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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
It’s Unanimous
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A response to yesterday’s post about Doc Neace’s firing raises the issue of school board votes, and how they tend to be unanimous in support of the superintendent or staff recommendation. (In Neace’s case, the board member representing Dacula voted against his firing.)
Why are so many board votes unanimous, especially when the elected board members represent a diverse constituency?
Board members often talk of the importance of presenting a “unified front.” They want to appear to be in full agreement on important issues. A divided board could give the impression of a chaotic or disorganized school system, one that is too involved with petty disagreements to work on the big picture. Also, school board members want to give the impression they support their superintendent. After all, hiring the superintendent is one of their primary responsibilities. Their other task is to set policies. Those policies are often recommended by the superintendent or his or her staff.
The problem with so many unanimous votes, often with little or no public discussion beforehand, is it’s hard to know where school board members really stand.
How do you want your elected school board representative to handle voting?
