My school board candidate lost. :(

[BabyBre]

I've been working the last several months on the campaign for a candidate that would be an absolute thorn in the side of our district administration, and she's narrowly losing in the ballot counts. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this, but I have this profound sadness about me. I guess I was so full of hope that things would soon be on the track to improving for the tens of thousands of kids in our district. But the candidate who won was the district/union/media pick, supporting everything the district is currently doing, including administration's inflated salaries. :glare: So we're guaranteed at least two more years (because the next board positions expire in two years) of the same old failure. My heart breaks for the kids. :crying:

 

Thanks. Just had to let a little out.

[ElizabethB]

:grouphug:

 

That is sad. I'm sorry.

[BabyBre]

Thanks for the sympathy, Elizabeth! I'm sure my stomach will churn everytime our new board member joins the others in turning her back on us, concerned parents and hardworking teachers, to makeout with the administration, but we're already used to that treatment. It is sad, but we're picking up and moving on. There are already new efforts in the works. ;)

[Roadrunner]

We voted around here as well. I have a very embarrassing question. Does anybody know what real powers board members have? What sort of decisions they get to vote on? Sorry for stupidity. :blushing:

[BabyBre]

I would think it varies state to state, but here they have the responsibility of voting on quite a bit of district business. They approve union and administrator contracts, budgets, curriculum adoptions (including Common Core federal standards), you name it. They're elected by the people because they're meant to represent the taxpayers' interests and hold the district accountable. That's not happening here.

[lauracolumbus]

School board members can have a lot of powers if they choose to exercise it. My brother was a school superintendent and his board deferred to him greatly. In our district, our superintendent told me at a meeting that he is simply the executor of the school board's decision. I'm astonished at how much power school board members can have (we're in a district of more than 30,000 students). Their decisions affect whether or not the students have sports (they eliminated them when our levy didn't pass--our district made national news--disgracefully-including a show by Bryant Gumble), our students access to accelerated courses, partial enrollment for homeschoolers, and the property values of hundreds of thousands of residents. They have very little accountability, yet lots of potential power. In the last election, the members were unopposed. We do have one homeschooling parent on our board, and she is a thorn in the side of the rest of them, but one vs five doesn't yield much impact.

 

It is depressing. I'm glad you were proactive and tried to make a difference. That's so much better than just sitting around complaining about things.

 

Laura