OFF THE CUFF: Clark County School Board Regular Session 9/2/10
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Karen Gray
Sep 20, 2010, 2:15:52 PM9/20/10
to Nevada Parents' Sounding Board
Friend or foe?
Is it possible that a foe can actually be a friend? After pondering
tonight’s board meeting I’m convinced it is so. Like most public
bodies, the school board has a few concerned citizens who regularly
watchdog its activities and are open and forthright with their
opinions. Some may consider these people foes of the school board. But
tonight, those foes instigated board discussion and action that was
good for students, parents and taxpayers — and that, to me, makes them
friends to all.
Tonight was the first school board meeting of the 2010-11 school year.
For some reason — perhaps it was the freshness of a new school year —
I was anticipating new things, a new climate, a renewed board of
trustees, a renewed audience, even a renewed me. But the meeting
seemed to move along as normal, that’s not to say the topics or
discussions were mundane — they weren’t.
It’s just to say the process and climate was…well, the same.
The same feeling of scripted board discussions, the same seeming
redirection and sidelining of trustee discussions when no consensus
exists, and the same concerned members of the public raising what seem
to be the same concerns. And to be honest, the same me, making the
same records requests and asking for answers to the same questions.
But in the end, after some of the same routine sparks flew between the
dais and the audience, something happened — something new and
refreshing.
Trustees appeared to heed what they were hearing from their naysayers.
Then, more board deliberation ensued. And then, some actual attempt at
solutions. Trustees voted to have a third-party review of the
district’s change order process (how construction-cost overages are
processed), procedures which have been in question for a long time.
Also, trustees moved to have a detailed report by principals on how
they spend the new Edujobs money just released by the federal
government to school districts.
Who’s to say that a foe can’t be a friend?
Is it possible that a foe can actually be a friend? After pondering
tonight’s board meeting I’m convinced it is so. Like most public
bodies, the school board has a few concerned citizens who regularly
watchdog its activities and are open and forthright with their
opinions. Some may consider these people foes of the school board. But
tonight, those foes instigated board discussion and action that was
good for students, parents and taxpayers — and that, to me, makes them
friends to all.
Tonight was the first school board meeting of the 2010-11 school year.
For some reason — perhaps it was the freshness of a new school year —
I was anticipating new things, a new climate, a renewed board of
trustees, a renewed audience, even a renewed me. But the meeting
seemed to move along as normal, that’s not to say the topics or
discussions were mundane — they weren’t.
It’s just to say the process and climate was…well, the same.
The same feeling of scripted board discussions, the same seeming
redirection and sidelining of trustee discussions when no consensus
exists, and the same concerned members of the public raising what seem
to be the same concerns. And to be honest, the same me, making the
same records requests and asking for answers to the same questions.
But in the end, after some of the same routine sparks flew between the
dais and the audience, something happened — something new and
refreshing.
Trustees appeared to heed what they were hearing from their naysayers.
Then, more board deliberation ensued. And then, some actual attempt at
solutions. Trustees voted to have a third-party review of the
district’s change order process (how construction-cost overages are
processed), procedures which have been in question for a long time.
Also, trustees moved to have a detailed report by principals on how
they spend the new Edujobs money just released by the federal
government to school districts.
Who’s to say that a foe can’t be a friend?
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