Meeting after meeting after meeting
The Kent School Board has lost sight of the obvious truth that teaching students is more important than holding meetings. Kent administrators are digging in during negotiations to ensure there will be no maximum limit on meetings. The district's position is that no amount of meetings could be too many meetings, even as teachers are burning out with too little time to accomplish their other duties.
It's yet one more sign that the district has lost touch with the community's priorities. Teachers need time to teach and time to work with students before and after school. Administrators need to learn to be judicious in how many meetings they require teachers to attend. KEA believes the School Board's focus would be better spent on ensuring teachers have time to prepare creative lessons, and time to work with individual students.
Amid growing frustration over the district's fight for unlimited meetings, one teacher began keeping a log of the meetings required last winter and spring. The list, single spaced, stretches for more than three pages, even though it's for only a portion of the year.
No time to teach? Kent administrators are fighting to ensure there is no limit on the number of meetings required for teachers. Endless meetings prevent teachers from spending more time with students.