In the 2021 Newberg school board elections, a consistent refrain was that new candidates needed to “Save Our Schools,” returning students to the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics. Newberg citizens were told that educators weren’t teaching kids, too focused on politics and indoctrination to care about educating.
A new school board would “raise the academic bar for all students,” according to a candidate’s platform, articulated in the Yamhill County Voters’ Pamphlet. “Let’s expect more and lets deliver,” the candidate wrote, perhaps forgetting that a high academic bar would require that Newberg students write grammatically correct sentences.
Sometimes, it seems, an apostrophe matters.
No doubt you’ve seen the signs currently around Newberg, promoting a block of candidates for this May’s school board election, but using an apostrophe incorrectly (unless, of course, there really is only one parent in Newberg intending to vote for Chairperson Dave Brown and the other four candidates).
It might seem pedantic and petty to point out this error, a simple typographic mistake we are all in danger of making now and then. But when a block of school board candidates are arguing that our students need to achieve more academically, and when these candidates insist that they are first and foremost about reading, writing, and arithmetic, then a misplaced apostrophe on numerous signs spread throughout the region really does matter.
According to the Oregon Standard for English Language Arts, students learn the appropriate use for apostrophes in the second grade (page 17 outlines this standard). Of course, any high school language arts teacher will tell you that writers continue to struggle with the conventional English standards until they graduate, usually because they have failed to internalize the rules, because they are careless, or because they don’t edit well, if at all.
It’s also not entirely clear whether the school’s current communications team has not yet internalized the rules of Standard English, if they are careless, or if they don’t edit well. Bridge and Bolster LLC, which essentially received a no-bid contract in August 2022 to run the district’s communications department, consistently makes errors in its documents, from misplaced apostrophes to misspelled words to wrongly-identified employees in social media posts. As one district parent recently asked, “at what point will parents be frustrated enough to expect 7k worth of work?”
The parent went on to say that she has spoken privately with Bridge and Bolster, suggesting they do a closer edit, and several others on the Facebook post also mentioned discussions with the marketing firm, asking them to be more accountable for the taxpayer money they receive each month by communicating more clearly with their constituents. An educational enterprise having so many errors in their communications is embarrassing, a number of people have noted, especially when some of the students served by the district could provide stronger writing and editing skills.
Bridge and Bolster became a company only seven days before starting with the Newberg School District; you can read about its controversial hiring here. Its owners had zero experience providing direction and expertise for a complex communications department, one that needs to produce clear information to numerous constituents and through multiple channels. A district already in disarray needed professionals who can write clearly and correctly, and who can do far more than post on social media and shoot promotional videos for the district office.
As one former educator said, “I’m more upset that most posts are about the adults in the district, instead of focusing on students, volunteers, academic scores or plans to move our schools and students in a strong direction. We are paying $84,000 that does nothing to inform parents of how our schools are educating our students and preparing them for life after high school.”
A strong school district has an experienced communications team, connecting with parents in the district and celebrating the academic accomplishments of its students. A strong school board doesn’t need its district communication team cheerleading its efforts, because its hard work will be manifest in the success of its students. A strong school board will be transparent about who it hires–and about why an inexperienced marketing firm received a lucrative contract.
A strong school board will be accountable, transparent, and competent, aware that even an apostrophe can be the difference between a parent’s choice, and parents’ decisions to vote for candidates that can serve the district well.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better Community 