school board
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education meets tonight at 5:30 (closed session at the Chapel Hill Town Hall) to discuss, among other things, areas for budget reduction.
Though I dislike making judgements on topics with which I'm not
familiar, I must admit that my first glance through the list of
reductions leaves me with mixed feelings. I believe them off-base with
certain items, such as reductions in professional development,
curriculum development stipends, and new-teacher signing bonuses.
(see PDF below-pages 5 and 8) However, I believe them on-target in other
reduction avenues, including looking at the K12 Insight online surveys
and reducing the Superintendent's meeting refreshments.
2009 municipal and Chapel Hill/Carrboro School Board election filing
will begin on Monday, July 6th at 8:00am and conclude on Friday, July
17th at noon.
Date:
Friday, July 17, 2009 - 8:00am
The new board of the Orange County Schools was recently sworn into office. At their very first meeting, the three new board members joined with one of the standing members to vote out the old board chair and vice-chair. They were replaced by two newly-elected members, but the new chairs are far from new to Orange County Schools.
The new board chair is Steve Halkiotis, a former county commissioner and someone who spent his entire professional career in the Orange County Schools, working his way up from teacher to assistant superintendent. The new vice-chair is Tony McKnight, himself also a former OCS teacher.
These changes come less than a year after Pat Rhodes became the district’s superintendent, and like Halkiotis and McKnight he also has previous experience in Orange County.
So we have plenty of new leadership, but I’m wondering if they’ll take our district in any new directions. Can three leaders so tied to the district’s past bring innovative solutions to our contemporary challenges?
With the Orange County School Board (OCSB) elections looming
(among others), and the frustration of the last year lingering with many
parents and concerned citizens, we have a real chance to make a change.
What say you – we always have that opportunity?
Yes, of course you are right – the right to
vote is fundamental in our society. And a right we should willingly act upon at
every chance.
So – I have a confession to make...
There is an extremely high likelihood that I voted for a
much maligned outgoing member of the School Board four years ago. For those of you who have not attended OCSB
meetings this past year, let me just say that this woman and I have VERY
different viewpoints on the process of educating our
children.
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