Report From Tuesday's School Board Meetings

Well…my daughter and I somehow survived attending back-to back School Board meetings today, from 1:00 until we left at 4:45. In the first meeting, the board continued their discussion on criteria for choosing which schools will be converted to year-round in 2007. They also approved a probable timetable for this process, with July 18 set as the date to adopt conversion criteria, August 15 as the date when staff presents their proposal for specific schools targeted for conversion, and August 22 as the date when the board gives preliminary approval to the school selections.

The majority of the School Board emphasized the need for an immediate “information blitz” to educate the uninformed and misguided public on the issue of year-round schools. As the only speaker during the public comment portion of the 4:00 meeting, I warned board members against a one-sided presentation. If they do not include some of the research facts cited on this blog and other places, I hope that opponents of mandatory year-round schools will join me in exposing the School Board's bias.

In other news, a 4 - 3 vote removed Carol Parker as Vice Chair of the School Board, and replaced her with Rosa Gill. Patti Head remained as the Chair by unanimous consent.