Who Sits On Your School Board?
May 20, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
A post by PZ Meyers at Pharyngula today states that “Our school boards are broken“:
One of the big problems is that any idiot who may well lack any experience i education, or even any interest in education beyond destroying it, can run for school board and actually get elected. Case in point: Ken Willard, one of the Kansas rubes who tried to get Intelligent Design creationism into the curriculum, has just upped the ante and decided to run for the national presidency of the association of state boards of education. It’s incredible—he’s an insurance executive with no competence and no qualifications other than that he’s a fervent dogmatist who wants his religious beliefs taught, and that he has the backing of the Discovery Institute.
Meyers’ concern is about those who wish to see Intelligent Design (the notion that some “intelligent designer” had a role in the creation of the universe—creationism) instead of evolution taught in public schools: What will happen to the science curriculum of a school district if someone who believes in creationism, rather than Darwinism, sits on the school board?
It is true, the curriculum that Charlie is learning does not (yet) include a science component and I am not sure if he will get to study theories of evolution. Meyers’ post reminds me of the role that the school boards of our towns (here in the US) play in our children’s education. School boards set the budget (and this town’s school board is cutting a proposed autism class from its high school and thereby saving $125,000 from its budget). School boards approve out-of-district placements, hirings and resignations, curricula.
Who sits on your school board? Would you ever consider running?
“…Would you ever consider running?”
Actually, last year when we were getting a hard time from the school, the thought seriously crossed my mind.
Unfortunately, like most families with special needs kids, I really couldn’t afford to have any more time committments outside the home.
Me either—-my goal and Jim’s is to get to some meetings. And to stay informed.
Ah, a familiar sentiment. My local district is a strange mix of long-time educators and “community do-gooders” who have no experience in education. (Frankly, sometimes I wonder if they’ve even BEEN educated themselves!) I have had the good fortune to sit on a parent advisory council which meets with the superintendent once each quarter. It’s been a good way to make sure my son’s school (which already feels like it is fairly disenfranchised) has some representation and a voice in district concerns. In addition, I am a member of a governor-appointed interagency coordinating council for 0-3; we review and make policy recommendations to the state agency on early intervention programs and issues in our state. Sometimes I wish I weren’t on the council so I could get more involved in Nik’s school. I made the commitment to the council before Nik started school.)
I am very seriously considering running. There is no one on our shcool board that has any inkling about special education. Most of them have busines backgrounds. Of course, an art historian may seem a funny choice, too…
Wow, Joeymom, that makes you TWICE as valuable on a school board in my eyes! You get the whole special ed thing PLUS you get the value of the arts in education!
A little history can add a lot of perspective……