Vermont School Boards Association January 2010

Also in this issue...

Roberts’ Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Reforming No Child Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Board-Superintendent Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

VSBIT continued on page 3

By David Cyprian

BUDGET continued on page 8

By the time you read these pages, nearly all school budgets for fi scal year 2011 will have been approved by boards and readied for mailing to taxpayers prior to budget votes. The Legislature will be in full swing, addressing issues as diverse as cost containment, state and local governance of education, and whether to require certain average class sizes in schools. Naturally, it is a season that brings a measure of anxiety to public school offi cials, and that feeling can only be heightened by the intense focus on school budgets this year.

Taxpayers will, of course, be anxious to see the impact of school spending and property values on their property tax bills this year. The legislature and the execu-tive branch are also awaiting the result of the school budget process, to see whether education costs will increase less than two percent over the prior year. That was the low increase that we saw in 2009,

From the

Boardroom

The Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI) has announced new health and dental rates. Beginning July 1, 2010, health insurance premiums will increase by 3.0%.

This fi gure marks the fi fth consecutive year and the seventh in the last eight years (2002-10) that VEHI’s average premium increase has been less than 10%, a sig-nifi cant accomplishment at both the state and national level. For the last four years, 2007-10, during a period of escalating health care costs, our premium increases averaged just under 4%.

There are several reasons for this. First, VEHI’s administrative costs continue to be lower than other self-funded groups that purchase insurance services from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. Also, our plans are less expensive than compa-rable plans offered by BCBS-VT to other community-rated associations because

Budget Season VEHI Announces Health and Dental Rates for FY11

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Happy New Year! Happy New Year-- really? While we have all heard and repeated “Have a happy New Year,” the outlook does not seem happy to school board members struggling with the current realities of schools and fi nance. Some parties want to demonize boards over costs, taxes, failure to hastily consolidate and failure to shed boards and board members.

This seems particularly unreasonable since Vermont schools overall have held budget increases lower than most if not all other government functions since the inception of Act 60. Property tax in-creases are still driven by value and CLA even when budgets are level or reduced. Communities who have looked at school and district consolidation have frequently rejected this concept, perhaps wisely, since there is little evidence that it will save money either now or in the future. Finally, I am not certain of the benefi t of ceding local authority to regional or Montpelier boards, since local accountability means local results.

Also, in the past several months multiple initiatives at federal, state and even local levels have produced many regulations, recommendations and suggestions for school change, improvement or cost cut-ting. These ideas are now competing for attention, action and legislative changes which continue to leave local schools in a state of anticipation and fl ux.

My elementary school, as I suspect is true in many of your local schools, is already vested in implementing Positive Behavior Strategies, Response to Inter-vention, H1N1 response, Dental Service

Delivery, Farm to Food and Healthy Options, Af-ter School Support and Enrichment, Mentoring, Curriculum Mapping, Ac-tion Planning, Policy review, Assessment development, Longitudinal Data Collec-tion and analysis, Board self

evaluation, Negotiations, Co-teaching, Long Term Facility planning, ARRA Profes-sional Development and more!

The initiatives being bandied about mean discarding this work or adding more.

However, the message from Montpelier, the bankers (the money just isn’t there) and so many of our supportive but tax-weary citizens is clear: costs must go down! This translates to less money and less work - not more. The anticipated state defi cit in the next two years is about 20% of its current budget, schools (and other departments) may be expected fi nd overall reductions of 20% over the next two years.

Despite all the past blame and all the pos-sible future schemes school boards are the current reality for school operation. School boards will need to implement the changes required if costs are to be reduced by 20%. School boards have the local knowledge and accountability to make the reductions work in their communities. School boards will need to work to help shape good leg-islation and initiatives for these reduced schools. This budget season is the time to start looking at how your community will remake your local education programs at 80%, and to have real conversations with your community and legislators about what that means for Vermont’s children and your local schools.

