Welcome Back

I apologize for being slow in updates here. (Though I wonder if anyone is reading this at all). Part of this is due to the summer slump in meetings, part due to my absence from the few meetings that existed. Rather than reviewing every agenda item, let me make share some general impressions of board business: 1. The board has a lot less power than anyone seems to think. The biggest role of the board, it seems, is as an oversight body to make sure nothing really stupid or illegal happens. We are supposed to check financial report, sign warrants, approve hiring (based often on very little information), approve policies (usually mandated to us from above), hear reports (and maybe even comment on them although what happens with our comments seems minimal). 2. The biggest "decisions" the board makes relate to requests from teachers and staff (which are surprisingly common) for variances from the contract (being paid for sick or vacation days, getting extra paid days for unpaid leave, etc.). These are pretty uniformly rejected, as the contract negotiations seem so protracted and specific on garnering the most benefits the employees can get, it is hard to see why the employer should make special exceptions to go beyond the contracted agreements. 3. The other big decision point for the board is around creating the budget (which I haven't been part of yet), but even this seems like it has limited impact, as it most expenses are probably fixed for the most part--there is little room to raise expenses significantly, and any attempt to cut significantly in any area would likely be met with strong resistance about undermining the quality of education for kids. 4. "Silver bullet" ideas are often much more attractive than doing the lower profile, less disruptive solutions. The biggie this year is energy savings/money savings ideas. The two ideas being floated are 4 days weeks and closing schools in winter. These seem massively disruptive to me, and mostly involve cost shifting from the school budget to family budgets. I hope the public is smarter than this and can see how cutting school one day a week only shifts costs to families to pay for transportation and childcare for their own kids. Before we go to this drastic step, how about setting back thermostats at night, lowering temps in the day, turning down heat over vacations, turning off lights more, reducing transport costs (esp by changing sports leagues to be more local (nothing more than 40 miles away except for state playoffs) and pairing trips for boys and girls teams), etc. ? 5. A suggestion has been made at the district level to consolidate control of the curriculum at the district level. On one level, this seems logical and prudent, esp if it means just coordinating general goals and learning objectives. But on another, it is worrisome to think this might mean defining for all schools (and teachers) specific books, programs, and teaching methods. For example, might this mean we would mandate from the district level that all schools use a reading program like Success for All, that is increasingly being discredited at a national level? Might this push us closer to "one size fits all schooling" or will this help be more organized and consistent in assuring every child is achieving the common goals we value? It would be nice to hear from stakeholders on this one.