News
Opinion
This is a bit of a rocky time for our Summit School District. In the past year, the board of education has made what we consider to be a series of missteps on the communications front, with some of it relating to questionable policy decisions. Consider:
> The decision to end the before- and after-school day camp programs at local elementaries. This was done with no clear explanation of why and with little or no effort to give parents and the community to respond or assess ways to save the program.
> The introduction of so-called “equal access,” which essentially lumps students together regardless of their performance level. Setting aside the question of whether this approach is good or bad policy, it was done, again, with very little effort to gauge the concern of parents and the community.
> Just last week, elementary school parents received a perfunctory notice that the popular and long-running winter recreation program had been canceled, forever, with the dubious explanation that the time saved would be applied to cramming for the standardized CSAP tests. The decision was apparently made last spring by the board, again with little or no effort to solicit parent reaction or to explore ways to keep the program in some form.
With school board elections coming up, now is the time for the community to demand more accountability from the group that determines policy for our schools. We would like to hear from candidates how they will do things differently in the future, particularly in the realm of communication and a more transparent decision-making process. Give parents a chance to voice their opinions on things that affect our children — and that doesn't just mean forming a task force after the fact to respond to public outcry.
Along with a new board, our new superintendent and communications director have an opportunity to show Summit County they're out ahead of these issues, not simply reacting. To that end, we applaud Superintendent Heidi Pace's October “listening tour” to hear parent concerns. Hopefully this is not a one-off but the beginning of a concerted effort to make communications with the district a two-way street; proactive and not simply reactive. And parents and other concerned community members must know we have a responsibility to get involved to ask questions and supply our input during the process — not just after the fact.
We believe in our Summit Schools and know there are a great many dedicated teachers, administrators and other staff who work hard to provide a quality education for our children. We also applaud the school board for tireless and often under-appreciated work setting policy. At the same time, the board needs to remember they serve and represent the community that funds our schools. As the board of education's own governing document states: “The Board ... believes that decision making control over the students' learning should be in the hands of local citizens as much as possible.”
It doesn't get much clearer than that.
> The decision to end the before- and after-school day camp programs at local elementaries. This was done with no clear explanation of why and with little or no effort to give parents and the community to respond or assess ways to save the program.
> The introduction of so-called “equal access,” which essentially lumps students together regardless of their performance level. Setting aside the question of whether this approach is good or bad policy, it was done, again, with very little effort to gauge the concern of parents and the community.
> Just last week, elementary school parents received a perfunctory notice that the popular and long-running winter recreation program had been canceled, forever, with the dubious explanation that the time saved would be applied to cramming for the standardized CSAP tests. The decision was apparently made last spring by the board, again with little or no effort to solicit parent reaction or to explore ways to keep the program in some form.
With school board elections coming up, now is the time for the community to demand more accountability from the group that determines policy for our schools. We would like to hear from candidates how they will do things differently in the future, particularly in the realm of communication and a more transparent decision-making process. Give parents a chance to voice their opinions on things that affect our children — and that doesn't just mean forming a task force after the fact to respond to public outcry.
Along with a new board, our new superintendent and communications director have an opportunity to show Summit County they're out ahead of these issues, not simply reacting. To that end, we applaud Superintendent Heidi Pace's October “listening tour” to hear parent concerns. Hopefully this is not a one-off but the beginning of a concerted effort to make communications with the district a two-way street; proactive and not simply reactive. And parents and other concerned community members must know we have a responsibility to get involved to ask questions and supply our input during the process — not just after the fact.
We believe in our Summit Schools and know there are a great many dedicated teachers, administrators and other staff who work hard to provide a quality education for our children. We also applaud the school board for tireless and often under-appreciated work setting policy. At the same time, the board needs to remember they serve and represent the community that funds our schools. As the board of education's own governing document states: “The Board ... believes that decision making control over the students' learning should be in the hands of local citizens as much as possible.”
It doesn't get much clearer than that.
