5 minute read
Doug In D.C
Doug D.C.
Doug Hodum, a high school science teacher from Farmington was one of only 13 STEM educators from across the nation to be selected as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator. The fellowship allowed Hodum to participate in 11‐month fellowship in Washington, D.C. The fellows chosen work within the offices of three sponsoring agencies and four Congressional Offices. The fellows applied their extensive knowledge and classroom experiences to national education program and/or education policy efforts.
Hodum shared his thoughts from his time in Washington DC after he returned home with a renewed passion for teaching, ready to make significant contributions to his school and district. M y experience as an Albert Einstein Distinguished From taking meetings with constituents to lobbyists to Educator Fellow (AEF) was both fascinating and humbling for other staffers, I found that I had a lot to learn about politics and me professionally and personally. The year unfolded in a much how things work or do not work. The tone of political conversations unexpected way, though I entered the experience in a great haze of changed during my time in DC from one where collaboration could unknown. First of all, the AEF Fellowship is for K-12 STEM teachers be helpful to one where cooperation was largely disdained. The across the US to work either on Capitol Hill or in executive branch conservatives had no reason to work together as they controlled the offices, such as NASA, NSF or the US Department of Energy. The government. The liberals did not want to collaborate as that would be application is due in November, with semifinalists interviewing in DC an endorsement, either implicit or explicit, of any given conservative with interested offices in February and the formal invitation coming agenda item. That was difficult to see, as common ground can often in March. be found when people are solutions based, even if the foundational I pursued this experience because I thought it would broaden ideas are not the same. When it comes to education, though, my horizons as an educator and a teacher leader. I wanted to push everyone wants to do what they believe is right for kids. I may not myself out of my comfort zone and experience something completely agree with the perspective others have, but I do believe no one wants different from what I do everyday as an educator. For the past several to do the wrong thing for students. years, I have focused much of my professional development work in advocating for teacher voice to be elevated above the typical din The importance of coffee and conversations of educational policy debates. I have trained teachers to insert their voices into conversations that affect our students and can change I had many coffee dates in the Dunkin' Donuts in the our practice. We, the teachers, are practitioners who know what basement of the Longworth House Office Building. This is how it is like in our classrooms. This fellowship allowed me to take my networks are built and how I began to create a list of possible people experiences to the policy makers and contribute in a small way to to contact if and when I would need things over the next 11 months those conversations. working for Mr. Honda. Staffers do drink a lot of coffee!
Doug Hodum pictured top, far left with his fellow 2016-17 distinguished educators in front of the Albert Einstein Memorial in Washington D.C. My days in Congressman Mike Honda’s office focused primarily on me reading about all things educational, as I was the sole staffer in charge of any and all education related policies. We had weekly staff meetings where we touched on any and all-important meetings and topics that both the chief of staff needed to weigh in on and also be assigned work as was required by the circumstances. I took meetings with people from a host of organizations, including the US Department of Education and lobbyists, as Mr. Honda was on the House Appropriations Committee. Unfortunately, on that fateful day in November, Mr. Honda lost in his 8th reelection bid, leaving me with no office as of 3 January. That was a tough night. On 3 January, in a torrential downpour, I walked the mile to my new office at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. I arrived, soaked and early. I was unable to get into my office though, as I had no key, so I began drip drying in the hallway until someone from my office arrived. My time on the committee was very different from the time in Mr. Honda’s personal office, as I was now part of a team of staffers working on education policy. While I focused much of my time in the K-12 realm, I lent a hand occasionally with higher education and even got to be on the floor for the Perkins CTE reauthorization. It was quite the learning experience, as I was initially tasked with researching Secretary DeVos and the school choice topic, delineating the differences between Republican and Democratic views on the topic. I spent the better part of three months working on that, as well as attending meetings and climbing a brand new steep learning curve. The basic expectation on Capitol Hill is that you need 3-4 months of a learning curve before you really feel like you have a handle on things. Well, after two such learning curves, I was feeling very humbled. While I am not a master teacher by any means, I can always find a nugget in every school day. In DC, I struggled some days to find a nugget where I felt helpful, rather than helpless. I had days when my walk home was filled with me trying to figure out if I helped reduce someone’s work load or simply added to it. Having said that, though, every person with whom I worked was patient and understanding, helping me through those rough patches. The take home message I have from my time in DC is that many policy makers do make the decisions they think are best for students. The issue is that they are basing that on their own experiences, which is why it is so critical for us, the practitioners, the teachers and support staff and administrators, to be involved in all levels of these discussions. Whether at the school level or local district level or state or national levels, we have to be heard and guide the conversations based on what we see every day with our students. Policy makers who are truly interested in the effects their actions will have on classrooms and learning will listen to those of us who are doing the work.
