A Debate Regarding School Boards

There are a number of ways that charter schools give parents greater individual control over their childrens’ education. No longer is a child bound to attend a particular school based on the geographical location of his or her home. Parents have the freedom to select a charter school that they feel would best suit the needs of their children1. Parents also have a greater say in the affairs of charter schools compared to public schools. In many instances, parents serve on the “board of education” governing the charter school, a board whose context is determined by a school’s charter and not state law. This contrasts with the traditional public school board that is limited to seven members elected from the community-at-large, regardless of whether board members have children in school. Moreover, a charter school board is entirely occupied with the operations of just one school instead of an entire district. Charter school supporters argue that this leads to less bureaucracy and greater efficiency in creating school policy that ultimately benefits students.

Diane Ravitch, an “educational historian”, answers four questions in her book, Reign of Error. Is American education in crisis? Is American education failing or declining? What is the evidence for reform being promoted by the government and adopted by many states? What should we do to improve our schools and the lives of our children? According to Ravitch, the “crisis” concerning American education is actually a myth. In this book, she addresses myth after myth providing adequate clarity and information. She looks deep into the facts and brings to light what is actually happening in education in America in the following areas: test scores, achievement gaps, graduation rates, teachers and test scores, merit pay, charter schools, virtual school, government involvement of failing schools. In the latter chapters she offers specific solutions with detailed plans and recommendations to preserve and improve American education. Ravitch’s thesis is that American public education must be protected against government privatization and that we must work together to improve our schools. I couldn’t agree more with Ravitch. Government involvement in education has negatively impacted education since the passing of NCLB. Our focus has changed from being innovative teachers to cookie cutter teachers. Government officials should not make decisions without advice from educational professionals. We must all work together to make education work.

The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While

Bureau Valley’s school board is comprised of seven members. Each member represents a section of the district. These board members are very prominent figures in our communities; they have much of the communities support. Although popularity, may not be what is best for the students. Looking at the Bureau Valley school board mandates, they are ultimately only required to do 4 hours of training and attend a few meetings when elected (Bureau Valley 2013, 120). Unfortunately, it is 2016 and the board member with the most recent training of any sort happened in March of 2014, almost two years ago. David E. Lee and Daniel W. Eadens, authors of “The Problem: Low-Achieving Districts and Low-Performance Boards,” find that school boards like Bureau Valley’s are not uncommon. Lee and Eadens find that most school board members only receive about “six hours of training per year,” compared to Bureau Valley’s four per election, our board is severely undereducated (Lee and Eadens 2014, 3).

A more recent case which is similar to Everson v. Board of Education, is Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. The taxpayers of Arizona were challenging the fact that a state law was providing tax credits to those who were donating to school tuition organizations in order for the schools to provide scholarships to those attending private/religious schools. The claim was that this was a violation of the Establishment Clause (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.), which is the first of several pronouncements within the First Amendment within the U.S. Constitution, or the first ten amendments within the Bill of Rights, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” (Bill of Rights, 2016.). The Supreme Court had ruled 5-4 and argued that the plaintiff did not have enough information and standing to bring to the suit. Justice Kagen, in her dissent, stated that “cash grants and targeted tax breaks are means of accomplishing the same government object; to provide financial support to select individuals or organizations.” (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.). Although the ruling was made on “narrow grounds”, according to Peter Wooley, a political science and direction of the PublicMind Poll, the plaintiff in one “guise or another will be back another day” (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.).

The meeting was held at the Glenwood Landing School Auditorium. It was hosted by the North Shore Schools Board of Education. It convened at six- thirty p.m. on Thursday October 6th, 2016 at 60 Cody Avenue, Glen Head, NY 11545. This meeting discussed issues, concerns, and matters that addressed the needs of the schools, students and community. The purpose of the North Shore Board of Education is to serve as a liaison between the community and the Board regarding legislative matters that have a direct bearing on fiscal or educational aspects of the North Shore Central School District. The Board of Education consists of seven individuals whose primary responsibilities include: establishing general policies consistent with the laws of New York State and the rules and regulations of the State Education Department.

