Everyone has an opinion on how the schools in RUSD should be run – ask 10 people in the community “How the district can improve?” and you may very well end up with 10 different answers. However, these people will not (for the most part) run for a seat on the board since it is widely believed that an ordinary citizen does not (and cannot not) understand the very real problems and cannot serve as well as somebody with a masters or doctorate degree.
Perhaps what the district needs is some leadership that is not educationally “learned” and not a member of the secret club of Educrats. How can the board represent the needs of the children in the district if they had not experienced life in the same way some of our students have? Just because a board member has advanced degrees does not make him/her an effective leader.
Remember, the boards' sole responsibility should be to provide broad direction for the district- Administration (the experts) still have final say in how these board decisions are implemented.
The following quote kind of sums up my feelings quite nicely---
He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
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2 comments:
I love this post! Another quote that comes readily to my mind, although I cannot remember who said it was: "The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals."
I too think that "regular" people should not be overlooked. Especially people that have children in the district, because I think that they may relate better to the challenges of the district via experience.
How true! It's not as if a board member actually be an expert in anything - that's what consultants are for right? :)
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