Quote:
Originally Posted by Argie's Wife
On the simplest level I see two separate issues here:
1) Concern about a conflict of interest
2) Concerns about the school district annual meeting, with the potential of 'the school people' loading the meeting to sway the vote
My response:
1) If the policy is followed there should be no problem. In Alton, we have a Board member who's mother is an employee of the school district and he recuses himself from discussion/voting when appropriate - and it's only been a handful of times. No problem, really.
2) Again, that logic can work both ways - the 'non-school people' can also attend and vote. It's called democracy. Encourage people to attend and vote. Whether they are for or against the school's budget, at least they CARE and are active in the local decision making.
I would like to see the author of issue #2 teach at a local high school for a day and see how he fares with that "they just show up" attitude. He wouldn't last long.  |
Hello Argie's Wife, as someone who has had a number of posts related to the Alton schools over the past year or two, you no doubt have a deep understanding on how a local town and a school administrative unit work together.
As I understand from what I've read in your other posts, you are right now running for the Alton school board, and your husband is a math teacher in the local school system that includes Alton, so your situation is remarkably similar to Chris Mega in Meredith. Both you and Chris are running for a school board seat, you in Alton, he in Meredith, and both of you have spouses who are math teachers in the same system for which you are now school board candidates.
Correct me if I am incorrect as I am not very knowlegable about the working of the school board, but based on the letter from Howard Cunningham, School Board Member from Sandwich, it would seem that as a spouse of a teacher, wouldn't it be likely that you would probably be asked to recuse yourself when dealing with school board issues that deal with teachers since your spouse is a teacher, there? That has got to cover and include a very large volume of school board issues because the teacher is a signifigant factor in the education of the student.
For a voter in either Meredith or Alton, it certainly seems to me that this is an important question for the voters to consider. After all, no matter how caring, concerned, understanding, knowlegable, and hard-working somebody may be; does it really make them a good choice for the board if they will frequently need to be recused when making a vote on any one issue that includes teachers?
Is this a school board member who will be able to work effectively for Meredith or Alton parents?
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Meredith ballot elections, Tuesday, March 9, 7am-7pm, Meredith Community Center
School Board member position, Meredith: incumbent Jack Carty vs challenger Chris Mega
For a terrific snapshot article on these two school board candidates done by Bea Lewis, suggest you read the February 18 (click on news)
www.citizen.com, or go to google.
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