Audie Brown, Silver Schools superintendentBy Mary Alice Murphy

Derek Ratcliff, Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce board president, moderated the lunch meeting held on Feb. 1, 2018.

He introduced the featured speaker Silver Consolidated Schools Superintendent Audie Brown, a native of Grant County.

"I came back to help Silver Schools solve some problems and get it back to the excellent education that I received before I graduated," Brown said.

He gave a quote that he said he has found helpful: "Failure is never a failure. Failure to change might be."

Brown showed a short video featuring Jamie Vollmer, who after being a critic, became a trusted friend of public education and brings a voice of reason to reform.

"I started with three precepts: 1) our schools need to change; 2) we have a people problem. If they hunkered down, they could make changes, but they are resistant to change; and 3) run schools like a business," Vollmer said in the video. "Only one of the three remains intact." He explained it was No. 1, and he described how he was convinced otherwise on Nos. 2 and 3.

Brown said: "There is a perception and a reality. The reality is that the public is turning away from the public schools. But those who don't graduate have an eight times better chance of spending time in prison that those who do graduate. Poorly educated people are desperate and can be dangerous."

He said many people no longer have children in school, so they tend to vote No on bond issues.

"The most precious thing we have is our children," Brown said. "We are at a pivotal point in education. Sensational headlines don't help. Test results are reported in the worst way. America's teachers are ready and able to meet today's challenges. We should teach all children to high levels. But many today have social and psychological problems. With those issues, our record of achievement is remarkable. Students not being able to learn is not because they are stupid or the schools are unionized. The problem is the schools are still working like they did when students would go into manufacturing jobs. We cannot change until we secure four prerequisites: Community understanding; trust; permission; and support."

He said many people think schools should be like they used to be. Many people think the drop-out rate is too high. He cited a recent Nebraska study that looked at the schools over the 1900s and listed each decade's challenges. They included statistics showing that in 1953 the drop-out rate was 30 percent. In the 1930s, the rate was 80 percent. "Now we are in low double digits of drop outs. We need to be more interactive with students. We need doses of good news about schools."

Brown said many people say that too many college freshmen require remediation courses. "I know of no college that does not have to do English, math and foreign language remediation. In reality, colleges spend two to three years of college courses, with the rest being high school courses. That was about the same as in 1946."

Even a large percentage of those students being accepted to elite colleges and universities spend time in remediation courses.

In 1900, only 2 percent of those graduating from high school went on to college. Now, it's 84 percent, with many needing remediation.

"There was never a time when remediation was not needed," Brown alleged. "Now 84 percent go on to college."

He also showed each decade from the 1930s to now and the increasing requirements demanded of schools, including an explosion of standardized testing and test prep in the 1990s and 2000s. "We have added all these responsibilities, without adding hours to the school day. We are not required just to teach children, but also to raise them."

"What I'm asking for is progress through community understanding, trust, permission and support," Brown said. "But we must have patience. From where we find ourselves will take time to progress."

He began with a story. When he was 23 and his brother was 21, they started a courier service. "Our first clients were three pharmacy companies who took care of every bit of our overhead, so we expanded our services. We became the largest private company in the industry in New Mexico. We learned so much being self-employed."

The story led into how he became an educator. "This is the reason why I became an education. We had an 18-year-old man come to us looking for a job. He had an incredible personality, so we gave him a chance. Soon, we began getting complaints from customers. Then we discovered his co-workers were covering for him, because they liked him. We brought him in and told him he needed to improve. After a couple of weeks, there was no improvement. This was my first experience dismissing a person. It still gets to me," as he teared up and took a few moments to gather his composure. "He said to me: 'I have a wife and new baby. What am I going to do?'"

"The company, the clients and the co-workers were depending on us," Brown said. "He had fallen through the cracks of education. That's why I became an educator to keep any other person from having to go through that."

"Yes, I resent when I'm raked through the coals by some newspapers," Brown continued. "But what you get is me. I will do whatever I can to help the Silver Schools get back to an excellent education. I have three choices when an issue comes up: "If it's simply political, I won't want to touch it. 2)I can hide my head in the sand thinking it will get better or 3) I deal with it. I deal with it."

He said that several issues should have been dealt with before he got on board. "But I'm not going to sweep things under the rug. My goal is every school reaching a B grade at the state level."

