OK, OK, I have been drawn out of lurker mode. I know I will regret this, but here goes.
To summarize, I am in favor of this kind of restructuring, but I don't believe that it will achieve the dramatic results that its proponents expect. We only need to look at the Park Board for evidence that districts do not give us accountability. For those people in the city that are students, have children who are students, work for the school district, or live within a block or two of a school (especially a high school) the school board is the elected body that most directly and daily affects their life. Many people may have an issue with their city government a few times a year, when their street isn't plowed, or their garbage isn't picked up or if they have to interact with the Police, but those that interact with the School District do so every day, and do so with a great deal of passion and interest. There is an expectation that districting will bring more power to local citizens. I don't see that as obvious. The recent experiences of school closings are instructive. Those school communities that organized, and were able to gather allies among Newspaper columnists and editorialists, legislators and other elected officials, did manage to get their schools taken off the closure lists. Those neighborhoods (Central, Phillips, Jordan, Hawthorn) that did not have the ability (or time, or large percentage of invested homeowners) to do that organizing did not fare so well. It is not true that the School Board was not responsive; they were responsive to those people that organized themselves and made themselves heard. Most of the current frustration about the School Board is really frustration about the level of funding and the ability of the Board to meet everyone's expectations. I am not ignoring the glaring mistakes made by the Board over the last few years it is just that if we were not cutting the budget every year, raising class size, closing schools, and meeting ill-conceived state and federal mandates, the result of these mistakes would not be as egregious. I believe the a way to improve the community input into the district is to increase the size of the board and make some of them in districts, but this should be coupled with a change in the nature of the board. 1.. The board members should be paid a reasonable full time salary. (Right now, being a school board member is a full time job.) There was a two year period when I was on the board where I was the only member who actually had a full time job. The rest were either retired, supported by their spouse, on sabbatical or working part time. The demands from the public, from the employees, from other board members, and from myself became injurious to my health, my marriage and the business I was trying to run. 2.. Board members should be given a staff to help with responding to constituents, scheduling, and research. - Just responding to all of the mail and phone calls became impossible for me. The board has just one part time person for all 7 of us. This person had her hands full just scheduling the meetings, sending out notices, preparing and distributing minutes, and handling other administrivia. 3.. Board members should be able to have offices out in the community. Preferably in school buildings. 4.. Board members should serve as ombudsmen between the community and the Administration. This would improve the ability of constituents to access their elected officials, and, no less important, improve the ability of those elected officials to be effective. I am aware that in this time of criticizing and demeaning elected officials who give of themselves and get very little back other than their own self satisfaction when they can make things better, these ideas will have little traction. It is never politically possible for the board to pay itself more, hire staff for itself when it is cutting teachers and closing schools. I am not na�ve enough to believe that this will happen, just that, in my opinion, this is something that might really help. I will probably write more about this over the next few months. Watch my blog, or the Pulse. David Tilsen Powderhorn http://www.dtilsen.net/blog REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
