If I'm counting right, the Madison Central School Board will have two seats up for election this spring, after the new gym/renovation bond election. Among the required reading for any eager candidates out there are David Newquist's latest observations on the problems in our education system. Newquist, a retired teacher himself, discusses how we too often ignore teachers when we talk about how to make education work better. Part of that problem lies in how school boards view teachers as employees and opponents rather than experts and partners:
In the past, school boards generally served as conduits of information between the taxpaying constituents and the professional staffs, the teachers. Policies and procedures were worked out in consultation, with the public and the teachers acting as partners in the community. When teachers were granted collective bargaining rights, the role of boards of education changed to that of corporate boards of directors charged with managing a bunch of employees, employees who they assume would shirk their duties and slough off if not placed under stringent work rules and constant monitoring. Teachers were no longer part of the process of communication as the voice of the profession. They became low-level employees who were told what to do, how to do it, and any voicing of their concerns was limited to the collective bargaining process. In other words, they were stripped of their professional status. And so, their observations and ideas were ignored in "A Nation at Risk" [David Newquist, "Relinquishing Educational Leadership," Northern Valley Beacon, 2010.12.27].
School boards are the elected representatives of all citizens in local education. But teachers are citizens, too... and they just happen to be every community's experts on education, the best sources of information about what's happening in your local schools and how we can improve those happenings.
So which school board candidates will we hear talking about the need to listen to and empower teachers?