Unrealistic initiatives to “rethink” middle schools need rethinking themselves | Opinion

So, what is really the school district’s main goal for “Rethinking Middle School?,” the subject of a recent Herald story? It says that Miami-Dade County’s middle schools are struggling to overcome the “C” labels they have earned from standardized testing scores.

I am a middle school teacher in Miami-Dade public schools. Pouring $200,000 into rethinking the inner skeleton structure of nine middle schools and giving the rest of the middle schools an “a la carte” option of curriculum will not help resolve students’ socio-emotional well being.

From my 20 years of teaching experience, I know what can work realistically.

We should eliminate standardized and end-of-course tests and school grades. These only create anxiety and educational chaos among students and teachers. Teachers in math, language arts, science and civics are forced to to follow a “testing pacing guide” to make it to March, “the testing season” in which school schedules, lunch schedules and anxiety levels among students are turned upside down.

Teaching for the sake of learning has long disappeared. Teachers only teach to these standardized tests.

Adding more elective classes is a positive change to middle schools. However, reducing class sizes from 37-40 students to the required 22 students for each core and elective class not only is conducive to effective teaching and learning but will help teachers better identify students who need mental-health counseling.

Adding counselors to middle schools should never be an optional choice from the Middle School Redesign educational menu. It should be a given. Having two counselors per 1,000 student is ineffective.

Moreover, expanding teachers’ roles as classroom counselors is ludicrous and, realistically, impossible. Re-inventing mental-health awareness in Florida, which, according to Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, is the brainchild of the state’s first lady Casey DeSantis, clearly shows how out of touch both of them are. Requiring teachers to be enrolled in months of socio-emotional workshops in addition to all of their other required responsibilities will create more stress among already stressed-out and overburdened educators.

It’s true — the state of students’ mental health is key to their learning and healthy development into adults. But putting this vital responsibility onto teachers who are already overworked and underpaid in Florida is not an effective solution.

Moreover, Florida legislators and Gov. Ron DeSantis must be held accountable in blocking the referendum money for adding school police and establishing safety and security measures in all middle schools across the state, not just for the school districts that want their teachers to carry guns.

Having a paper sign designating a “hard area” does not promote safety and a healthy emotional environment in which students can learn.

Mayade Ersoff teaches social studies at Palmetto Middle School in Miami-Dade County.