Education Week - March 25, 2020 - 10

Q&A

Stand Down on Sales Pitches During COVID-19

Conversation with

Susan Enfield
Superintendent,
Highline Public Schools
near Seattle

Susan Enfield is the superintendent of Highline Public Schools, near Seattle, one of the
first regions where life was upended by the coronavirus outbreak.
She has a message for education companies offering their services: They can help her
district by going quiet for a while.
Enfield says she's been inundated with inquiries from vendors touting products they
believe will meet her 20,000-student district's needs during these bewildering times.
In a recent Twitter post, Enfield told them she'd heard enough.
"It's 9:00 pm & I finally have time to send this message: to every vendor, solution
partner, researcher, education advocate, etc. please stop. Just stop." she wrote. "My
WA superintendent colleagues & I confronting school closure need to focus on our
communities. Let us do our jobs."
Enfield says her 20,000-student district will be out of session at least until the end of
April. She's wrestling with a variety of far-reaching challenges, including how her district
will provide meals to disadvantaged students, what kind of child care it might be asked to
provide, and how it will deliver academic lessons, remotely or in print.
EdWeek Market Brief Managing Editor Sean Cavanagh caught up with Enfield and
asked her about vendors going too far with their product pitches during the coronavirus
outbreak, and about the challenges her district will face in the time ahead. -SEAN CAVANAGH
I gather from your social
media post that you've been
overwhelmed with companies
reaching out to tell you about
their products.

Need copies of
Education Week?

Reprints & PDFs
Full-color and black-and-white reprints
of Education Week articles are
available for purchase. Each
custom-designed reprint
is formatted with our
Education Week logo and
Years of W
ork
printed on quality paper!
But
Still
Separated
By Race

XXslug.h36
EW STORY

What separates the messages
you want to hear from those
you don't?

edweek.or
g

Managing

'Nobody
Learns It
In a Day'

Activist A
uditor
D

RSE ecries W.Va.'s
CHARTING A COU Fund
NG ing Data
ON SCHOOL SPENDI

ation Wee

a for Educ

National St
ud
On 'Growth y Finds That Lesson
s
Mindset' Bo
ost Grades

(301) 280-3100 | reprints@educationweek.org
10 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 25, 2020 | www.edweek.org

