Editorials 2

Major School Board Election Issues

Governance
1. Shall the board or administration exhibit the leadership to control and drive the district policy making
process?
2. Should the school board represent and be the advocate of its constituents or the administration?
3. Does the board recognize its role as an employer or as district employees?
4. Should a governance model be implemented in which the board becomes a policy making body and focuses its
time and energy on issues that impact on the educational outcomes of children?
5. Should the board base decisions on a broad foundation of sources and not just rely on the recommendations
of the district administrator?
6. Shouldn’t the public’s business be conducted in public? Special short notice public meetings, predetermined
decisions, and announcements that the administration will answer board questions by telephone instead of at
meetings must stop!
7. Shall the board be involved in the budget building process? He who controls the money, controls.
8. A school board operating manual and resource cabinet should be developed that identifies board roles and
responsibilities, clarifies the operation of a new board driven governance model, identifies district alliances and
partnerships, details entitlement programs, defines educational jargon, provides state statutes and DPI references,
identifies resources and legal services available to the board, etc.
9. The board needs to place a moratorium on its proliferation of administrative positions. District enrollments
have not increased substantially over the past decade. With the adoption of sophisticated administrative
technology we should consider minimizing the number of administrative positions. (We currently have nine
positions and based on the present rate of allocating district resources to administrative compensation packages
in this district, it is estimated that by the year 2006 we will be spending over one million dollars on this function!)
10. The board has difficulty justifying state cost shared class size reduction programs at the lower elementary
levels which have been proven state and nationwide to provide significant and long term benefits to children. It
is time to put academics back into perspective as the primary reason for our district’s existence.

Management
11. Should a new management model be developed that decentralizes more of the decision making process and
creates greater staff and parent participation, ownership, control and accountability at each school building level?
12. Could we provide the opportunity for parents to be integrally involved as co-educators of their young
children?
13. Might we develop elementary teacher-parent partnerships that allows elementary staff to spend several
evenings with respective parents before school starts to provide a copy of grade curriculum, expectations,
progress indicators, assessment instruments, supplemental materials, enrichment material, methodology and the
like to prepare parents to function as co-educators of their children. Children achieve more when parents are
involved.
14. We must make every effort to assure that parents are always welcome in their children’s classroom and that
parent input, suggestions and concerns are frequently requested, welcomed and given consideration.
15. The public should be better informed of educational programs, assessments and initiatives.
16. It would be worthwhile to consider revising and expanding the parameters of the assessment and
performance evaluation process to include a parent component and develop higher standards of accountability.

Parent Staff and Community Involvement
17. The opportunity needs to be afforded the public each year to complete a “report card” which evaluates our
schools, administration and board as to our performance and effectiveness in providing children with the
opportunity to experience success and be challenged to high degrees of achievement.
18. The board needs to implement strategies to improve communications with staff, employees, parents and
community. Examples: televising board meetings, improving school website utilization, adding non-voting
members to the board, holding two regular board meetings per month, creating empowered and unfettered
committees to appraise the board, etc.
19. Annual reports need to be restructured to reflect detailed financial information of interest to the public.
20. The district should advance initiatives that encourage school board candidacy and provide independent
training for potential board members in order to enhance their effectiveness.
21. Telephones should be placed in classrooms to facilitate parent-teacher communications. A number of homes
do not have e-mail capability.
22. Implement a comprehensive and autonomous citizen based needs assessment process that includes a
steering committee and appropriate sub-committee structure that is empowered to engage in a comparative
analysis of our district’s programs and strategies with nationally accepted standards of performance. By
including a review of the philosophy, programs and strategies of our nations most effective schools we can better
identify our strengths, weaknesses and better position ourselves for effective improvement initiatives. Such
standing advisory committees utilize valuable community resources to develop vision and direction for the
district while enhancing public confidence and trust in the decision making process.

School Reform and Improvement Initiatives
23. Maximize our existing resources by developing venues that encourage staff, administration, parents and
community to become engaged in the exploration of instructional strategies that emphasize creative and
innovative approaches to teaching and learning. We need to be engaged in the generation and identification of
ideas that are spawned by reviewing the concepts of accelerated learning, whole schooling, emphasis on critical
thinking skills, applied learning, self paced learning, integrated subject matter approaches and the like.
24. There is a need to incorporate a review of contemporary educational research findings into the decision
making process. A review of the literature would suggest that the overwhelming class arrangement of
elementary schools in the nation is K-5, K-6 or K-8. Research studies and parent preference both strongly favor
K-5 arrangements over grade level centers. Small K-5 schools are more effective in educating young children,
involving parents, creating a family like atmosphere, role modeling and providing children with a sense of
belonging, place and community. Reduced class sizes in lower elementary along with supplemental initiatives of
increased parent involvement have been demonstrated to effectively increase student success. (SAGE) All day
everyday kindergarten opportunities and other early education initiatives also need to be carefully considered.
25. Facility improvement efforts need to based on the premise of how such initiatives will improve the
educational opportunities for children. Facility planning should be grounded on contemporary and futuristic
programming needs and be the outcome of a comprehensive needs assessment process.

