Early voting starts July 13, so let's get down to it. Out of all the areas in which the school board exercises governance, these are the two you should ask candidates about:
• The next superintendent
Jesse Register's contract will be up during the next school board term. He'll be 70 at that time, so it's reasonable to wonder if he'll retire. Whoever occupies the big office on Bransford Avenue is important for high-profile endeavors like the Academies of Nashville.
What really matters, though, is the tremendous discretion a superintendent exercises in staffing. This person will decide who leads schools and who governs central office departments. He or she will be the gatekeeper of the gatekeepers.
Find out about the candidate's ideal superintendent (or if he or she would want to extend Register's contract). Ask yourself if a candidate would be good at recognizing a talented district leader. Finally, do you think this candidate would be able to convince other board members that a particular candidate is best?
• Charter school approval and accountability
The board gets to approve or deny new charter schools. It would be nice to see board member basing their decisions on data rather than a personal vendetta or just lack of knowledge. (For the uninitiated: I'm referring to the board rejecting KIPP's expansion the first time.)
As a practical mater, when they deny a school, it'll have to be done in a thorough fashion, because it looks like the state board is going to be a viable appeal option for charter applicants. The state board previously approved Drexel Prep over MNPS' rejection and soon will rule as to whether Great Hearts can open in 2014. (Give credit where it's due: it looks like the MNPS board initially had it right on saying no to Drexel.)
MNPS already has a number of charters in operation, so perhaps even more important is the board's willingness to shut down operators that are breaking the law or just doing a poor job of educating kids. Remember, the board's standard should be about funding high-performing classrooms versus low-performing ones.
Shutting down charter schools will be politically difficult. I was at the meeting when the board was deciding whether to shut down Drexel for not following federal law governing special education services and not having certified special ed teachers. Drexel had been caught red-handed, yet managed to put bring out several elected officials and enough parents to fill up the board room and then some. The board relented and gave Drexel another six months to get their act together.
It doesn't matter how poorly performing the school, a bunch of angry parents and community members will show up and apply pressure. A board member should be willing to take a hard vote in order to put student achievement first.
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A few more notes...
Having reviewed many candidates' websites and watched the forums, I've seen candidates spend a lot of time talking about stuff that the board exercises little, if any, control. For example, the board doesn't have anything to do with setting academic standards, nor deciding which standardized tests to give. That's state policy. If you want to influence that stuff, talk to your state legislators or state board of education members.
I've also seen candidates reach far into the weeds to push for highly specific curriculum. As a classroom teacher (and one who taught in district schools), I can't say I would want a school board member deciding a particular writing or reading program for me to use. We have in-house committees for that sort of thing (and for very good reason).
In addition, a number of candidates have yet to describe on their respective websites their stance on any issues. (Is the idea that if they don't put anything up, it won't count as b.s.?)
Obviously, the board will make many more important decisions than the ones listed above. I merely mean this as a place to start when trying to find meaningful information from amongst the pablum.
In the end, your vote should be less about a candidate's specific policy proposals and more on the leadership traits a person will bring to the board. I'll discuss those in a future post.
Try to contain your excitement in the meantime.
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