What is the role of public schools? Who should be governing public schools? This paper will address each side of these educational issues as well as offer a position statement and an action plan.

The text that the writer presented to the public does demonstrate that the Chicago Board of Education may have utilized unfair practices to satisfy a certain group of individuals. As Mr. Matthews stated in the text “About 80 percent of National Teachers Academy students are raised in low-income households, compared to a 29 percent low-income rate at nearby South Loop Elementary. Many National Teachers Academy parents say that CPS' decision to invest in one neighborhood elementary school and close theirs is a classist one. The new South Loop Elementary School will cost more than $60 million to build.” The author used the text to demonstrate some of the hidden issues involved with

I attended the IPS school board meeting on February 23, 2016 at 6pm. The meeting took place at 120 East Walnut Street. There was about 60-70 people there. There were people who was helping to conduct the meeting. They also had tables set up close to the front to where people were sitting. They also had rows for anyone who wanted to listen to the meeting. Police officers were also by the door. There were a variety of topics discussed last night. The topics that was discussed were bus tracking, increasing teacher’s salary, treatment of black kids and segregation in education, shortage of teachers and kids acting out, a group of parent’s helping improve reading scores, and a new system called naviance.

Charter schools have an interesting history with origins that are most often overlooked. Since the enactment of the first charter school legislation in Minnesota in 1991, charter schools have grown rapidly to over 6,000 in forty-two (42) states and the District of Columbia (Karp & Heitner, 2013; CREDO, 2013). Originally, charter schools were teacher-operated schools serving students struggling inside the traditional system (Karp & Heitner, 2013). Accordingly, charter schools were established to operate outside the reach of administrative bureaucracy and politicization among many city school boards (Karp & Heitner, 2013).

Enterprise City Schools has a simple hierarchy regarding the structure of the Enterprise High School’s Athletic Department. All major decisions require school board approval. However, Some of the day to day decision need only the approval of the principal or athletic director. The school board meets once a month on the third Tuesday of every month. Requiring all major decisions to have school board approval has its pros and cons. One major pro is coaches, the administrators must be organized and play proactively to get things accomplished. A con is that a decision may take a month to get made.

I have gained an extensive amount of knowledge during my time as a student school board member. Prior to my time on the board, I had little insight into the amount of work that goes into running a school. I didn’t consider who hired the teachers that were such a vital part of my education or who coordinated sporting events. Although the board is not directly involved in every aspect of running the school, it has the ultimate oversight. Managing a school is a big job that requires a lot of decision making, and it is impossible to please everyone with these decisions. It was difficult for me to see upset community members at the first few board meetings I attended. I didn’t like seeing anyone unhappy with the decisions I played a part in making.

Although the students on the board of ASB are given a say in school-wide decisions, the general population of students should be given more power, within reasonability, regarding choices that affect their high school experience. Many students have requested more classes involving language, technology, and Advanced Placement that are not currently provided. Even within the short duration of my attendance at PDHS, I have heard many of these complaints. If enough students support the addition of a particular course, said course would most likely benefit those students. Depriving them of such an opportunity cheapens the main purpose of high school: preparing students for higher education. Of course, the budget must be taken into account here,

Who should be in control of ours school? Unions? School boards? The government? Everybody want access to our schools and make the changes that they think is better. Better for who? Students, teacher, or themselves? Is it a real compromise from the state and federal government of having control of our schools? Having local control is working best for our students? Are the people in these positions working for the best of our country or there are a conflict of interest? According to Bergmann (2010), “preparing our students to compete in a global economy, bridging the achievement gap, bringing classrooms into 21st Century Learning, and keeping quality teachers in the classroom are complex issues with no easy solutions.” It 's hard to prepare our schools for the new comings, but we need to put our best effort to have the best education of the world. Student achievement has stagnated or declined since 1970, and the cost of sending a child to the K-12 systems has tripled, even with the adjusted inflation (Coulson, 2010). Who must be in control?

a) What action, if any, should have been taken by the school administration when the local teachers’ association publicly criticized the administration and the school board?