Debate on everything Education

There are a number of issues in the Public School System that have conveniently been turned into the usual ad hoc approach only to see these matters gift wrapped into the usual blame game. These include the lack of contracts for teachers and vital staff, quality education that we’ve treated with a ten foot pole, snail pace with which we collectively deal with classroom shortage, among others.

The quad–Board of Education, Administration, Legislature and the Community–looks at these issues only to begin the usual chorus of the blame game. On the continuing problem of funds for teachers contracts, the BOE (supposedly an independent body) turns to both the administration and legislature singing “you’re the power and the money” pitch-in right here and now.

The two branches of government is leery of saying anything given the independency of the board of education. There’s the fear of being accused of political interference. And so both have decided to layoff until official word is received from the BOE for assistance. The Community is lost in this shuffle and there’s also the apparent indifference on basically all issues affecting the education of their children.

The BOE needs to dedicate a little more of its time to look from within for there lies within its reach all the answers it needs to resolve these issues. If it really matters to them that funds aren’t wasted, then it must honestly account for a salary expenditure to the tune of $40,000-plus for one of its members. It must also seriously resolve the more than half-a-million dollars in travel funds expended over the past two years.

Finally, the BOE must explore creative ways to operate our schools, i.e., a baseline system that grants the people who administer school programs the opportunity to run the individual schools at their level. The BOE must remain a policy-making body free of the usual temptation to micro-manage the system through the Commissioner of Education. The BOE must also grant the COE the opportunity to dispose of administrative decisions within the confines of policy emanating from the board.

Friends, it takes the quad–BOE, administration, legislature and the entire community–to make a difference in defining the future of education down the stretch. It’s everybody’s responsibility and unless we act responsibly, we would end up with a luggage full of systemic failure in guiding a fully thought out educational programs for our children. The buck must stop somewhere, soon.