THE CHALLENGE OF A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
With the swearing in of our new School Board comes the challenge of balancing the needs of our children and available funds. As we all know the education budget is always the hot spot when budget season arrives. It is the most debated and most emotional subject that the BOE and Town Council have to tackle.
So what should they do? What is the right thing to do to assure our kids have the best education possible? Where should the BOE start?
To answer the last question, let me give my opinion. They should spend some time, beginning now, before the deep dark budget meetings begin, sitting in the class room. They need to learn from the ground floor up and that means including teachers into the process.
Best decision are made when we seek to understand who it effects. Wisdom comes from being a student, before claiming to be an expert. First hand observation beats reading reports any day.
You cannot state classroom size is fine, without seeing it for yourself. You cannot claim the curriculum is sufficient unless you examine the outdated tools that our kids have in hand. You will never understand the teachers challenges, unless you sit down and give them an opportunity to share their woes.
Then the BOE members need to meet with the PTO groups at each school. We in Enfield are blessed with some of the most active PTO's anywhere. These good people raise awareness and money to aid in the education of our children. They give of their time and energy to assist in classrooms, and supply teachers with items not included in the budget.
As leaders in our educational system, Board members should make it a priority to attend these meetings. They should not go to lecture, but to learn.
Last, the greatest thing that the new BOE can do, is think of the kids. How do the decisions they make effect the future of our children? What impact will the Enfield schools have on the dreams of students? Will graduating from an Enfield school be the start to adult life that will guarantee success. I believe it can be!
So break the normal routine of just attending your meetings. Be creative in your approach to education. Drop political ambitions (you already have the job). Start your tenure as a Board member by riding the bus to school, sitting in a classroom, eating lunch with the kids and learning the needs from the ground floor up.
Greg Stokes
posted by Greg Stokes at
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
6 Comments:
Greg,
You bring up excellent points. When the board made a decision last month to add another teacher to Eli Whitney, I could only watch in awe. My daughter is a sixth grade student at Hazardville Memorial. When she was in second grade, there were four classes with about 18 -20 students each. Since that time, she has had an average of 27 students in her classes. While I'm not totally convinced that class sizes make a huge difference (I routinely had 30 students in my class growing up), our teachers have much more to deal with in this day and age than when we were kids. It was obvious to me and many people that I talked to that the school board was playing politics in order to make themselves look good.
I have spent a lot of time in my daughters schools and am active at both Memorial and JFK. You made an excellent point that our board members need to get into the schools (all of them) and see what is going on. Getting spin one way or the other is not the way to do the job correctly.
I look forward to keeping up with what you have to say.
Always remember Greg, You can NOT buy a good education. Our schools are so TOP heavy that while the budget is huge not enough of the money gets to the students. We need to completely re-evalute the schools and how we fund them but with the present system in place that will never happen.
Mike Brouillette
Mike,
Good point about being top heavy. I also agree that is the case. But with "King Pat" now running the show, I'm afraid you are right...nothing will change.
I agree with Mike. The School system exists for its own self interest and not for what is best for the students. If schools really wanted what is best for each student,the voucher program for school choice would not have so many political opponents.What is wrong with giving people the option of choosing where their child is educated? A tax voucher would allow that to happen. It would take the money and power away from the public education system. They don't want that to happen.They often say its "not about the money" but their actions tell you they care a lot about that money.
I invite you to visit my new blog, enfieldsschools.blogspot.com. I will be posting pertinent information on what I feel is important with regard to our public schools. We need to remember that while it is important to have good, qualified teachers that are fairly compensated, the schools need to fulfill the needs of our children.
I also welcome information on any upcoming school events or positive information about Enfield students. While blogs have a reputation for always talking about the bad things going on, they can also be a way to show the positive side of our educational system and the things that are going right.
I welcome any and all comments.
greg
I'm so glad to see someone speaking up about how crappy our town has become. I was born,raised, married and now raising my own in enfield. I have 4 children, 2 of them have learning and medical problems, yes they have iep and 504's that are only half followed. The reason ... in my opion is lazy teachers who are collecting top dollar and the school saying they can not afford things ????????? (I have a hard time understanding this when I look at my tax bill !!!!!!)
Now if you look at there budget you will see x amount of dollars for pens, pencils ect. However i have to supply these items for my kids ........ so where does this money go to ? I think the budget (town and school) needs to be gone over with a fine tooth comb if we want our children to do well,and so that people can afford to stay living here.I hope enfield can back on track!!!!!!!!!
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