The Price of Passionate Teaching?

The Board is considering sending 15 educators out-of-state to the Reading League Conference 2025.  The Board members received staff testimonials and statements of passion in support of item 11H agendized at Tuesday’s Board meeting on March 25, 2025.  While I really appreciate the time each staff member took to complete the rationale submitted, especially those that included distinct learning from last year's conference, I did not see a single specific learning goal for this year's conference nor any session cited that will provide solutions or ideas to address it.  I believe that teachers are uniquely trained in this skill, and it would be the one factor that would convince me to approve the request. (It would also be helpful to see the school sites listed alongside each staff member’s name so we can be sure to support the widest variety of students across the District.)  I appreciate and support their obvious passion for the Science of Reading, but the cost demands accountability for new, expanded, or clarified strategies that we are going to implement to improve student outcomes.