Responding to these realities will take a great deal of creativity, principled deci-sion making and stamina, so rather than Happy New Year my greeting is, “May you and your students be strong, wise and fruitful.”

CtiALotio

evaluation Ne

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Strengthening Public Support for School Improvements

In today’s economy, as voters hesitate to pass bond funding, many Vermont school districts face an uphill battle in their efforts to get approval for need-ed building improvements. According to Efficiency Vermont, these districts can strengthen their cases by bring-ing energy effi ciency into their projects.

“When energy effi ciency is included in a building-improvement plan, a project stops being simply an ex-pense and becomes an investment that pays a solid return in energy sav-ings for years to come,” says Richard Donnelly of Effi ciency Vermont. “That may mean the difference between a bond that voters consider a burden and one that’s recognized as a logical, beneficial financial move.”

For example, if a school needs a new roof, an energy-saving enhancement could entail air sealing and insulation upgrades, which can reduce heating costs and ex-tend the life of the new roof by preventing

ice dams and icicles. Other energy-saving approaches include choosing energy-effi -cient equipment, controls, or lighting at the time of a renovation or incorporating ef-fi cient design into new-construction plans.

“We’re eager to support schools’ visions for their improvements by working with them and their contractors to incorporate cost-effective, comprehensive energy-sav-ing approaches into project plans,” says

Donnelly. “We also provide districts with cost-savings analyses that can give vot-ers the facts they need to make an informed decision.”

According to Donnelly, while it can make fi nancial sense

to invest in effi ciency at any time, the earlier in a project that energy implications are considered, the more cost-effective the energy-saving approaches tend to be. If your district is considering school reno-vations, new construction, or equipment replacement and you would like more information, contact Richard Donnelly, toll-free, at 888-921-5990, extension 1129.

Editor: David Cyprian email: david@vtvsba.orgLayout: Kerri Lamb email: klamb@vtvsba.orgArticles printed represent diverse points of view and may be controversial in nature. It is the belief of the Association that the democratic process functions best through discussions which challenge and stimulate thinking on the part of the reader. Therefore, materials published present the ideas/beliefs of those who write them and are not necessarily the views or policies of the VSBA unless so stated. This newsletter is distributed at no charge to all members of the Association. Contact the Association by calling 802-223-3580.

of concerted efforts to rationally contain costs at all levels of operation—from ad-ministration and plan design to advanced wellness and chronic care management programs.

In respect to VEHI-Delta’s dental care plans, premiums will increase in 2010-11, on average, by 2.6%.

Please contact VEHI (802-223-5040) if you have any questions.

VSBIT continued from page 1

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Vermont teachers will be offering online courses and connecting to students throughout the state and the world as part of the Vermont Virtual Learning Coopera-tive, an ARRA-funded initiative to bring a K-12 Virtual School to Vermont. Vermont now joins 26 other states in the country by offering a virtual school option to its students. The Vermont Department of Education requested proposals for the $400,000 Title IID grant program from entities within Ver-mont in the fall of 2009. The grant tasked an entity to lead, manage, and develop a system that provided online learning op-portunities for all Vermont schools. “We are very pleased with this model and feel the cooperative model makes it very ap-pealing for Vermont schools.” says Peter Drescher, Education Technology Coordi-nator overseeing the Title IID program.“The initial phases of this program will require support from school administrators as we train teachers to teach online and ramp up course offerings,” says the new Program Coordinator, Jeff Renard. “We want schools to become supporting mem-bers by offering courses from their schools which, in turn, will get them seats in other online courses being offered by other schools around the state.” Renard has been the Distance Learning Coordinator with the River Valley Technical Center in Spring-fi eld, Vermont for ten years and has offered d i s t a n c e l e a r n i n g

courses throughout Vermont and New Hampshire. Called the Vermont Virtual Learning Co-operative (VTVLC), this initiative is being spearheaded by a partnership of several regions around the state, including the River Valley Technical Center and Spring-fi eld School District, Burlington School District and fi ve others that will be selected through a sub-grant process.

