #MeToo movement is shining a spotlight on sexual harassment and misconduct, exposing abuses in all aspects of our society. That includes not only Hollywood, government and businesses of all types – but also colleges and K-12 schools.

As schools, we have a unique role to play when it comes to combating sexual harassment and misconduct. One key step is ensuring we have clear policies in place, and responding appropriately when they’re violated. Educators also have the opportunity to be proactive. We must educate students so they can recognize harassment – and break the cycle by not perpetuating it themselves.

February – Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month – is an opportune time to talk about these issues and highlight some steps underway at the Portland Public Schools to address them.

Teen dating violence is “a pattern of abuse or threat of abuse against teenaged dating partners, occurring in different forms, including verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and digital,” according to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.

To help combat teen dating violence, the Young Adult Abuse Prevention Program http://www.yaapp.org/ works with our schools to help students learn how to make safe, healthy, and informed choices in their dating relationships.

Most sexual harassment in schools also is peer-to-peer, according to research from the American Association of University Women. That research also shows that most students who sexually harass another student have been targets of sexual harassment themselves. It’s “a vicious cycle” that is self-perpetuating if not addressed, the AAUW concludes.

Here at the Portland Public Schools, we are taking steps to help students learn to understand what sexual harassment is and how to prevent it. One example is the focus our schools are giving to the issue of consent in social situations and relationships.

“If you don’t teach a young adult about consent, they are forced to learn it on their own, which results in mistakes – mistakes that could potentially scar someone for the rest of their life, physically and/or emotionally,” says a Deering High School senior who has chosen the issue of consent as her senior Capstone project.

In their Capstone projects, Deering students explore topics they are passionate about and that they believe may be relevant to their next stage in life. The Deering senior whose project will focus on consent is concerned that Maine’s Health Education Standards (http://www.maine.gov/doe/healthed/standards/index.html) don’t specifically require the issue of consent be taught.

Maine is not alone in that. According to a recent Education Week article, fewer than half the states in our nation require schools to include the topic of “avoiding coercion” in a sex education program. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/26/what-do-schools-teach-about-sexual-harassment.htm

To help ensure her peers are educated about consent, this senior plans to work with Deering’s health teachers to have students watch videos about consent and engage in small-group discussions.

At Casco Bay High School, the issue of consent was a focus as student leaders and staff recently worked together to devise new norms for school dances. Deering also has adopted these norms and Portland High School plans to share them with students.

The new norms include:

·      Do not touch, hold or grab anyone else on the dance floor without clear consent.

·      We are all responsible for each other’s safety. Check in with people if you see something happening to another student that is questionable to you.

·      Report what you see to an adult if you do not feel comfortable intervening yourself.

·      Please see a chaperone if you experience any non-consensual touching or dancing.

We’re also reaching out to parents, through our new Parent University, to assist them in helping their children foster healthy relationships. A March 14 session, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Lyman Moore Middle School, will focus on raising powerful and confident girls. A March 31 session, from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at Ocean Avenue Elementary School, will be on raising healthy and resilient boys.

Learn more at http://parentu.portlandschools.org/

I’ll close by noting that National School Counseling Week was Feb. 5-9. School counselors typically are the first people our students turn to and depend on when dealing with such issues as sexual harassment. During this month, let’s all take the time to thank and celebrate our school counselors!

My Monthly Column – January 2018

Inviting all Portland Parents to Parent U!

By Xavier Botana

As an educator and father, I know firsthand that being a parent is both a joy and a challenge. It’s wonderful to see our children grow, learn and realize their full potential. But it’s challenging at times to know how best to guide them in that process. That’s especially true today, in the age of the smartphone, when many of our youth are hyper-connected but may struggle with personal contact skills and are experiencing increasing levels of anxiety.

To aid parents in helping their children succeed both academically and in life, the Portland Public Schools is starting off 2018 by launching Parent University. Parent U is intended to bring together parents and caregivers to learn from experts and each other. Through free classes and events that are fun, interactive, and informative, we’ll focus on trending topics that are important to families.

For example, at Parent U’s kickoff event – on Saturday, Jan. 27, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Ocean Avenue Elementary School – Columbia University Professor Amy Stuart Wells will speak about how to create truly integrated public schools that prepare our children for life in today’s global society.  Portland Schools are uniquely positioned to achieve this as the most diverse district in Maine.  I encourage you to come and discuss this with Dr. Wells and your friends and neighbors.

Future sessions will focus on such topics as how parents can model a positive, "growth mindset" to help their children persevere when school becomes challenging. Other classes will explore how to use art to discuss sensitive topics with our children and discuss how to raise healthy and resilient girls – and also healthy and resilient boys.

I plan to lead a lunchtime book discussion group in March about raising “iGen” children, based on Jean Twenge’s book by that name. As we parents and educators know, social media and texting often take up a major portion of their lives, and they typically have less personal contact with friends and family. Dr. Twenge suggests that this impacts this generation in ways that the rest of us should understand. That is the goal of this discussion group, and I look forward to learning together with my fellow Portlanders.