D.L. Amundson, March, 2000

Is The School Board Concept Obsolete?

After almost a year of monitoring BRF School Board meetings, I have begun to
wonder if the concept of local school boards is obsolete even though school board
structure, powers and duties have been established in the state statutes. The almost
overwhelming mandates, regulations, standards and economic constraints imposed on each
district suggest that most decisions are made beyond the local level. This in effect almost
limits board function to maintenance and ceremonial duties.
Local control is further reduced if school boards do not accept strong leadership roles
and responsibly demonstrate that a willingness to address local issues that impact on the
learner outcomes of children. If school boards delegate many of their responsibilities to
the administration and subsequently rely largely on the administrator as their source of
input and leadership, then the board is another step removed from the public.
School administrators hired by the school board are often buried under the colossal
task of compliance, reporting and daily operation, often leaving little time for community
contact and creativity.
If school boards allow themselves to be relegated to approving minutes, reports,
authorizations and expenditures, accepting gifts, resignations and stamping approvals on
administrative recommendations, then they indeed serve little real purpose.
A classic example of the board's apparent abdication of responsibility is still vivid in my
mind when an unprecedented size group of at least 150 people appeared at the April board
meeting only to witness a swift and unanimous vote against their interests. Subsequent
board rhetoric of power, control and comments bordering on 'interpolated inaccuratudes'
ring clear yet today. If our elected officials had exhibited forethought, wisdom and
diplomacy they could have made efforts to meaningfully address the issue in a
collaborative manner which would have resulted in a responsible resolution with minimal
alienation of a pro-education community.
The board's occasional and generous allocation of time for elaborate discussions of
graduation date(s), snowmobile trails through school property, school fences and the like
is commendable, but I am more concerned about the issues I do not hear discussed. These
are issues relevant to enhancing a contemporary educational experience for children and
generation of support and satisfaction for our school system as follows:
1. Develop facility assessment and planning committees comprised of parents, concerned
citizens and staff.
2. Explore the possibility of involving the public in assessing the effectiveness of our
curriculum and success of our graduates.
3. Set as a priority class size reduction to15 students in K-3 grades, authenticated to be of
major importance in getting children off to a good start.
4. Utilize resources and support to strengthen and motivate student interest in science and
technology at the elementary centers.
5. Create a parent involvement "think tank".
6. Expand parent advisory councils to work with faculty.
7. Develop a parent advocate program to facilitate communications between home and
school.
8. Consider ways to recognize, reward and promote exemplary teachers and support staff.
Maximize existing human resources by empowering staff and encouraging creativity.
Minimize barriers and stumbling blocks and provide a vehicle for unfettered staff
communication. Student outcomes are a direct reflection of staff enthusiasm, preparation
and innovation. The best buildings, technology and resources alone do not assure student
success.
9. Encourage the development of intra-mural programs that allow children of all talent
and ability levels and socio-economic backgrounds to be participants rather than
observers. Children feel much better about themselves when they can be 'doers' rather
than 'watchers'.
10. Attempt to identify the causes of poor attendance, behavioral and discipline problems.
11. Replace the management - labor ideology with an educational philosophy which
emphasizes the concept of parents, community, staff and administration as vital members
of a team.
12. Development of quarterly "town hall meetings" where board members and their
constituents discuss educational issues and concerns.
13. Re-examine the role of the board in the budget building process.
14. Encourage community participation and attendance at school board meetings by
identifying significant agenda items in meeting notifications.
15. Create annual reports that are more detailed and relevant to the public interest.
Most children enter school bubbly, enthusiastic and eager to learn. Too many seniors
have lost those qualities along the way. From my perspective we need to see if the school
system is partially at fault and what corrections can be made.
The growing advocacy of voucher systems, private schools, home schooling, school
choice and state assessment programs suggest that the public is becoming dissatisfied.
Boards of Education must seize the moment and exhibit visionary leadership in
re-establishing community involvement and ownership of our schools. School board
members can still make a difference in the educational equation, but serving on a school
board has to be about more than power, control, status or keeping the wheels turning.
Serving on a school board has to be about steering the vehicle, with a vision of
direction and willingness to make a difference. Desired characteristics for school board
members would have to include the following descriptors: strong leadership, imaginative,
progressive, flexible, dedicated, sensitive, objective, open-minded, visionary, a willingness
to listen and learn about the process. Most importantly, they must have our children's best
interest at heart.
Two seats on the BRF Board of Education are going to be decided at the April
election. Persons who live in the designated electoral areas who would like to make a
difference in the educational experience of children should consider candidacy. Interested
persons should stop by the district office soon, since paperwork which includes the
circulation of nomination papers must be completed by January 5th.
D. L. Amundson, Town of Curran, November, 1998