By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, November 13, 2006 at 10:16 AM
Some St. Louis City public school officials are tossing around the idea of establishing school board committees to focus on specific areas, such as facilities or finance. One board member says he wants to see parents involved in those committees. Labels: Schools
"Last I heard, nothing had been formalized yet for presentation to the board," said board member Peter Downs. "As the discussion moves forward, however, I would like to advocate for parent involvement on any such committees."
Downs asks any parents interested in working on a committee to contact him.
"If you are a parent interested in working on a committee to help the district move ahead in such areas as facilities, finance, or instruction, or you know of a parent who is interested in
serving in that way, please let me know," said Downs.
Downs can be emailed at pdowns@speakeasy.net.
UPDATE: The school board will meet tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. for their monthly administration meeting. At next week's regular meeting, Superintendent Diana Bourisaw's report to the board will include her office's evaluation of controversial contractor Sodexho.
And keep up with news on St. Louis Public Schools at our sister site, www.STLSchools.org, where we're always looking for new contributors -- especially ones with video cameras.
9 Comments:
Aren't these taskst the job of the school board?
Looks like they just conceded they are overwhelmed and lacking expertise.
11/13/2006 10:59 AM
How in the world, after all the controversy of the last few years, can this request for community input be interpreted negatively? No one, or seven, can know everything, and the fact that the Board is interested in the expertise and knowledge of others is a welcome step, in my opinion. Anony above, would you like to explain how community input is a bad thing?
11/13/2006 11:19 AM
Input is one thing.
Asking basic management questions on things like how to finance projects, well that's a little more than "community input".
11/13/2006 11:46 AM
It is common for organizations to have their "official board" and an "advisory board". Parents on these committees could have a status similar to advisory board members.
The textbook selection committees over the last few years had parents on them. The parents couldn't vote, but the parents were able to participate in the discussions. They had influence at least within the committee, even though the board ignored the committee recommendations.
Any increase in transparency is certainly welcome!
CP
11/13/2006 7:34 PM
I see nowhere in the post where it says the Board is asking basic management questions. It says committees may be formed and Downs wants parents to have a seat at the table regarding the issues these committees are formed to address. Anony 1, I think you must be a supporter of the former majority to have the interpretation of the post that you do.
11/13/2006 8:14 PM
Don't questions about finance and facilities sound like pretty basic management tasks?
Isn't there a high paid in-house staff hired to manage such responsibilties?
Yet they are seeking input from volunteers to tackle these tasks.
Sounds like a lack of technical expertise on the part of school officials.
And they don't even have a residency requirement!
11/14/2006 6:27 AM
Sure they are management tasks, but community input into how they are handled is quite reasonable in the climate we're in. Closing Cleveland falls under "facilities" and there are plenty of people with thoughts on that. Salaries and numbers of administrators fall under "finance" and plenty of people have thoughts on that. The last majority went down in flames because they thought they knew it all and didn't care to listen to anyone else's thoughts (and the GOP should have been paying attention and learned something), and at least this majority is willing to acknowledge that others in the community might have some insight that could be helpful.
Getting the SLPS on track is going to have to be a community effort and offering those who care a chance to be involved in the process is hardly an admission of incompetency; in fact, it's way smarter than the last majority's approach. If you don't care about helping improve the district then just stay away and stick to making smart aleck comments on blogs while the rest of us take advantage of the opportunity being presented. I bet you don't even have kids in the District.
11/14/2006 11:55 AM
Anon said, "I bet you don't even have kids in the District." I, too, have been amazed at the 'tudes people cop about SLPS without ever having experienced it as a student, parent or teacher. In fact, many of the people who give me crap about sending my kid there merely spout spin they have heard in the media as though it were something they knew firsthand to be true! I have come to believe that much of what is "out there" in the community is akin to the urban legend - someone had a friend whose friend said that.......
11/14/2006 7:11 PM
Thank you, above anony!
11/14/2006 7:44 PM
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