But the best thing Washington can do for education is realize that our role is limited. Washington must keep its promises but let those who know our children's names- parents, teachers, and school board members- make education decisions. - Mark Kennedy
As parents, we love and nurture our children to be their best. Sometimes, our task is easy,
and sometimes, our attempt to guide our child can be difficult. Most of the time, we persevere to teach lessons of good citizenship. We try to pass on lessons taught by our parents, the bible, and those who came before us.
We drive our kids to school or put them on a school bus, and now they are under government control. We hope the teachers do their job and turn our children into model citizens with knowledge and skills that will prepare them for life's challenges.
The school board oversees the teachers, principals, and school administrators. Do we know who these people are and what they do? Statistics show that only 10% of voters show up to vote for school board members, and I think even fewer know who is on their school board. Since the turnout is so low, your vote counts for much more than the vote in a general election when most voters participate.
Who are these people who make the decisions that guide our youth, and what do they do? Great! Schools.org defines the school board's duties as follows:
"They determine the quality of the buildings your child spends their days in. They select the textbooks your child reads and the online programs your child logs countless hours on. They assess safety procedures during emergencies and choose the bus company that ferries your child home. They are also where the buck stops: they decide whether or not your superintendent is doing His/her job." 1
The school board is made up of three to seven members who are elected for the most part. Some boards are appointed. The members should be non-partisan and serve four-year terms. They must reside in your state and be a district resident. The minimum age is 18, be a registered voter, and the terms are staggered so not all members are voted on simultaneously. "According to the National School Boards Association, nationwide, 44 percent of school boards are female (more than twice the rate of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate), and 21.8 percent of the school boards members surveyed were African-American, and 6 percent were Latino." 2 "In most cases, a school district employee can't be a board member in their district. This means that a teacher, principal, librarian, custodian, or anyone else who works in a school in their district cannot serve on their school board unless they resign from their employed position." 3
The school board's primary responsibilities are to:
Set the vision and goals for the district
Adopt policies that give the district direction to set priorities and achieve its goals
Hire and evaluate the superintendent
Adopt and oversee the annual budget
Manage the collective bargaining process for employees of the District 4
"A typical school board meeting will include many business items, such as approving the school calendar, adopting curriculum, overseeing construction, and approving contracts with outside vendors. A successful school board will balance discussion of the seemingly tedious business of running the district while paying close attention to the district’s priorities for academic achievement." 5
How can you ensure the school board members you vote for are qualified and meet your
expectations? You can start by attending school board meetings to evaluate the current board members. Find out more about candidates for board positions coming up for a vote.
"Former Charlotte Mecklenburg, North Carolina, school board member Arthur Griffin suggests asking the following questions:"
For incumbents:
What actions have you taken to improve student achievement?
For challengers and incumbents:
What are your visions for this school district five to 10 years from now and what systemic changes will you work toward to achieve that vision?
What policies would you initiate to improve student achievement?
What are the characteristics of a superintendent you most admire?
How would you measure success for a superintendent?
What level of skills should high school students have upon graduation?
"You'll also want to determine if the candidate has good analytical, leadership, and collaborative skills to move the district forward. A good candidate does not have a single-issue focus but is interested in the success of all students in the district." 6
Signs of an Ineffective School Board Member
If you notice any of the following signs, it's time to find some new candidates to run for your local board:
The school board member continually focuses on one issue or talks aimlessly at meetings.
The school board member doesn't conduct him or herself in a respectful, collaborative manner in public.
The school board member comes to meetings unprepared.
The school board member "rubber stamps" all the superintendent's proposals without asking hard questions.
The school board member micromanages rather than focusing attention on district-wide policies.
The school board member uses his position on the school board as an opportunity to put forth a political agenda with little relevance to student achievement. 7
This is from the Vidalia City Board of Education:
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Through the years, the organization and development of the Vidalia City School System has been dependent upon interested people with leadership ability, beginning with the original eleven members of the Board of Education. Today, the Board of Education consists of five board members who are elected to four-year terms of office and represent constituents in the four city wards with one member-at-large.
Board Chair - Julee Torrance
Ward 1 - Andy Blount
Ward 2 - Sadia Ajohda
Ward 3 - Bruce Asberry
Ward 4 - Hal Chesser
Meetings of the Vidalia City Board of Education (VBOE) are held the second Tuesday of each month at 5:00 p.m. in the board room at the Vidalia City Board of Education Office Building at 1001 North Street, West, Vidalia, Georgia. The VBOE also conducts luncheon meetings at 12:00 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month (except November - 3rd Thursday) when school is in session, and they are held at the schools on a rotating basis.
To view board meeting agendas and minutes, click HERE.
Video from Vidalia Shool System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kj7Sh-EmdQ
The Toombs County Schools Board of Education is better viewed by clicking here:
Staff is listed here:
As a parent and now a grandparent, I realize that the world is changing as it always has. By that statement, I refer to the theory that the earth is flat, and you will fall off if you go too far. Later, it was proved scientifically that the earth is round and we earthlings could sail around the globe. I came to realize not all history is set in stone. Diaries and letters provide us with insight that we did not have in the past. New arithmetic solutions change the way we solve math problems. Ancient Egyptians had to count by ones because they did not know how to multiply. Try doing that to construct the pyramids!
