The case for changing the educational hierarchy 8b School Board Members

As a career educator I lack expertise regarding the duties of School Board Members so my thoughts are based on conjecture. I presume people run for the school board out of a sense of civic responsibility and concern about the children, although in recent years I have come to recognize some have ulterior motives.

It is important to recognize that school board members are elected without a prerequisite qualification requirement. This being the case it is extremely important that these elected officials recognize that there are educational decisions to be made that they are qualified to make and others that require they defer to qualified experts and not attempt to exert authority. The ability to differentiate between the two is paramount and when the decision making paths are blurred, manipulated or misconstrued, there can be serious educational consequences.

To this end, I believe it is highly unlikely that any school board entity is sufficiently qualified to determine teaching excellence, qualifications, curriculum, who should be hired and who should be fired for educational justifiable reasons. Those decisions should be left to the experts in the field and simply attending school or attainment of unrelated degrees does not constitute expertise.

Just as deference to expertise occurs regarding plumbing, carpentry, auto mechanics and medical doctors, it should be mandatory regarding something as important as our future. Allowing egocentricity, personal agenda, or deference to inexpert authority when making educational decisions should be grounds for removal from the position at the earliest opportunity.

http://www.danoettel.com author of THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT ‘The Education of an American Teacher’