By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—Every August, as summer winds down, people across the country begin their preparations for the return to school. By the first week in September, teachers, parents, and kids will fall back into the chugging rhythm of the scholastic year. No matter how successful we are, though, we can’t prepare for everything, and each year brings unexpected challenges. I sat with RNESU Superintendent Kristen Hubert and OVUU School Board President Laurie Bertrand for a conversation about past experience and what they’re hoping for the coming year.
“We’re going to be focusing on equity, accountability, and transparency,” said Hubert. “We need to make sure that all schools have what they need, and we need to make sure that we’re accountable to families and the Board. We need to communicate honestly with stakeholders. We train our teachers to put learning targets on the board, but as administrators we’re not trained to do that ourselves. We need to do a better job communicating our goals.”
Last year was Hubert’s fifth in the district but her first as Superintendent. Before her promotion to the top spot at RNESU, Hubert was Curriculum Director for the district.
“I was a little insulated in that position,” said Hubert. “I worked mostly at the district office and knew people who were in my lane. Last year, as Superintendent, I got to know the kids, the parents, and the Boards. I really became aware of the experiences of the students and parents.”
Along those lines, Hubert undertook a “listening tour,” visiting schools to talk with students about their experiences. The theme of the tour was “Heroes & Villains,” a way to ask students what was working (heroes) and not working (villains) in their school lives.
“The heroes and villains didn’t have to be people,” said Hubert. “And at OV, we got responses like ‘The library is my hero,’ because it was, for that student, a place where they could do their own thing on their own time. A ‘villain’ was the lunchroom. It’s a socially challenging place for a lot of students. No one villainized any teachers, which was good news.”
“The kids were brutally honest and the big thing that students kept saying, at every level, is that they crave more agency,” said Hubert. “They want more control over their own experience. They told us they felt they had very little freedom. There’s a student government that has no real authority. Kids need to have more voice. And we as adults don’t circle back and ask them how the solutions we implement are working.”
Many students at OV also asked for a recalibration of the balance between homework and extracurriculars.
“A lot of students balance a lot of things,” said Hubert. “In any given moment, one teacher might accommodate a particular student who’s involved in sports, for example, but if that student isn’t getting support from all their teachers, it’s still hard. We’ve discussed offering a class on time management.”
A major issue this past year was communication between school administrators and parents. In particular, an incident at Neshobe Elementary School raised a lot of hackles when a number of parents felt that the community hadn’t been promptly and adequately warned by Principal Vicki Wells about safety threats at school.
“There’s a difference between intent and impact,” said Hubert about the situation. “Principal Wells never intended harm. But there was a general perception of non-transparency and non-communication. Over the summer we put tremendous effort into safety and communication. We have a new Director of Safe Schools and a new section on safety on our website.”
“Act 29 created very clear expectations for teachers and leaders with respect to safety. If guidelines aren’t followed, the ball falls into my court. And our first monthly community forum, in September, will be on safety,” added Hubert.
The OVUU School Board experienced pushback last year when Board member Brett Scarborough posted anti-trans material on his personal social-media accounts. It became the subject of heated debate at Board meetings. Scarborough defended his right to his personal views but apologized for the conflict they caused for the Board. He subsequently made his accounts private.
“We don’t have control over members’ social media,” said OVUU School Board President Laurie Bertrand. “People were upset and asked to remove him, but we can’t remove members from the Board based on their social media posts. You’re a voter. You need to look at who’s running and make sure they reflect your values.”
“We want the community to know that we’re there for all students. What matters is that they feel valued and get what they need for life after high school,” added Bertrand.
“I have yet to meet a Board member who doesn’t want what’s best for the kids,” said Hubert. “We’re there for the kids.”
Regarding requests last year from Board member Kevin Thornton to allocate $200,000 for vocational and technical education, Bertrand cautioned that it would’ve been improper to do so at the time.
“We have to be careful not to tick off the tech centers—Stafford and Hannaford,” Bertrand said. “We can’t start taking their students. We have to be methodical about it.”
Both Hubert and Bertrand also warned that RNESU’s Esser Fund (COVID relief) money will run out this year and hard choices will have to be made about staffing.
“We’re well staffed this year,” said Hubert. “Except for bus drivers. Everyone is struggling to find enough drivers. But when the Esser money runs out, we will have to ask which staff we need to prioritize. The Esser money was millions of dollars. We won’t be able to keep funding all the positions that were created during the pandemic.”
“We don’t want to lose any programming,” added Bertrand. “But we also don’t want to hit pocketbooks too hard.”
As for overall objectives, Hubert and Bertrand were on the same page:
“We want to focus on success after graduation,” said Bertrand. “I want kids to feel they got the best we could give them.”
“We want kids to look back fondly and see adults who believed in them,” said Hubert.
