School Board Meeting 1: March 11

The board seems an amicable group—good spirited and good willed. Meeting round the table in the Superintendent’s office, you feel like you actually are at a school director’s meeting more than a public gathering. At the same time, there is a palpable sense of being a public representative, kind of like we are entrusted with the thinking and interests of the whole community. Fortunately, not much we talk about would generate strong opinions from the community (although the $48 per hour roof shovelers get can rile up even us board members who are looking to change careers now). If feels more like we are the keepers of integrity, aiming to do the “right thing” based on what we would we consider community standards.

My biggest insight from this first meeting was realizing the real monetary costs of doing the right thing. While it is easy to appreciate the value of Family and Medical Leave Act or looking out for homeless children, it can get expensive to fund the surprise expenses these entail. A teacher going to care for an ill parent or child, a family evicted from another district who finds themselves in ours but retains the legitimate right to stay in their old school placement (at our shared expense for transport)---these cost real money and they can’t really be planned for. The issue of mobile kids, so often among the most needy, really makes me question the utility of local funding when the families themselves can be far from local. A family moves in mid year with a slew of kids and expensive Special Ed needs can really wreak havoc with a budget. What if the money followed the kid in some prorated way? Would this system make more sense? Worth thinking more about.

About the roof shoveling—apparently it only is needed once in a decade or so, so maybe too unusual to worry about. But it seems you could find a load of folk to shovel for $20 an hour (or even as volunteers). But is this too big a liability risk for the school? Can it be organized on short notice when the roof needs shoveling? For the $5000 or so it cost, is it simpler and safer just to hire this seemingly overpriced service complete with workman’s comp and insurance and such rather than save maybe 3-4000 once every decade and be exposed to more headaches and potentially greater costs???? I’d love to hear from the community on this one.