Below is a list of duties for local school board of education members.
SECTION E. - Powers and Duties
A local school board shall have the following powers or duties:
A. subject to the regulations of the department, develop educational policies for the school district.
B. employ a superintendent of schools for the school district and fix his salary.
C. review and approve the school budget.
D. acquire, lease and dispose of property.
E. have capacity to sue and be sued.
F. acquire property by eminent domain as pursuant to the procedures provided in the Eminent Domain Code.
G. issue general obligation bonds of the school district.
H. provide for the repair of and maintain all property belonging to the school district.
I. for good cause and upon order of the district court, subpoena witnesses and documents in connection with a hearing concerning any powers or duties of the local school board.
J. except for expenditures for salaries, contract for the expenditure of money according to the provisions of the Procurement Code.
K. adopt rules pertaining to the administration of all powers or duties of the local school board.
L. accept or reject any charitable gift, grant, devise, or bequest. The particular gift, grant, devise, or bequest accepted shall be considered an asset of the district or the public school to which it is given, and
M. offer and, upon compliance with the conditions of such offer, to pay rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction, or other appropriate disciplinary disposition by the courts or juvenile authorities, of offenders in case of theft, defacement, or destruction of local school district property. All such rewards shall be paid from school district funds in accordance with rules promulgated by the department; and
N. give prior approval for any educational program in a public school in the school district that is to be conducted, sponsored, carried on or caused to be carried on by a private organization or agency.
The below is a goal in the list of goals for a board member.
"Adopting a comprehensive Communications Plan ensuring an effective two-way communications system with students, employees, media and community."
Did they forget parents of those children in that list of people to have two-way communications with in this school system?
I have some suggestions for the list of duties for school board member before they are elected to the board of education in our school system.
- Have a clear understand of how the current educational system works and a strong desire to improve the quality of education for all current and futures students within the school system.
- A strong desire to foster a two-way line of communication with all stakeholders of the school system to include but not to be limited to educators, staff, administration, businesses, parents, and students.
- A desire to provide a quality technologically current environment that fosters learning for students of the school system.
- Provide for the best education of educators and instructional staff so as to raise the level of skills and qualifications among educational employees.
- Provide a stimulating, safe and inviting environment for all students of the school system.
- Forster a positive two-way line of communication between administration and educational staff that promotes the highest level of education for the students.
- Promote a sold working relationship between businesses, higher learning institutions and schools in order to promote success and long term achievement for all current and future students in the community.
OK, where is the concern for the education or even the quality of education of our children in the first list of duties for the people responsible for creating our system of education for our children? Little to nothing is said about student success in that list of duties. No real responsible to communicate with either the community at large or parents is spelled out in that list of duties.
No wonder few if any people coming out of the field of education bother to apply to become members of our local school board. You should have a business degree or a legal degree to apply for a position on our local school board of education not that it has helped raise our retention levels in any of our schools by even one student.
Parents, students, business leaders, community leaders, school administration and educational employees should all be actively involved in electing school board members for the betterment of the system of education for our children and not their own personal desires.
One last word on this subject no teacher should ever be told that they should leave the field of education because they are too smart to be a teacher because the implication is that only stupid people teach and that view of education can only further lower the expectations of our system of education in this country. We should encourage smart people of all ages to develop teaching skills and to spend at least some time in the classroom to further the education of our future workforce. Education is a life long process that begins at birth and ends at death therefore you can never be too young or too old to learn.
