About Reclaim Education Now

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• Education Reform Ideas-
• Standardized testing- private schools don’t have it and do well! Biggest indicator is parental involvement in student success.  We need paid time off for parents for training to help their children.
• Career training was standard in high schools over 50 years ago. Why expect all kids to go to college when many of them don’t want it or need it for career choice? Students should be given a career path to graduate with a successful career.
• Homeschool success- usually takes 3 hours, (excluding extracurricular and exercise), whereas public school takes 7 hours. Where’s all the wasted time?
• Play is a part of development yet we’ve gotten away from this. Children need time to think and be creative. When I taught kindergarten/first grade- students had lots of play plus daily nap (kinder) plus academics- kids did well!
• Overtraining is overwhelming teachers and rarely beneficial.
• There is too much paperwork and expectations put on teachers/staff without the additional time and help to complete. Little by little it’s added up to where it’s too much!  There’s increased teacher burnout and not enough time for creativity.
• We keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results without asking people in the trenches, teachers, what works.
• There’s not enough time to collaborate with colleagues and share best practices- has made the most difference in my teaching career and my colleagues have said the same.
• Mentors need to be in the same school and readily available, they need to be given time to help. This made the most difference in my improvement as a teacher.
• Student discipline is out of control- much of this is due to the things listed here but also less consequences as well as distance learning during the pandemic. Students should not be allowed in classrooms who are out of control.  This is not good/safe for teacher and other students and sets a precedence that it’s ok. More alternative schools with therapy etc and parent training/support until they are ready to return to the classroom.
• Class sizes are too large and there’s too many classes, and the school day is too long. If the school day was half as long, teachers would have more time to plan, grade, collaborate. This would make them better teachers= students do better. More time doesn’t equal better! Finnish model- teach 4 hours a day.  Teacher’s lessons are better because they have more time to plan, etc. and students therefore need less time in the classroom.  Flipped classroom technique could also be beneficial.  
• Teachers need more conference periods, breaks, and support which create less burnout.
• There is not enough pay in education to attract and retain the best teachers and staff. We should make similar pay to high end white collar workers.  We will continue to face a teacher shortage if not.
• Top down approach doesn’t work. When a teacher respects admin, they’ll go to the ends of the earth for them! Same with students and teachers!
• School is not fun anymore! It should be fun.  Teachers and students should look forward to it!
• Schools outside where kids explore-  kindergarten in Germany is outside in rain or shine.  Project based learning and student choice is also a huge indicator of student motivation.
• Teachers, staff, and students burned out- teachers leaving or planning to leave education in vast numbers. If this wasn’t the case, many would work past retirement age if they were happy. Teachers/staff burned out= students burned out
• Parents account for 50% of a child's development, but they aren’t utilized enough. Blame put on teachers. Help teachers more, stop blaming!
• Stop making it so complicated! Simplify it!  Each year, the amount of district  rules, bulletins, bills, etc etc added upon more, more, more! Less is more.  This doesn’t mean you don’t work hard, but when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work!
• Anti-parent board members being recalled as have many nationwide including being voted out. Parents are fed up with many of the things listed above and these things need to change or this will continue.  Many parents and other community members have become board members to improve education.
• School choice- schools that do well in all of these things will attract more students.  Schools that don’t will decline and possibly need to be reimagined.  I was at two excellent schools, one charter and one magnet, that had a waiting list of students, one had 400+ students on the list! 
• We are working with the leaders of the CEO act to bring $17,000 to each student to go to the school of their choice in CA-

https://educationopportunity.org

• Outdoor schools. Dream school-

https://timbernook.com/

• https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-1000-hours-outside-podcast/id1448210728?i=1000650880045
• One of the best schools we’ve seen did high fives and feedback at the beginning of staff meetings, focus on the positive!  Teachers/staff felt like family and the turnover rate is lower in schools like this.
• This same school had one of the best administrators- he worked hard, never lost his cool, and cared deeply.  Teachers/staff will go to the ends of the earth for leaders like this.  We need more leaders like this!  Only 20% of my teaching career has had leaders like this.
• We need to meet student’s emotional needs. This means sitting with them, hugging, talking, and putting class work aside until they’re ready. Class work cannot be done if this isn’t met. 
• Music and arts should be standard all the way up in K-12 as well as bilingual education.
• There should be a credentialed teacher librarian in every K-12 school.  Most schools do not have librarians.  Research has proven over and over the academic benefits of having teacher librarians in every school as well as a current, vast library collection.
• Parents are pulling their children out of school left and right and homeschooling them or putting them in private schools.  Drop outs have increased as well, especially during and after the pandemic.  Parents tell us they don’t like the discipline issues on campuses or the way schools are being run.  They ask us for advice on where to send their children.  

• In 1999,  Heather Poundstone met with several state politicians in Austin and spoke at the school board regarding Dallas Independent School District’s plan to substantially raise teacher/staff health premiums.  I was interviewed on the news regarding this as well.  We were able to overturn this decision and keep our premiums the same.
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/18xF9EybgqVj7zKEU6F4B7O5TAHyZNicl/view
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yLtqB-MhFLUqLhyIIFL1IkgO4p3p6ab7/view
• I have emailed and spoken in front of the LAUSD board a few times about my education reform ideas.
• Here are some of my LAUSD School Board Speeches.
• I speak from 7:19-7:23-
• http://lausd.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=400
• Start around 1:07-
• http://lausd.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=241
• Start around minute 3-
• https://rumble.com/v2yycnu-los-angeles-teachers-and-educators-speak-in-front-of-school-board-part-4.html
• Please see our YouTube channel for more speeches by Heather and other education influencers!