The Englewood Board of Education meeting took place at the Grieco Elementary School in Englewood, NJ. On March 17, 2016 and began promptly at 6:30 p.m. in the Cafeteria. The board is made up of nine board members all sitting at a long table with the President of the board, Mr. Devry Pazant who sat at the center of the table beside the newly appointed Superintendent, Mr. Robert Kravitz.
I think it is important to point out a little background information on the Englewood School Board. I have attended several of the school board meetings over the past three years and have witnessed a lot of bitterness and dissatisfaction among the board members and attendees. It stems from a history of inequities in the school system and a separation of high school and an Academy program that appears to receive a large operating budget and administrative support on the same campus. With that said there are members on the board who have children in the Academy program who have a vested interest in the success of the program over what is best for all the students who attend the high school or the program.
The Board President called the meeting to order, and the board secretary did the roll call. The agenda was comprised of various reports and the secretary would go though each agenda item, beginning with the board secretary’s report, finance, personnel, listing of approvals for salaries that included names of staff/faculty, retirements, leave of absences, bills, travel, field trips, etc.
Local school board meetings are a venue that allows the public to attend and be a part of the educational process. These meetings provide community members with important information about upcoming events so that they are able to be well informed of the happenings that are taking place within the school system in which their child attends. Along with being able to learn about what is taking place within the school, it also allows parents and parent groups the opportunity to express their opinions and concerns about matters that could likely affect their children. Monthly school board meetings are a way to help establish and maintain open lines of communication between the school and community members. By allowing the community members the opportunity to be heard, it further enhances the relationship between the school and the community.
The Wilson School District Board of Directors meets on the first and third Monday of each month to guide the operations of the district through six strategic vision planks. These planks seek to: improve upon or expand Wilson’s portfolio, grow Wilson regionally and nationally, increase organizational agility and capacity, engage in creative development of new and existing infrastructure, create a flatter organizational structure, and control for fiscal accountability. The following is a summary of the meeting which occurred on September 18, 2017, along with observations and conclusions from the perspective of a future district administrator.
Simple arithmetic is not an easy task. Just like some students have difficulties with basic mathematics skills, so does the Superintendent. This is not to say that the Superintendent cannot do basic math. What this is really comparing is the challenging undertaking involved in counting four out of seven votes in favor of the Superintendent 's recommendations. Swaying back and forth for Board votes is timely and very hard to accomplish, but it is an essential part of the job. Sharp and Walter (2004) explain board members have no authority as individuals. However, together or as a majority they can be extremely powerful in making policy. Longer tenures and more efficient working
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.
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).
The meeting agenda included a call to order, roll call, reading of the call, pledge of allegiance, some recognition of county members for service, announcements, and a time for public comment. This happened all within the first twenty minutes of the beginning of the meeting. Then the meeting switched over into having a few appearances, talking about department reports, resolutions in the county, ordinances, annual
The Chicago Board of Education meets once a month to discuss issues relevant to Chicago Public Schools, entertain public comments, and make policy and fiscal decisions. Often times the Board meeting is held at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) central office at 10 a.m. However, both the timing and location of the meeting on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 differed. The meeting was held at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy High School at 4:30 p.m. Gwendolyn Brooks is located on the far south side of Chicago. Hosting the meeting at a CPS school has both positives and negatives. By bolding the meeting at a school it allows for a less formal atmosphere in addition to providing the opportunity to showcase some of the beautiful properties CPS possesses. However, this particular school is not easily accessible by public transportation. This may cause a problem for some stakeholders that would like to participate in the school board meeting. Furthermore, 4:30 in the afternoon is an awkward time for a meeting as it is more difficult to find childcare during the evening hours. Additionally, finding details regarding this meeting was not easy. After a search was conducted on the CPS website, there was no mention of the board meeting. Once redirected to the Chicago Board of Education Site, information regarding the location of the meeting was supplied. However there wasn’t a visible start time or information regarding if the meeting was being broadcasted on a local
Matthew Countryman, in this chapter, showed how the Black Power movement in Philadelphia was successfully able to challenge the Board of Education and bring about some changes in community schools. He also discussed how the violence that occurred in the late 1960s was not just a result of black radical activism but also the result of white support for institutional racism. Countryman provided pictorial and, most likely, scholarly evidence to back up his claim. The pictorial evidence he provided was a picture of high school students on their way to the Board of Education during the mass student protest that took place on the 17th of November 1967. He cited a lot of his sources and although I was unable to peruse his bibliography, I think, based on the level of detail in the chapter, that he must have had scholarly sources like newspapers reports (on page 232, he mentioned the Greater Philadelphia Magazine) and historical documents.
St. Augustine, Florida – May 10, 2020 – During the ABC School Board meeting on May 10, 2020, the board appointed Dr. Jamie Walker-Davidson as the new superintendent of schools. She will be stepping up to replace Dr. David Romano, who will be retiring after 20 years serving the ABC school district. Board President Matthew Barnes stated, “We are excited that we were able to fill this position with such a competent and valuable candidate.” Dr. Walker-Davidson officially takes office on July 1, 2020, however she has already begun working with Dr. David Romano, the staff, and school board for a seamless transition.
I met with Dr. Linda Vandaveer, a school psychologist with the Simi Valley Unified School District, on February 4, 2016. I met with her at Katherine Elementary School. She also works with two other schools in the district. I found my meeting with her enjoyable and interesting.
On September 9, 2014 I attended the Glendale City Council meeting which was held at the Council Chamber which is located on the 2nd floor of the Glendale City Hall, Room 200, 613 East Broadway, Glendale, California. The meeting commenced at 6 p.m. and lasted for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. Several policy proposals were made and discussed in this particular meeting. This paper is aimed at discussing the various policy proposals made and debated at this meeting with a view to establishing whether they are acceptable or unacceptable to the Glendale electorate. It is, however, essential to provide a brief background of the City of Glendale before embarking on a discussion of policy proposals.
EDUC 512 Issue 1.5 Should Public Schooling be Redefined? Issue 2.6 Are Local School Boards Obsolete?
Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of
|Review the Minutes of the Board of Directors Meetings and prepare a working paper of the matters |36 |
The meeting began when the school board members entered the large group instruction room and took their seats at a panel table angled to the side of the audience. The school board consists of nine elected members from the community. The members are as follows: Paul Ridley (President), Pat Vigliotta (Vice President), Helen Cumminskey