Check our Parent U website – http://parentu.portlandschools.org/  – concerning dates and other specifics on this session and others that we’re offering.

There will be no grades or tests at Parent U, and parents and caregivers can attend as many, or as few, sessions as they like. Childcare and refreshments will be provided, and interpretation services are available upon request.

We are deeply grateful to generous donors for helping to fund Parent U. The Maine Community Foundation, People of Color Fund has provided a $7,500 grant; and the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust has awarded us $3,000 for this project.

We’ll also be looking to our community partners and our parents to provide their expertise and knowledge on specific topics.

Parent U is part of one of our key strategies for fulfilling the Portland Promise, our Comprehensive Plan.  Parents are our partners in helping students succeed. Research shows that parents can increase their child’s academic success by being involved in their children’s school and community. We want to provide ALL our families with learning opportunities and learn together how to help ALL of our children succeed. Parent U ties into our Equity goal strategy of increasing parent engagement in our schools. As part of our Equity goal, we strive to reduce gaps in academic achievement and opportunity between our financially advantaged students and students who don’t have the same advantages – due to such factors as family income or education level, race or native language.

On Jan. 15, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for equity and against racial oppression. This year is the 50^th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination in 1968. It’s an opportune time to remember his life and legacy, and to recognize that the struggle to achieve equity in American society remains ongoing today, in such areas as social justice and education. Through Parent U and other initiatives, the Portland Public Schools is striving to come closer to achieving equity in our schools.

My monthly column – December 2017

Inclusivity, Diversity for the Holidays

By Xavier Botana

When I was growing up, I took the Christmas holiday for granted. The only debate was what to eat with my family’s traditional roast pork. Should we have Cuban dishes, such as yuca and black beans, or Spanish dishes like besugo al horno (roast snapper), favored by family members from Spain?

Over the years, my world expanded beyond my own childhood experience. I came to realize that not only do different families have different holiday traditions, but also that many of us don’t celebrate the same holidays. Today, as superintendent of Maine’s largest and most diverse school district, it is important for me to ensure that any holiday observances in our schools reaffirm the Portland Public Schools’ commitment to our great diversity and affirm our respect for different traditions.

Portland’s public schools are a microcosm of today’s global world. One-third of our students come from homes where languages other than English are spoken – a total of 61 languages district wide. Our schools reflect an increasingly diverse society with many religious, ethnic and cultural traditions and beliefs that are meaningful to our students and their families and other members of the Portland community.

We do our best to accommodate the diverse religious beliefs of our students. Because of the traditional school schedule, school vacation coincides with many Christian holidays. For students from other traditions, some religious holidays may require students to miss school, and those are excused absences. We provide schools with a list of different faiths’ major religious holidays each year, and ask our educators to not schedule important school activities or exams on those holidays.

The diverse holidays and traditions cherished by our students and families provide opportunities for learning, further creating awareness and sensitivity to our diverse society. However, our responsibility as educators is to ensure that any holiday observances have an educational purpose. We also must take a thoughtful approach to such lessons in the classroom.

For example, we must ensure that lessons don’t make any students feel excluded or forced to identify with a religion that is not their own.

Recently, the Maine Department of Education recognized the importance of being sensitive to our growing diversity by sharing information with school districts. We recently shared with our schools an article that highlights other considerations educators need to take into account at holiday times.

One key point is that we need to consider educational goals when celebrating a holiday or tradition. Is our goal to have students learn about different cultures or traditions, for example, or simply to add some fun to the classroom? Are we accomplishing those goals when some students can’t participate? Some cultures and religions don’t celebrate Halloween or Christmas, for example. Are there other, more inclusive ways to accomplish our goals?

Holiday decorations for the sake of decoration are discouraged. Symbols or artifacts of any holiday should be used as educational resources in the teaching-learning process.

We also need to include diverse voices in planning holiday or cultural observances. If everyone at the table is of the same tradition, it makes it more likely we could overlook sensitive points important to others.

Columbus Day is one example of that. When the Portland Board of Public Education sets the district’s calendar for next school year, the board will consider following the example of the Portland City Council regarding that holiday. The council has voted to designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day.

For years, we’ve seen the Columbus story only from the viewpoint of the European settlers who “discovered” America, and not from the perspective of those who were already living here. Native Americans were decimated by disease and warfare as the result of Columbus’ discovery, and we need to acknowledge that.

This change is not about excluding Italian Americans. Many Italians past and present have made tremendous contributions to society and are worthy of recognition. This is about including the voices of indigenous people in the historical discussion.

I’ll close with this: Christmas is an important part of my family’s tradition. To those who also celebrate it, merry Christmas. To everyone else, happy holidays – whenever and however you celebrate them.