The other partners include the Graduate School of Marlboro College, the Com-munity College of Vermont, Florida Vir-tual School, Global Classroom and the Learning Network of Vermont. These initial partners bring a wide range of experience and expertise to this endeavor and will be seeking individuals for the VTVLC advi-sory committee in the coming weeks. Their job will be to help develop a system that will make it easy for schools to share seats in an online classroom and help Vermont students access courses that may not be available in their regional schools.

Professional development is a major facet of this effort, and teacher preparation will be a priority. The initial group of teachers

will be participating in course work that consists of 15 graduate credits

along with several other work-shops, courses and train the trainer mentoring workshops.

For more informa-tion, contact Jeff

Renard at jrenard@rvtc.

org

Virtual Courses will Connect Vermont K-12 Learning Community

5

Summer Library Promotion Encouraged Families to Save EarlyThe Vermont Student Assistance Corpo-ration (VSAC) and the Vermont Depart-ment of Libraries (VDOL) are proud to announce the four state winners of the “Get Creative @ Saving for College” summer promotion.

VSAC, the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan (VHEIP), Vermont’s 529 college savings plan, and the VDOL partnered to sponsor the 2009 summer promotion in libraries across Vermont. The “Get Creative @ Saving for College” promotion encouraged children to read over the summer by providing incen-tives for Vermont students through grade e ight to participate in their local library’s sum-mer reading pro-gram. More than

VSAC and the Vermont Department of Libraries Announce Winners of “Get Creative @ Saving

for College” Summer Promotion1,400 entries were received from across Vermont, spreading awareness of the importance of reading and saving early for college.

The selected state winners are Katie Young of Burlington; Gyury de Nagy of Topsham; Livia Bernhardt of Salisbury; and Ramona Rosenthal of Woodstock. The winning libraries are, respectively, Fletcher Free Library, Blake Memorial Library, Brandon Library and Norman Wil-liams Public Library.

Each of the four winner’s parents or le-gal guardians will receive a check prize

of $1,000 that can be used for college savings. Each winning li-brary will receive a check prize of $500 to support future library pro-grams and initia-tives.

Updating the school’s policies?Please take a few minutes to look over some of the resources the VSBA can offer you.

Website: the VSBA website hosts several pages of information regarding • policies including general information about the upkeep and legal status of policies, model required policies and model best practice policies. (Available in Microsoft Word, Acrobat or as a link).School Policy DVD (approximately 40 minutes) The chapters include: • Vermont Education Law, Examples, Policy Adoption, Policy Manual Maintenance, Policy Distribution, Purpose, Following Policies. The DVD sells for $20.A free fourteen and one half minute streaming video on our website • (Video link).

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by Winton GoodrichVSBA Associate Director

G o v e r n a n c e Studies The North Hero Board decided against closing their school next year and desig-nating South

Hero for tuition paying purposes.

Both boards will con-tinue to work with the

VSBA on the creation of a union elementary district.

The VSBA has contracted to facilitate phase I supervisory union studies for Chittenden East and Addison Central Supervisory Unions, and a two-district study between Middlesex and Worces-ter.

Staff recently completed studies for Pitts-fi eld and Woodbury. Access these stud-ies using the following links to the VSBA web site: http://www.vtvsba.org/pittsfi eld.pdfhttp://www.vtvsba.org/Woodbury.pdf

Presented a governance study proposal to school leaders in Caledonia North SU.

Addison Northwest completed contract work with the Vermont Rural Development organization on their k-12 unifi ed union governance study.

Policy GovernanceThere are currently 19 school districts that are at various stages of Policy Gov-ernance implementation. A number of other districts and supervisory unions have expressed interest and scheduled Policy Governance presentations that Laura Soares continues to deliver.

Click the "Video" folder found on the VSBA web site to learn more about this effective system of board governance.

The VSBA recently completed production on two new Policy Governance DVDs that used video footage from the fall confer-ence presentations delivered by a national consultant, Susan Edsall.