Week

edweek.org

IS KEY. DO NOT

21, 2019
|

ITIVE SCH
OO

Caitlin Penn

THIS BOX
DESIGNERS: WIDTH OF
NOTE)
CHANGE WIDTH. (ZTMP

NG A TRA
UMA-SENS

By Christi
na A. Sam
uels
Few districts
County, N.C have done as muc
h as Wake
., has to keep
and socioeco
its schools
racially
nomically
diverse.
It is a batt
le that the
school boa
has been losin
rd says it
g.
Now, the
school boa
rd in Wak
which inclu
e County,
des the state
has publicly
capital of
Raleigh,
declared that
a trend whe
it
re increasi wants to reverse
schools are
ng
overwhelmin numbers of its
ent, and as
a result, incr gly poor or affluby race. In
easingly sepa
the county,
rated
ber 25, 2019 |
as in North
as a whole,
Septem
*
ment
Supple
Car
scho
| Vol. 39 * Issue 6
and minority ols with predominan olina
tly poor
students have
enced teac
more inex
hers and fewe
perias effectiv
e, even thou r rated by the state
gh the chil
have the high
dren may
est academi
c needs.
If any dist
rict might
trend, it wou
be able to
slow the
ld
16th largest be Wake County, the
First grad
nation's
scho
er Conner
MacElhi
The question ol system.
New Ham
ney slap
pshire.
s the colo
is, will it?
The scho
r block that
Wake Cou
ol is lead
nty's lates
represen
ing the way
ts his moo
t conversa
school dive
in a stat
d during
tion about
ewide expe
rsity started
physica
riment to
earlier this
just a few
l educati
build scho
summer,
on class
weeks befo
ols that
at Bethlehe
re the Dem
presidential
are mor
m Elem
e supportiv
ocratic
debate that
entary Sch
e of stud
ordered dese
ool in
propelled
ents dea
courtgregation-a
ling with
busing play
By
trauma.
nd
Sar
the role that
ah D. Spa
ed
rks
national cons to achieve it-back
stab
into
Beth
ciousness.
ility. Students
the
lehem, N.H
and econ
Striving for
.
who expe
omically
stre
The
raci
ss
rien
re's
ally
perf
ce traumat
mixed scho
never been
orm
been part
ic
ols has long
a clearer scie
ture of the
nitively, and worse academically
of Wake
County's
ntific picways dam
and
thei
cogr teachers
commun
aging expe
intense, chro
behavior
reported
ity
riences and
in the
nic stress
worse
can hurt a
ity to lear
2016 meta-an classroom, acco
PAGE 16
child's abiln in school.
rding to a
>
alysis.
But
the picture
And that's
of what trau for many schools,
a lot of stud
ma-sensitive
ing looks
of all U.S.
ents
.
Nea
like in prac
children have
rly
schooltice is still
least one
With litt
been exposed half
"We're in
developing.
traumatic
an
le to guide
to at
even
this 'trauma' all-fired hurry beca
latest fede
them,
use there's
ral data, and t, according to the
thing and
schools
more than
kids," said
been expo
we have to
scramble
sed to
1 in 5 have
Melissa Sad
help our
to create
in,
Creating
In the last several.
learning
Trauma-Sen the director of the
dec ade ,
environme
sitive Sch
tive, a nati
schooling
trau
maools
sen
ona
has
Initiants for
students
district staff l group that trains scho
ing research spread, driven by the sitive
. "Yes, but
, devastating
emergin chron
ol
and
you have
rectly, and
made disa
natural and
ic stress
to do it cornobody lear
sters, and
manschool disc
ns it
bates. Fed
Cognitive
PAR T 1 of
ipline deeral laws
and neurosc in a day."
a 3-part
on spec
traumatic
and poverty
ience stud
series |
stre
ies show
now encoura ial education
and attentio ss interferes with
trauma-info
By Daarel
ge schools
mem
rme
n, good hea
to
Burnette
lth, and emo ory a doz en stat d practices, and mor use
II
es have pas
e than
tional
As West Virg
sed laws
or crewith politicia inia's teachers wag
ed war
ns last year
PAGE 18
the state's
over the fate
>
financially
of
stra
shrinking
public scho pped and rapidly
ols, State
John "JB"
McCuske
Auditor
y hit the road
ing his gosp
, preachel of fiscal
transparency
dozens of
late-night
during
school boar
to any offic
d meeting
ial willing
s
to listen.
Open your
books, he
told them
trust by letti
. Rebuild
ng the pub
By Sarah
lic see exac
you spen
D. Sparks
d the mill
ions of doll tly how
ally represen
provided
Any stud
ars you're
each year
tative sam
ent's self.
12,500 9th
ple of nea
confidence
West Virg
take a hit
rly
graders in
inia's pub
can ban
at the star
urban, sub
lic school
because of
t of high scho
, and rura
Yet giving
ursystem,
l public high
a series of
students
ol. foun
cal, and
tech
schools. It
even a brie
d
portunity
nical, logi
political
f op- onli that two sessions of
to understa
stihurdles,
a 25-minut
last maj or
nd
ne
thei
and
task
is
one of the
r mindset
e
govern men
s for learning reflect on year coul at the start of fres
state to deta
t bod ies
them
hma
d
can
boo
likel
n
in
mak
st
il for its citiz
ier to
students'
the
e willingn
grades and
ens exactly
EL PASO:
and improve challenge themselv
ess to take
A mother
how
es
advanced
, finds a
holds her
"Th
outside
classes.
new nati
study in the
daughte
PAGE 14
the Wal
onal grad e stud y was tim
journal Natu
r tightly
mart in
>
ed
during a
e on purp
took plac
El Paso,
re.
The stud
vigil,
Texas, whe
e this mon
ose because for 9th
y, publish
it's a tran
re a mas
th. Page
we
ed
mon
thin
earl
s
5>
shooting
sitio nal
th, represen
k
ier this
yea r for
ts the larg
people, a
mental eva
you ng
est experitime whe
luation of
n the
are rising,
a mindset
tervention
but also whe standards
in- ing
to date, cove
n they're
their supp
ring a nati
losort networks
onof friends
PAGE 14
>

