Visciousness against School Board members

Katherine commented on a previous post and linked to this letter to the editor from Marblehead, MA. Apparently a school board member attacked heterogenous groupoing as "socialist", and this writer let him have it with scathing sarcasm.

Now, I don't know how this school board member approached his point. I've seen board members be about as far out of bounds as this letter writer, so maybe it was deserved. I certainly botched my approach to a few points. But, I've also seen board members get blasted despite reasonable, discussion-oriented approaches to issues.

Why does this matter? Because, right now, school boards are important. They can focus the school system on important issues, require the identification of key metrics and the development of appropriate measurements. This kind of attack makes it difficult to recruit knowledgeable, concerned individuals willing to raise important but sensitive issues. And, we need such folks on school boards.

Comments

[Dave Shearon]

Yep. Most communities would do well to develop a "prepping" and a "vetting" process for potential school board members

[aschoolyardblogger]

I think school board members are some of the most important people around. They are also the people we pay least attention to when we vote for them. We just vote, never really understanding what it is all about.