A Most Misunderstood Creature: The School Board

Having served on the school board, thought I'd spend some time here answering questions and talking about how the board works.  It is a phenomenon that people who are happy with their schools don't bother to follow the doings of the board and don't bother to vote.  Now that the district is at a crossroads, it is critical that people know how it works so they can see that a school board that doesn't function efficiently will impact classrooms eventually, and they need to understand how important it is that they vote in school board elections.

Comment I heard yesterday:  "It's a 'rubber stamp' board!"  What makes you think that, I asked, and was told it's because the votes are always 7-0.  That doesn't mean a rubber stamp at all.  The board is a 7-headed creature, and each "head" should bring individual values, concerns, ideas, etc to the discussion.

First of all, about 90% of what the board votes on is very mundane matters that don't require a long discussion because the path is obvious, or it's something where the path is very narrow due to State or Federal law.  On the other matters where there is a real issue and direction to be given, the DISCUSSION should be lively and should indicate where a consensus can be reached.  Then, a 7-0 vote gives the administration clear direction on the issue.  When a 4-3 vote comes down, it leaves administration (and parents, taxpayers and everyone else) wondering how long that decision will hold, and no one will move forward on the decision without wondering if they are doing something that will be a big waste of time.  It's a bit like Mom and Dad giving Junior directions on cleaning his room.  Dad might want clothes up and vacuuming, and Mom wants all that and linens changed and dusting.  If Mom and Dad don't get a unified direction out there on the things they can agree on, Junior is going to blow off cleaning his room at all or will play Mom against Dad!

One big difference is that Mom and Dad usually hash out their differences in private, while state law requires that the school board discuss it in a public meeting.  Fortunately, in order to make the meeting more efficient, the school board has information about the item that is sent to every member ahead of time from the Superintendent.  If they talk to more than 2 other members about it, it will violate the Open Meetings Act, so KISD has a practice where if a board member has a question about the materials, he is to send that question in an e-mail to the administration.  Then, the question and answer will be sent to every board member.  That way, everyone arrives at the meeting with the same knowledge, ready to discuss the topic.  If Mom has read Dr. Spock and Dad has not, time will be needed to get Dad up to speed on the topic and what the experts say.  If Mom and Dad have both come to the discussion with the same information, they can efficiently get to the meat of the matter.

In the weeks leading up to the election, I'll try to talk about other aspects of board service.  Knowing what a board does will help people figure out who the best person for the job is.  Send in questions about board service in a comment and I'll tackle the topics as best I can.