Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Reminder: Agenda Meeting Tonight
Make sure to check in and see what new tricks the board has up their collective sleeves. In the MHS LGI room at 7:30 P.M. Don't forget the committee meetings either.
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Below is from today's Courier Times. I don't have a problem with board members taking "how to be a board member" classes. I have a problem with full grown adults who should have enough common sense without these classes to know that what they're doing isn't kosher, or who willfully ignore good advice from district Administrators or solicitors and do the wrong thing anyway. I also question the ability and/or willingness of certain people to change their behavior regardless of how many classes they take at taxpayer's expense. Heck, I had a work-sponsored 6-hour driver training class last summer, and I still occasionally travel 56 mph in a 55 zone.
Don't condemn board for seeking cohesion
A Courier Times editorial condemned the Neshaminy school board for a “so-called retreat,” saying it would be a closed-door affair. Yet, this same editorial board surprises us with a “Thumbs Up” to the Morrisville school board for “planning to take classes on the basics of being a board member,” a program offered through the Pennsylvania School Board Association.
I suspect that the disparity of opinion is due to the fact that if a majority of board members attends a seminar, horror of horrors, they might discuss school board business.
Conversely, the Courier does not seem concerned about the possibility of a majority of board members attending a PSBA seminar, where a majority of board members could attend and possibly discuss school business.
The people who serve on these boards are unpaid volunteers who take on a thankless job. Unlike many other states, there is absolutely no requirement in Pennsylvania to have any type of training in order to serve on a school board. The state Sunshine Law does allow board members to attend in-service and training programs, through PSBA and many other sources.
An informed and concerned constituency should encourage those efforts. Even the Courier says, “How can a board member fully serve the public if he or she doesn't fully understand the rights and responsibilities involved?”
Don't condemn the efforts of school board members to educate themselves on their responsibilities, whether via retreat to develop continuity and/or cohesiveness, or with board members from other schools and regions to learn about governance and policy making.
Furthermore, go to your school board meeting regularly, and perhaps you'll learn what an incredibly difficult job it is to be an effective board member.
Mimi Morrow
Morrisville
Editor's note: The goal of the Neshaminy retreat was not to educate members, as described at a school board meeting, but to iron out differences among members. Our view is that those differences should be ironed out in public.
April 9, 2008 5:27 AM
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