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When:
April 19, 2024 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
2024-04-19T19:00:00-04:00
2024-04-19T20:30:00-04:00
April 19, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
The learning curve is steep but these two hours will help you hit the ground running. Know your duties, identify the necessary knowledge base and avoid pitfalls.
Donna Green, past President and founding member of the SDGA, and past member of the Timberlane Regional School Board will present.
I attended our school board meeting (Hillsboro-Deering) on Monday night when they had the school attorney present to provide training to the newly elected school board members. One of the highlights that he shared, which surprised me, was that the school board does not have authority over the curriculum. Your thoughts here?
Under ED Rules 302.01 (d) (6) and 302.02 (f) specifically state this is a Superintendent’s role. There is no mention of curriculum under ED 303.01
Under ED Rule 306.21 (c)(2)(a) reads the school board approves a plan that states goals and curriculum of the Alternative Program.
In response to a question from a long-standing school board member, the attorney also strongly recommended that school board members not do their own research on issues but rather bring their issues to the Superintendent for her to research and reach out to other districts for information. While this sounds okay, I completely disagree with this in our district because it has been proven that our Superintendent has misled our school board with bad information, biased information, and (at least once), purposefully guided them into an illegal vote. Would be happy to hear opinions about this if you have any.
Lastly, I would love to see incorporated in the training the rules about reallocating funds and making sure that the accounts used are appropriate to the expenditure. Thinking here about our Greenhouse structure that is being funded through Repairs and Maintenance Funds…by the way, I found in our audit that it is specifically written that the school district capitalized assets over $5,000 and has a useful life of longer than one year.
The word “curriculum” is an ill-defined word…and deliberately so which allows administrators to take overweening control of things rightly under the authority of the school board. I argue that educational goals and a program is a curriculum. Admin Rule 303:01g (g) In consultation with the superintendent and in accordance with statutes and rules of the state board of education, determine the educational goals of the district, develop long-range plans and identify measurable and attainable short-term objectives. The school board shall require the implementation of educational programs designed to reflect the goals and objectives and, further, the school board shall review such programs and make public the results of such investigation;
A school board should definitely be voting to approve new curriculum and requiring an accounting of the efficacy of current educational programs.
The SDGA has a model policy under legal review now that defines a curriculum and puts the responsibility for administering the curriculum with the building principal.
This policy will be available for use by any school board once it has been vetted by a lawyer.
I think the current ed rules mean the superintendent is responsible for implementing the curriculum. It makes no sense at all to think the superintendent is responsible for solely and independently selecting the curriculum.
Donna Green
SDGA VP