The Inner Workings of School Boards

Abstract

Above all, a school board exists to ensure that students in a given district get the best possible education. Board members address issues that extend over a wide horizon, but they should never lose sight of their main responsibility for doing all they can to facilitate learning for each child. This is so obvious as to leave readers wondering why I even mention it. Yet all too often school boards get so tangled in thickets of minutiae that they neglect to walk the straight course that they should follow in the pursuit of solid education. And the underpinnings of democracy are weakened when students receive anything less. Such failure diminishes their life prospects. There should be no alternative to governing well.