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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 28, 2024 14:55:21 GMT
I admit that until recently I didn't pay much attention to what the school board was doing or who was on it. That has changed in recent years due to a local "concerned parents" group and three of the new board members. It seems that there are quite different ideas of what a school board's role is. I suspect it is due to recent efforts to "take over" school boards but I could be wrong. So, I am curious, what do you think the school board's role is?
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 14:59:36 GMT
I know what their role is. They:
Hire superintendent
Hire teachers
Approve/deny raises
Approve trips (field trips, events, etc)
Approve the budget that cabinet presents to the board or sends back for clarification or changes
Approves/denies expulsion of students
Approves/denies firing of staff
Listens to parents and community members
Must follow all local, county, state, fed laws regarding public education
Attends events at schools
Brings forth action items
Approves or denies hiring of principals VPs, etc
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 15:01:08 GMT
Basically they work with the cabinet and listen to requests/needs of staff and parents.
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 15:01:55 GMT
I have been actively involved for about 10 years. Way before this moms of liberty shit.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 28, 2024 15:03:57 GMT
I will say that my idea is that the school board is there to support the school district staff and students. They make policy to help the district run more smoothly and make financial decisions. They should have the best interest of students, staff and the community in mind and work with teachers not against them.
Three of our board members ran as a "trio" (their words) in 2022 and were elected mostly because there were 9 people running and the other votes got split too many ways. They have caused a lot of chaos before and since then. They have a facebook group that basically just starts s%^t. It's a mess. There are three open spots for this years election. Two current members are running for re-election (none of the trio) and one is not. There are six people running this time, three who say they are not part of that group and that they are running "on their own" but they have similar platforms, agenda, and wording on their website. One of them posted in the "concerned parents" group that he was concerned that one of the current board members up for re-election is a substitute teacher. He feels that this is a conflict of interest. Several people stated that they felt it was a positive thing for her to be a sub so she knows more of what is going on in the schools, with the students, etc. I agree with that but am curious what others think. Also, when teachers returned to school Monday three of the school board members were there to greet them, but the "trio" did not, saying that was a conflict of interest. It seems to me that they come at their role as being there to find fault with the district, teachers and staff and hold them "accountable" rather than from a place of positivity and pride for the district and wanting to build on that while improving in areas that need it. What are your thoughts? Do you think either of those actions are conflict of interest?
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Post by compeateropeator on Aug 28, 2024 15:04:38 GMT
Sorry for a long post but this is our state’s school boards’ role. This is from an actual State website.
School Boards
Purpose: Governance
The school board:
• Engages the community to establish the mission and vision for the district
• Uses the mission to guide decision-making
• Sets performance goals for the district
• Establishes local policies aligned across the supervisory union/supervisory district
consistent with the minimum standards established by the State Board of Education
• Employs and supervises the superintendent (sole direct-employee of the Board)
• Holds the superintendent accountable for developing a strategy and education work
plan to achieve district or SU goals
• Negotiates contracts with employees
School boards are accountable to voters, and are subject to the laws, rules, and
regulations of the State.
Sample Indicators of Success:
The school board:
• Approves and monitors implementation of the district education plan and relevant
performance indicators
• Approves proposed budget and submit to voters
• Monitors operations against the budget
• Reviews and updates policies on a routine basis to reflect changing statutory and
regulatory context, and evolving system's priorities
• Determines capital project priorities
• Reviews and provides feedback to Superintendent on an annual basis
• Maintains a strong focus on outcomes and indicators of performance, as evidenced
in meeting agendas and minutes
• Approves school continuous improvement plans, and reviews regular performance
reports as provided by Superintendent
• Meetings are typically well organized and efficiently run
Frequency of meetings should be based on the work the board needs to accomplish.
Boards should set annual goals for themselves and all meetings should have an agenda built around those goals.
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Post by compeateropeator on Aug 28, 2024 15:18:51 GMT
We have ‘somewhat’ specific policy on subs for that also:
a) A legal voter in a school district shall be eligible for election to a school board; however, a member of a school board may not be regularly employed by the school district or by a school district within the same supervisory union, or by the same supervisory union during the board member’s term of office.
