Educators must have voice on school boards
All school boards should have the perspective of at least one educator “on board” at all times.
School board leadership should care deeply about the welfare of all children, but caring is not enough. They should also be knowledgeable about education, education policymaking, budgeting and finance, maintenance and construction of large public building projects and much more.
Many school boards are their district’s largest employers, so we also need leaders who understand human relations, labor relations and effective contract negotiations. Most importantly, we need people with real understanding about how current and proposed policies directly affect children and teachers in the classrooms, both immediately and for the long-term.
What has seemed like good education policy (or politics) has not always been supported by what we know, based on sound research and evidence-based practices, about how children actually learn best, either individually, or as a group or cohort.
For example, if more educators were in education policymaking positions, would our public schools be so overrun with the unreasonable, costly and meaningless testing disguised as accountability? (Note that private schools are not obligated to the same accountability standards, yet we hold them up as the ideal, going so far as to misguidedly and publicly fund the “escape” for some from our underfunded, overburdened and vilified public schools.)
If we elected more teachers to school boards, amazing things could be allowed to happen in our schools. And more of the tedium and time-consuming minutiae might give way to common sense. It is not all mandated by Tallahassee. School districts do have discretion in implementing state policy. Might it help mitigate the teacher exodus?
Teachers are the professionals with firsthand knowledge, training and expertise in how children learn best and can articulate to fellow board members the specific impact that the policies their vote on would have on our children and teachers in the classroom.
More school policies would align with evidence-based, best practices in education and more would be based on what is appropriate to expect of our children at each stage of development, because fellow school board members would also be better informed about what is not appropriate to expect of students at a given stage of child development, both individually and collectively. In the interest of students with special needs, this consideration is vitally important.
For all the teachers running for school board everywhere, thank you.
In our current state of pandemic, we trust the medical experts to lead us through this public health crisis. When it comes to education in our schools, we should trust our teachers as the experts in our classrooms. It has never been more important than now to have real experts elected to public office, especially those running our public schools. Our children deserve no less.
If there is a teacher running for school board in your district, get to know them. Ask them the hard questions.
“How, specifically, will you support a better, safer, fairer, healthier, educationally more meaningful school experience for all children?”
If you like what you hear, support them strongly. Hold up signs. Canvass for them. Donate. Spread the word. Register voters.
And vote. Sandy Stenoff is a public school parent and a co-founder of The Opt Out Florida Network, a statewide parent advocacy network for public education.