Is Your School Board on Board?
Do you have high hopes for improving the effectiveness of inclusive practices in your school or district?
Whether you are a school leader, a teacher, a parent, or some other stakeholder, you want to be sure your school board is on board with you.
What do school boards do?
According to the National School Boards Association, “School board members are the unsung heroes in communities throughout the country. They establish the vision and goals for the public schools in their district, and they set standards for the performance of schools and superintendents.
“Most school board members are elected by people in their community to represent their values, views, and desires for the public schools in their district. As selected leaders in their community, they consistently communicate with the public to keep community members abreast of challenges, ideas, and progress.
“School board members are tasked with an important responsibility: educating nearly 50 million children -- almost nine out of every 10 students -- who receive their education in public schools. Board members are more than policy-makers and administrators; they are advocates for students and their parents are entrusted to engineer a better future.”
Why include school boards?
For the most part, school boards establish the standards by which educational progress is measured. They are empowered to prioritize and fund initiatives that further their goals, and they review data to ensure that their schools are progressing.
The most successful school board members consistently reach out to stakeholders to gather diverse viewpoints. Dennis Snyder used to say if you want to get the attention of school boards, “put a face on the issue.” He taught me to locate a teacher, a parent, or a student who was most affected by the challenge. We brought them to the school board meeting to tell their story -- how the issue impacted their life. Then we waited and hoped for board recommendations favorable to our cause.
What do school boards need to know about special education inclusion?
Recently, I’ve pondered about the background of school board members. In most jurisdictions, school board members are not paid. Generally, they are influential members of the community, but have not been teachers and have not worked inside schools.
If they are going to make informed decisions that will impact the current and future lives of students with disabilities, their families and all the professionals who work with them, what do they need to know?
Further, how could we keep them current with recent case law and advancements in evidence-based practice?
I wrote an article that was published this week by the National School Boards Association: Equity: More Hope Than Fear.
What do you think? Have I summarized the key points that school board members should know? What else should we tell them?
I am honored and excited to have two more chances to address school board members:
I will be presenting a Stories from the Field Keynote in Miami next week. My title is “Special Education from Seven Perspectives”.
I will be presenting at the NSBA Equity Symposium in Washington DC in January. My title is “Time for a Special Education Update.”
