Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Addendum

I'm just getting back from the board meeting it went late, but I just have to vent because I can only be a silent participant in so much insanity for so long. Watching the board meeting gets to me.

It is just frustrating to watch the people with no educational background making the decisions that determine the educational direction of an excelling school district. It's not that I think I should have all the power. I gladly defer to the principal and the superintendent and most of the time teachers with more experience than me.

BUT I am watching the district law advisers and other experts give a presentation on the funding of All Day Kinder. This presentation was based on educational recommendations and budgetary recommendations. Not only did it make perfect sense to me, I anticipated 90% of what was presented before they said it because the implications and arguments seem obvious to anyone with educational background and experience. The information was so solid.

Once the board members started asking questions, it became very apparent that at least two board members misunderstood the charts and arguments. I don't mean to say that I disagree with their interpretation, I mean to say that they couldn't grasp the meaning of the information at all.

I understand that if you don't have school experience and education it is hard to understand what makes a study significant, it's hard to understand why we focus on various aspects of literacy or where numbers come from. My problem is that we've got trained experts giving the best advice possible but the people with the power lack the background to even understand the advice. The vote passed tonight 3-2, but we came dangerously close to making a huge mistake. I'm sorry, but having kids go to schools is not an honorary degree in education--we need people elected to the school board to have a greater depth of experience than having kids.

Okay, I am going to take a deep breath and try to forget my troubles. I'm bound to grind my teeth terribly if I don't forget about this.

2 comments:

R2P2 said...

Amen! Amen!!

It REALLY bugs me that people on School Boards are mostly just people who have money to spend on campaigns. Which automatically negates teachers. They need to pass some kind of exam or pedagogy 101 course before taking position.

KD said...

I personally don't like our local school board. However the point of the school board is so that the general public does have a voice in education..it is meant to represent the community as a whole, not necessarily those who work in it.