the Money

Web blurb
one full sentence,
22-27 words,

| Vol. 39
* Issu e 1
* August

| BUILDI

Education

Editors: Write Web Hed
s
2 Lines/50 character
max

To inspir
e and em
power.

Sarah Rice
for

er.
To inspire and empow

1
1

It's been overwhelming, but I think
everything here is overwhelming
now, given what we're facing.
I would say what they're saying
falls into two camps. There are
those that are truly just wanting to
say, "We're here. Whatever help
you need, just let us know." Then
there are the others who are just
unabashedly, shamelessly hawking
their service. In some cases, they're
framing it as, "We know you're
facing these challenges, but we can
be the solution." I think I speak for
my other superintendent colleagues
when I say, I know where you are,
who you are. If I need you, I'll reach
out. But for now, I just need some
grace and space to focus on my
community.

... and figure out what our needs are.
By contrast, what are the
companies your district already
works with telling you?

They haven't said, we can do
this-and-this. It's more that they've
said, we're here for whatever you
need. And that's the message I've
appreciated the most. I've gotten
that message from organizations
like Finalsite and Gaggle, and others
we have a relationship with.
To what extent is virtual or
remote learning an option for
your district?

Every decision I make as a
superintendent has to be through
a lens of equity, and it has to be
about solutions and strategies that
are scalable, equitable, and provide
opportunities for all kids. We don't
have a 1-to-1 device program for
every kid. And even if I did, not
every kid has reliable internet at
home, and not all of them have an
adult at home who could help them.
Remote learning at scale in a
district like Highline is just not an
option. And so we're not pretending
that it is.
So your options for providing
students with lessons are what?

We're [not] just closing up shop
and doing nothing. We are providing
a robust set of online resources for
those families who do have access
[and print-based options for those
who don't]. And we're providing
hard-copy packets for our younger
learners though middle school.
And so when our families show
up [in the weeks ahead] to pick up
meals, because we'll be providing
breakfast, lunch, and snacks across
12 of our sites, we'll also have
curricular resources for families to
take home to work with their kids.
We'll also make them available at all
the sites where we have food. We're
also contemplating deliveries, too.

I appreciate those who are just
saying, "I'm here for whatever
you need, I'm not trying to push
anything." But I really resent
those who see this as an economic
opportunity for themselves. I respect
that everyone has to make a living,
but being so tone deaf when people
are really, really scrambling to meet
the basic needs in their community,
is pretty appalling.

How would you pull off making
deliveries?

That said, have you received
help from the companies
already serving your district?

What are your other top
concerns?

Yes, absolutely. And that's a
distinction I would make. It's one
thing for someone I already have a
relationship with, reaching out and
saying, "Hey, we're here, what do
you need?" It's the cold calls I find so
offensive. ... There will certainly be a
time when we have room to breathe

Our state has assured us that
we will get our apportionment for
staffing, so my staff is getting paid
through all of this. That means I
do have bus drivers I can call on
to make deliveries-of materials,
food, what have you. We don't know
yet, but that's something we're
considering going forward.

We're going to need to be
incredibly patient with ourselves
and one another as we respond
to this. I believe our looming
challenge going forward will be
providing child care. Our state has
asked that we provide child care,
but we're not exactly sure what that
looks like yet. n

http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - March 25, 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - March 25, 2020