Working Together

By Lisa Cohen

The Board and district residents share responsibility for our schools

If elected to the Board of Education, I will provide every district resident who supplies an e-mail address a Decoding the School Board Agenda. I have observed too many meetings where the residents feel that decisions have been made without sufficient input from constituents. The School Board does make efforts to inform residents of upcoming issues, but I feel their methods can be improved. Besides twice monthly e-mails, the District Website needs a total makeover as it is incredibly frustrating to navigate. The publication Reflections is often out dated by the time it reaches parents and is visually unappealing.

With sufficient information provided in a manner that allows thoughtful feed back, every resident can feel vested in the Board's decisions. The power of solution doesn't just belong to the people in authority.

We are all aware (I hope) that the seats on the School Board are filled by volunteers. Seven people are charged with creating policy that impacts 1800 students. We need citizen committees to help study district policy, oversee spending of our taxpayer dollars and aid in the pursuit of outside funding. As residents we are also charged with improving the schools by volunteering our talents and ideas. I have spoken about the creation of a student liaison committee with Dr. Adelberg, Principal of CHHS, who endorses the idea. A committee of middle and high school students, elected by their peers, would provide welcome insights into our schools and allow the Board to communicate more directly with the students.

A School Board's greatest asset is the trust of its community. Let's increase the value of our asset!