"My next part of the plan," he paused. "Have any of you read the book, 'Good is Great?' Actually, good is the enemy of great."

He presented an analogy of a bus heading in a direction. "People are the essence of any company. You have to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. Plus, you have to get the right person in the right seat. I'm honored to be working with the vast majority of our teachers and staff. But we have a few who need to get off the bus. I will try to help them improve, or I will help them get off the bus. We need to get negative people off the bus."

Students and their parents are part of the solutions. "I have visited with students at Opportunity High School and Silver High School. I have sat in the same bleachers they did. I asked them to remember a line from a movie: 'What are you going to do with your one and only life?' I saw kids thinking about it. I told them they would come across all kinds of obstacles that will 'make you bitter or make you better. It's your choice.' I told them education, whether technical or college, can lead to a better life. I said: 'Your older self will blame or thank your younger self. Decisions made today will affect your future life. Have you ever wondered why the windshield of a car is larger than the rearview mirror? It's more important to see what's ahead that what's behind."

He said he was amazed at how many students came up to him afterward and thanked him for his words, because it made them think.

"My goal is to help them succeed," Brown said. "I grew up poor in an abusive family. That can make you bitter or better. I chose better."

He said while he served in the Estancia Schools, the director of the New Mexico Economic Department told him that when Fortune 500 companies come to the state looking to perhaps relocate or build a facility, one of the first things they ask is the quality of the schools.

"I believe it is incredibly important to keep our schools on task and to give students opportunities," Brown said. "I shared with the media what we can do, which is we want to keep our kids here and give them opportunities.

"If everything we read is slamming the schools, what good does it do?" he asked. "If someone Googles Silver Schools and reads those articles, what would they think?"

Scott Terry, chamber director and president, said some of the school buildings are "kind of old. What plans do you have to take care of that?"

Brown said the Public Schools Finance Authority looks at infrastructure across the state and ranks it based on needs. "If we are in the top 100, we will get funding. Silver has two schools on the list. The problem is the lack of capital funding."

"We have the $20 million bond and we thank the voters for approving that, but it won't begin to address the needs," Brown said. "Until we get a better ranking on the list, we will keep using bonds to refurbish the buildings."

Chamber board member Bruce Ashburn said he understands that the Public Schools Finance Authority is not allowing any new buildings to be constructed. "You have to refurbish what you have. And what about the grading system of schools? The way the schools are graded now, it is based on improving. It's hard to maintain a grade. You have to fail first to get back to a higher grade."

Brown replied that the fairest way to do it is to look at the growth of a student. He said, for instance, in fifth grade, some are reading at second-grade level up to others reading at eighth-grade level. "The formula grades on sufficient, efficient and proficient. It's now weighted on efficiency. Kids come with all kinds of challenges. The teachers are doing the best they can."

Ashburn asked about reimbursement of transporting students. "That is an uneven playing field, with a district like ours that is spread over a large area, unlike a city where the district covers a smaller area."

"It is based on each individual student and the numbers," Brown said. "We are at the state's mercy to reimburse us. The rules are continually changing."

Ashburn said it was almost an unfunded mandate.

Brown addressed the issue of the state, last year, sweeping a lot of funds from schools, who had been saving for an uncertain future. "Silver was lucky. We did not get our funding swept."

Kevin Cook, Freeport McMoRan Community Development director, asked the status of the four-day week.

"The union will present to the board," Brown said. "At this point, I don't know anything about it. Assistant Superintendent Candy Milam and I met with the union about what would be a good solution. Some people are for four-day and also some are opposed."

Danny Udero of the Silver City Sun-News asked about the school losing upwards of $1 million because of a decrease in students. "Why are students leaving?"

Brown said some transferred to Aldo Leopold Charter School and some to Cobre. "But some have come back to us. The major reason is parents moving out to find jobs."

Brown asked for support for HB 41, which will hold harmless Deming and Lordsburg districts for having their funding swept.

He also encouraged support for HB 2, which asks for up to a 2.5 percent teacher raise.

Terry handed out brochures on the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center. "Our rents are dirt cheap for the quality of the conference center. It's a great facility. Renters don't have to pay extra for chairs or tables or WI-Fi. The rents will help the county pay off the debt it encumbered to redo the center."

He said the next Chamber luncheon would take place on March 1 and would feature audiologist Dr. Jonni McClure of Mimbres Valley Medical Group.