Knowledge changes as we uncover new solutions, methods, and hypotheses. As a school board member, it is incumbent upon these trusted individuals to stick to the principles for which they were hired. Leave politics out of your agenda. Do not make up new words or new science. Do not indoctrinate our students in made-up science and unproven theories. Politics should not be part of the school curriculum. There is no reason the school board should decide to keep secrets from the parents, who are the bosses of the board. Finally, the school board should not create an atmosphere of guilt and doubt that haunts our children all their lives.
I reached out to Vidalia School Board Chair Julee Torrence for corrections or additions to this blog. Please see her response.
The post on the school board is accurate; you have obviously done your homework. Here are some further thoughts on what your local BOE does:
In Georgia, all school board members are mandated by law to go through new board training as they come onto the board ( the bulk of this is school law and some finances). We are also mandated by law to continue our training each year. In particular, we are mandated to have Whole Board Governance Training (with all members present) each year, along with 6 hours or more of personal training. Training topics vary with the training being done through the Georgia School Board Association. Yesterday I spent the day from 8-2 at the GPSTC in a training session about school safety. Andy and I will be attending a training on school finances in the next few weeks, and our Whole Board Governance Training session is set for Sept 22, 8-11:30, with norms and protocols being our focus this year. Last year we focused on the roles and responsibilities of a board member. As Board Chair, I help guide the topics for this training based on perceived and real needs.
We will begin work on rewriting our System Strategic Plan in November. This plan is a five-year plan setting goals and measurable objectives for our system. This process is time-consuming, data-based, and hard work for everyone in the system, allowing us to set system goals through an open, honest format.
For Vidalia City Schools, the vast majority of our policies are driven by state law. Through the Georgia School Board Association, we have access to the new legislature along with how it impacts our present policies. We make adjustments following the new laws.
Procedures, though, are a different thing for us. We use procedures to set expectations, adopt programs (we rarely adopt textbooks anymore), and set overarching expectations to ensure each of our students is receiving the best education possible.
We do 'oversee' employees but only through the perspective given us by the Superintendent and/or principals when appropriate. We have been trained not to micromanage. In Georgia, there is no formal teacher's union, so the action of collective bargaining for employees does not exist in Vidalia.
We do have procedures and protocols in place to hear from parents and address their concerns. The answer may not always be what they want to hear, but we take many things into consideration when a parental concern arises.
Your local school board is unusual in the state of Georgia as we receive no monetary fees for serving or any other in-kind benefits. All 5 of your locally elected board members serve in a 'volunteer' capacity, although elected. As a group, we are focused on a fair education for all children in our community. We all strongly believe in the process and importance of public education. We are also committed to not allowing socially popular agendas to interfere with our work.
Public education is critical to our nation and our community. I appreciate your continued interest. After spending 24 years in the classroom and the last 8 on the Board of Education, I can honestly say we need more folks like you.
Julee Torrance
More comments from Mrs. Torrence.
Abe
Feel free to add any or all comments to your blog. Most Board of Education members do get paid- some larger systems up to $30,000 a year per member. However, as I noted earlier, this is not the case with Vidalia City Schools. We don't receive any funds. Our focus, both financially and operationally, is on academics.
I didn't intend to mislead on the textbook issue. Even as I retired a little over 8 years ago, we had, for the most part, stopped purchasing new textbooks. The teachers felt this was the best choice for our students. The reasons for this vary widely, but there were a few compelling ones. Textbooks were quickly dated material. They are extremely expensive. The state frequently, and sometimes without warning, changes the teaching standards. This happened with the last textbook set I was part of adopting. Before the books could arrive to us, the state had changed some of the 7th-grade teaching standards. They chose to move some items formerly required in 7th to 6th and 8th, filling in 7th with items from 6th and 8th. Making our brand-new books obsolete for 7th-grade science.
In today's classrooms, teachers rely on the components of each subject area that the state will test on. Our VCS teachers go through extensive training each year on the items to focus on, how to teach those components to all learners, and how to increase the rigor for all students using specific data gathered as the year progresses. The classrooms have changed in how they look, but VCS remains focused on the fundamental learning elements of English/ language arts and mathematics in K-8. Students do get other courses, such as science and social studies, but even in these classes, reading and math come into play. When a student reaches 8th grade, they begin to learn Georgia History, and as they move into high school, do receive civics courses. (Since I am speaking broadly, understand this is true for most students. We do have a population of students with special needs that this may or may not be true for.)
I completely understand your concerns about what is being taught in the classroom today. While these issues can make monitoring more difficult, I personally feel that VCS does a great job recruiting and hiring more conservative based staff than some of the other school systems, even one in Georgia. Many of our staff are homegrown and have returned here specifically due to the traditional, conservative teachings that are expected and supported here. Most ( never say all) of our staff come from conservative, Christian backgrounds and adhere closely to those standards. It is one of the many things that make VCS so special.
Forgive my very lengthy reply. These explanations are important, though.
Thank you, again, for your interest in your local board.
Julee
References
1. GreatSchools Staff, What every parent needs to know about their school board, Parenting>> School Life Great! Schools.org, October 27, 2022, https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/school-board-candidates/
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. GreatSchools Staff, What makes a great school board member? Parenting>> School Life Great! Schools.org, June 13, 2023,
https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/what-makes-a-great-school-board-member/
5. Ibid
6. Ibid
7. Ibid
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