(b) The Secretary may waive the provisions of this section for employment of a specific individual as a substitute teacher, coach, or supervisor of extracurricular activities for a period not to exceed one year, which may be renewed if the school district or supervisory union is unable to hire another qualified person through no fault of its own.
ETA - I will add though, coming from a small rural state, you don’t really have to be employed by the school to know what is going on. It seems like someone always knows someone who works there, information is easily passed around towns and districts here. 😆
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 28, 2024 15:41:34 GMT
I believe that subs are employed by an outside company, not the district.
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Post by compeateropeator on Aug 28, 2024 15:48:18 GMT
I believe that subs are employed by an outside company, not the district. Interesting, I wonder if that does change things as far as legally? It would seem that the outside company would also be employed by the district and therefore their employees would be held to the same as direct employed…but I have NO idea and have never looked into it. We are in too rural of a state not have overlapping issues just because of lack of size and population. |
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pantsonfire
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 15:54:30 GMT
I believe that subs are employed by an outside company, not the district. Ours are hired by district and they have their own union. At least 6 local school districts and then others that family work in within southern CA. |
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Post by Basket1lady on Aug 28, 2024 16:10:04 GMT
I’ll add that in our district in Virginia, our school board could also override a principal’s decision. Shortly after we moved there, our school boundaries changed. This would have changed our school and put my kids in the 4th new school in 4 years. As a military family, we had moved every year for several years in a row due to DH going to commander school and getting promoted.
I asked the principal if we could stay at the school and she said no, that it was good for kids to move around. I found out the appeal process and met with our school board member. He felt that we had a valid reason to stay and had the superintendent personally sign our waiver for the next 3 years that we were there.
We moved back to the same area when the kids were older and the school board members were always at the first day of school, open houses, sporting games, plays, etc. They were active in the schools’ communities and this was a large suburb in the DC area.
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Post by Merge on Aug 28, 2024 18:41:41 GMT
It’s going to vary from place to place. In the past, our board’s role was to hire and oversee the superintendent (he answered to them) and to manage the business of the district in a way that conforms with the voters who elected them. The board’s oversight is what truly makes it a public district, controlled by the will of the voters.
Now our state installed superintendent believes the state installed board’s role is to rubber stamp whatever he wants to do. It’s a mess. We the voters have no voice at all and our district is being destroyed.
Truly, I’ve come to believe that local elections including school board ones are the most important we can vote in. The president has far less to do with our everyday lives than the mayor, city council, and school board do. Local politics are where it’s at.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 6,272
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 18:48:02 GMT
While local elections are important, so are national (like governor and president). Why? Because social services are funded by federal and state money.
A lot of the programs my kids have accessed and are currently accessing are funded by state and federal money. Local officials have zero say in that money. Or the programs.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Aug 28, 2024 23:22:26 GMT
I used to think that local elections weren’t really that important but now I think they all are. Just in different ways.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 6,272
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 28, 2024 23:36:10 GMT
I am mindful of school board candidates (unfortunately our city and school boards are zoned and we can only vote or our zone candidates) to make sure services are paid or, teachers have fair wage, paras have proper per hour pay, students have access to services, clean and maintained school sites, etc.
City council to make sure unhoused are being taken care of, we have proper recycling and composting services, our library is properly funded, community center has funding, senior center has funding, roads are maintained, sidewalks are ADA compliant, etc.
County as they fund county programs and keep city in check.
Then who is running to represent me for both state and at federal level.
Who our governor is and make sure they are pro teacher, pro education, pro disabled services.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 29, 2024 13:35:00 GMT
I used to think that local elections weren’t really that important but now I think they all are. Just in different ways. 100% this. Now that I’m wiser I understand that the more local an election is, the more direct the impact their decisions will make on my life. I lived most of my life in a big city. Now I live in a much smaller one in a different county and it’s amazing how much of a difference the local government can make on your daily life. We had a few whackadoodles on our school board for a few years and they really stirred up a lot of trouble for the district. Once it was apparent that their only goal was to cause problems, they quickly all got voted out in the following election. There’s one RWNJ goofball who has been trying to get elected to the school board for a few cycles now but she regularly outs herself as a crazy person on Nextdoor so no one really gives her the time of day. |
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