BY CLARK HINGA
The Kalamazoo Gazette has run articles and a major editorial based on two points: 1) Gull Lake schools made managerial mistakes and 2) Gull Lake provided elective courses to non-traditional students. I can see these constituting a legitimate story, but stretching them into three front-page articles and a major editorial smacks of a smear campaign.
Yes, the state’s funding rules were violated. Once the mistakes were pointed out, Gull Lake corrected them. That is the beginning and the end of the story, but I guess it isn’t exciting enough to report that a school was shown some oversights and corrected them.
Yes, Gull Lake taught elective classes to non-traditional students. Every high school in Kalamazoo County has taxpayer-funded elective courses. The lack of core classes in the partnership is the result of state rules. If the state allowed Gull Lake to offer core classes to the homeschool population then Gull Lake would.
Gull Lake is trying to transform education to better serve the needs of all students. Some school systems change one textbook and think it is daring and innovative. Gull Lake is changing the system itself. That kind of change can scare the pants off those who have grown complacent and comfortable in the old way of doing business.
If you want some real stories, try reporting on how:
1) Gull Lake created the most innovative alternative education programs in the county, with individualized programs for each student and low student-teacher ratios, which allows students to stay with a single educator all day and all year to create strong mentoring bonds that turn student expectations of failure into expectations of success.
2) The Virtual School is re-motivating students who had given up on school because of bullying and harassment experienced in regular schools.
3) The Virtual School provided advanced options for students whose schools lacked sufficient programs for gifted students.
4) The Virtual School has provided educational options for students whose medical issues prevent them from getting class credit due to state-mandated seat time requirements.
5) The Virtual School provided parents the opportunity to have their students receive instruction from certified teachers while still exercising the preference to educate students at home.
6) The Home School Partnership is breaking down the barriers of mutual distrust that have traditionally separated homeschool families and traditional educators.
7) Other Michigan school districts are adopting their own virtual and homeschool partnership programs now that districts like Gull Lake have blazed the trail.
8) The state’s funding formulas are behind the times and designed to limit how schools can reach out to non-traditional students
9) Gull Lake is using flipped classes and virtual education as part of their regular high school program.
10) Some school systems are still sitting back and hoping no one notices the students that fall through the gaps instead of making changes to improve how kids are educated.
Now those are news stories which might warrant multiple articles on the front page.
Clark Hinga is a Gull Lake Virtual School learning coach. He resides in Galesburg.