Schools boards in one Maryland and one Illinois district are hoping to move on after dealing with disagreements, some of them harsh, from the past.
In Carroll County, Md., the school board before the recent election called itself the “Fighting 59th,” referring, they claimed, to their commitment to fight for residents of the district. The name turned out, however, to be an apt description of their style of fighting with each other.
According to an editorial in the Carroll County Times, the board didn’t limit their discussion to professional differences of opinion on important matters. Instead, members often lobbed personal attacks across the board room. In addition, the number of open meeting complaints went up under the Fighting 59th, an observation that should send chills down the spines of all the politicians who promised more government transparency during the recent campaign.
And in far southwest-suburban Minooka, Ill., the school board wanted to know what parents in the district thought about a few important issues. So, one of the board members, Kristan Crouch, put together a draft for a survey the board could send out to parents.
Superintendent Al Gegenheimer made some public comments, at a board meeting one member described as a spectacle, about the survey’s quality, for which he was reprimanded in a 6-0 vote by the board.
The reprimand included a request for a public apology, which he made, and the board has since resumed its normal business, adjusting the lunch schedule, for example, so kids have a bit more time for lunch.
“I’ve never been a troublemaker,” the Morris Daily Herald quoted Mr Gegenheimer as saying. “If (the board members) feel I’ve acted inappropriately, I will take their recommendations and do better not to make future mistakes.”
Have you ever made New Year’s resolutions for your pets? For more information, read this Chicago Tribune article and see Common Core speaking and listening standard SL.11-12.1.B about working with peers to set goals.