By PHIL LONG
Part of the application process established by the School Board required the applicants to describe, in writing, a challenge we have faced. I thought quite a while about the topic before writing and submitting this essay.

The School Board and the community certainly need to be confident that the next superintendent of Medford schools is supportive of the work our district is doing for students and their families. I am.

As a product of Portland public schools and Oregon’s public university system, as a former custodian at a public elementary school, a former warehouseman at the Multnomah ESD, a former middle school and high school teacher of English, reading and German, a former high school administrator, and even now as a district office administrator, I have had ongoing dialogue with parents and school district employees about what is working and what isn’t for their children and students. And as a homeschooling dad, I have had access to the stories of families who have chosen private schooling or homeschooling.

I hope by submitting this essay for inclusion in the Mail Tribune, more people in the community will see that I, like many other public servants, am more than a district office administrator. I am a concerned parent, a faithful husband, a committed father, a hard-working advocate for children and families and a thoughtfully prepared leader who wants the community I live in to thrive because we listen to each other and look out for our children — all of our children — whether public, private, or homeschooled. For how we treat the least among us reflects the intentions of our hearts.

Here is the essay:

Advertisement

"This above all — to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

That advice from Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been with me since I was a young boy. My mother would often quote it in conversation as we discussed the many seemingly minor personal decisions that eventually add up to define one’s character. When I moved from the classroom to an administrative role, my wife presented me with a framed version to display in my office. It has followed me in every subsequent move and currently resides above my desk. It is such a simple, straightforward life principle. But adherence to it has been at times most challenging.

"How is it that you are the curriculum director for the Medford School District and you homeschool your children?"

That question has certainly perplexed some people I have encountered in recent years. On several occasions, well-intentioned colleagues have commented that to not have my children attending a Medford elementary school would prove challenging to my effectiveness and career options in this community.

Three years ago, the question was tossed out in a challenging tone during an intense meeting between the Medford School Board and a small watchdog group of patrons who had organized themselves as the Medford School Watch. While that was, to say the least, an uncomfortable situation in which to be asked such a question, the decision by my wife and me to teach our two children at home has been the litmus test of how my philosophy of education aligns with my actions.

Someone once said that "the decision to have children is the decision to have your heart walking around outside your body." I agree with that wholeheartedly.

When I set out to be a teacher I was young, single, and idealistic. I believed that my experiences growing up in a large family with five siblings had given me some valuable insights into what my students would need.

My father supported this large family on his wages as a county employee working at the Multnomah Juvenile Detention Home in Portland. Our family life revolved around our active involvement in church. Both of my parents taught Sunday school classes and most of my siblings gravitated toward teaching and leadership work.

Teaching became my calling and in August 1984 I landed my first full-time teaching position in Medford. Seven years into my teaching career, my wife and I were blessed to have a baby daughter, Abigail. It was at that point I began to realize that my education was really just beginning.

Becoming a parent caused me to look at what I do as a teacher through the eyes of a parent. I realized that as a teacher I made some assumptions about my role in teaching children that conflicted with my expectations as a parent.

When my wife and I were both teachers at South Medford High School, a large portion of our waking hours had been spent thinking about our students. Our vacations always included time looking for things that would help our classes become even more interesting to our students. We spent a good part of our weekends grading papers and planning the lessons and preparing materials for the next week of classes. We volunteered as club advisors so we could know our students better. We chaperoned student activities. We looked for ways that our students could gain special recognition for their successes. And then Abigail landed in our laps and our world changed.

When it was just the two of us, we could choose when to open our hearts to others and when to protect our hearts. But now, with Abigail, our hearts were exposed at all times.

We began to develop a family life distinct from our South High Panther experiences. And we were forced to acknowledge our heartfelt desires for our children.

Soon Abigail was reading and writing, and then her brother, Aiden, arrived on the scene. Because of our personal religious beliefs, we enrolled Abigail in a preschool program at a private Christian school. The following year it seemed a natural fit for her to continue in kindergarten, and then first and second grades.

During this time I completed my doctoral program at the University of Oregon while working as a very busy assistant principal at South High. In spring of 1998 I completed my dissertation, "Home Schooling in Jackson County, Oregon: Implications for Public School Policy," and took a new position in the district office working with Kathy McCollum as the secondary curriculum supervisor.

In late-September of Abigail’s second-grade year, we became concerned that she seemed to be losing interest in school. An older friend of ours who was giving Abigail German lessons told us concernedly that she had asked Abigail what she was learning at school. Abigail began to weep and responded, "I haven’t learned anything new in two weeks."

When we investigated we found that her teacher was choosing to have the students do packets of worksheets. When the students were finished, they were to put their heads down and wait for the others to finish. The problem was that Abigail was finishing her weeks’ worth of work in one or two days and spending the rest of the week waiting. I offered to purchase supplementary curriculum but was rebuffed. The teacher felt it would be too distracting to the other students.

At that point we decided to school her at home rather than move her to another school. Aiden continued that year as a pre-schooler, but it was becoming clear that our family lifestyle would be changing even more. One morning as Aiden and I went out to the car so I could drop him at pre-school, he shouted back through the door, "Don’t do history until I get home." We began homeschooling him the following fall. That was six years ago.

Despite the challenging and sometimes awkward position this decision has placed me in, we have been richly blessed through our decision to homeschool our children. It has allowed me to participate in my children’s education by reading literature to them at night that coordinates with the day’s lessons. And in the craziness of my work schedule, my family has been able to adjust its schooling schedule to spend time with me when I have it. It has given me a broader perspective on what it means to be a parent responsible for the education of my children.

I firmly believe that parents are ultimately responsible for raising their children to adulthood. This includes responsibility for the training and preparation of their children for adult responsibilities.

How fortunate Lori and I have been to be educators by training and nature. Many parents do not innately have that expertise. During the past six years, I have had countless opportunities to talk with fellow educators about our role in reinforcing the active involvement of parents in their children’s learning. And I have found that our choice to educate our children at home has challenged others to reflect on what their role as public educators should be.

We revisit the decision to homeschool our children each year, discussing this with our children and looking at the various options that are available to us. Abigail will be a ninth-grader this next year. At this point in her education it makes the best sense to us and to her for her to attend South Medford High School. Aiden will enter the sixth grade and will likely continue to be homeschooled for a while longer.

I feel blessed that our decision to school our children at home has been a good thing for our family. And it has been a healthy experience for me to have my beliefs challenged by colleagues and patrons alike. I have had to choose between what is perceived as being "politically correct" and what, in my heart, is best for my family. To be true to myself has in the end meant that I have not been false to others.

As a parent and a public educator, I believe we must seek a better way to align our skills and resources with the important work of helping parents educate and raise their children to adulthood. It is a daunting task for them, as it is for me.

They have hopes and fears for their children’s futures as do I. And when they entrust us with their children — their hearts walking around outside of their bodies — we must cherish and value that trust. And we must encourage each other to be true to ourselves, for "it must follow as the night the day," we will "not then be false to any man." This principle will help prepare us to successfully respond to the personal and professional challenges that await us and our students.