A Note from Our Superintendent

Larry Francois, Anacortes

A few weeks ago, I hosted a regional superintendent meeting at which a prominent school attorney spoke on the subject of collective bargaining. If you’ve been around Washington State public education for any length of time, particularly in district or board leadership, you likely recognize the passions that collective bargaining can stoke.

As part of his presentation, the attorney showed a short video of an experiment conducted by Heineken (as in the beer) titled Worlds Apart (available on YouTube). The video begins with a series of individual interviews where the experiment subjects are asked their views on a range of hot button issues such as feminism, climate change, and transgender rights. The views of the individual subjects were highly opposed, and likely off-putting and offensive to those with a different world view.

Not knowing the views of each other on these issues, the subjects were then paired up and given an assignment to jointly assemble some furniture. As they did so, they did what most of us would do in such a situation with a stranger. They made small talk and got to know one another while completing their assigned task. They were also given some prompts to share personal information about themselves so their partner would get to know them better.

When they were finished with their task, the pairs were shown videos of the individual interviews they had earlier conducted in which they expressed their widely divergent views on a range of sensitive and politically polarizing topics. Many of the subjects were visibly shocked and offended to hear the views expressed by the partners they had been working with on their shared task. The subjects were then given the choice to leave or to stay and enjoy a beer (obviously a Heineken) and continue talking. They chose to stay.

Now, a cynic might say that this experiment was all staged, and an optimist might say that no one walks out on a free beer. Regardless, the attorney who shared this video offered the following takeaways from the experiment and their applicability to collective bargaining, which in many ways can mirror the conflict and polarization we’ve all experienced over the past two years with various COVID mandates and restrictions. Those lessons are:

• Work on a common objective • Engage in joint learning or inquiry • Get to know people socially • Be curious about the other side • Stay in the relationship without compromising your values

As I am writing this, we are about a week away from the end of the mask mandate that has proven to be so polarizing in many school communities. Watching how this controversial mandate has played out in places, I’m saddened and concerned about what seems to be a growing trend of those on all sides of a passionate issue to dehumanize those with whom we may disagree and abandon basic levels of common courtesy and human respect.

By the time you are reading this, I hope we are continuing to see the pandemic wane. Given the last two years of COVID peaks and valleys, however, we could just as easily be in the middle of a new surge and the return of mandates and restrictions. While I desperately hope that is not the case, I continue to believe that the lessons of the Heineken experiment will serve not only our school communities but our larger society well as we navigate an uncertain future.

When disagreements are strongest and passions are at their highest, let’s model continued dialogue and authentic inquiry with those on the other side. Maybe keep talking over a beer, and it doesn’t have to be a Heineken.

Larry Francois