BOE,: All Talk and Carry a Big List

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Show Up, or Shut Up":

Not everyone has the stomach to stand up in front of a group or their kid's principal. Neither should they have to. The Board of Ed doesn't need personal testimonies from hundreds of parents to recognize when a good point is made and should be addressed for the benefit of the school district and community.

For the past few meetings the Board of Ed has been making lengthy presentations about routine business that they barely scratched the surface of in the past. This new format is informative but leaves the question - why spend so much time on old news when they could be spending their valuable time actively discussing and formulating an action plan for any one of the myriad of topics on the list of goals they created for themselves?

It's time for the Board of Ed to take an honest look at what's going on here. How many times are they going to talk about improving communication with the public yet not make any plans to update the website into something that is easy to use, and more timely and informative? Why do they present information passively - expecting parents to check a confusing website for sporadically posted messages and updates from the superintendent when every other online information area sends out email updates to those interested.

They can get input from PTA committees and hold open-minded and impartial focus groups with other parents and community members to find out more about how people view the strengths and weaknesses of the schools.

But first, the Board needs to commit to deadlines for goals - even if they might get changed - and pick the first target to focus on. Get an action plan going. Focus on another area. Repeat. Otherwise it's all talk and a big list.