Superintendent Searches Superintendent searches are underway in the following supervisory unions/dis-tricts:

Rutland South• - Hired Dana Cole-Levesque, current Otter Valley prin-cipalOrange East• - Hired Don Johnson, former Littleton, NH superintendentMontpelier• - Interview stageWashington Northeast • - Hired Nancy Thomas, current asst. superintendent in Washington CentralEssex Town• - Advertising cycleChittenden East• - Appointed John Alberghini, current co-superintendent in that SUWindham Southwest• - Recently an-nounced the openingWindsor Southeast • - Hired the current interim superintendent, Donna Moyer, to serve another year

Board RolesWorked with the Barre City, Lyndon El-ementary, and Barre Supervisory Union Boards on roles and responsibilities of school board members and superinten-dents.

Strategic PlanningPresented a VSBA strategic planning pro-posal to the Mt. Mansfi eld Union School leaders for consideration.

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The Education Transformation Policy Commission submitted its fi nal report to the State Board of Education in December. The Commission was comprised of school board members, superintendents, princi-pals, elected and appointed state-level education policymakers, teachers, higher education administrators, parents and parent-advocates, one business repre-sentative, and a high school student. The Commission’s charge was as follows:

Recommend a state policy framework that will build and enhance the capacity of schools and communities to reinvent Vermont public education so all students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for college, careers, and citizenship in the 21st century.

Notably, the Commission was not asked to frame its recommendations within any particular budgetary constraints, nor did it do so. The Commission made recommen-dations under the framework of “education transformation” as opposed to confi ning its work to school improvement. The Com-mission divided its recommendations into

Education Transformation Policy Commission Issues Report

POLICY continued on page 11

fi ve “interdependent” sections, and what follows is a brief description of each. The Commission’s recommendations were presented to the State Board of Education at its December meeting. The full report, including expansive details and rationales for each recommendation, can be viewed here: http://education.vermont.gov/new/pdfdoc/dept/transformation/commission/transformation_policy_commission_re-port_1209.pdf

Education Quality StandardsSupplement and replace the current • School Quality Standards with “Edu-cation Quality Standards” that focus on learning outcomes and processes, to be developed by an EQS commis-sion.

Enhance accountability via long-range • education quality assessments in each public school, and utilize data to continually develop more effective practice.

Learning Expectations for a New Gen-eration

Personal learning plans for each stu-• dent.

Three stages of learning progres-• sion (to replace PK-12 grades), and profi ciency-based advancement and graduation requirements.

Transition from grade-level groupings • to multi-age small learning communities with differentiated learning opportuni-ties.

Vermont Real Adjusted* Equalized Education Grand List (*excluding Utilities and Personal Property, including Current Use Exempt Value; Consensus1109 Forecast)

8

but for some, it was still too much. The fi nal number will factor greatly in discus-sions in Montpelier as to whether more cost containment laws are necessary, and whether the education fund will have “excess capacity” that could potentially ease the burden of a diminishing state general fund.

Unfortunately, these conditions are likely to persist for the next several years. Al-though most economists believe the worst of the recession is over, the economic contraction that already occurred means that government at all levels is reliant on a tax revenue base that is markedly less than that of two or three years ago. Even with healthy growth predicted by

state economists, it will be several years before the tax base grows to levels of 2008. Property values are expected to decrease in infl ation-adjusted terms for the next three years. School enrollments are expected to decrease for the next fi ve years. The pressure on school offi cials to provide a good education at good value will probably never dissipate.

The VSBA knows that boards can be re-sponsive to prevailing conditions. When times were good, the equity provided by Act 60 allowed Vermont’s poorest school districts to diminish the spending gap with wealthier districts. When the economy tanked last year, boards responded with the lowest school budget increases in re-cent memory for two years running. That is why it can be challenging to respond

BUDGET continued from page 1

9

to assertions that imply that local school offi cials have no hand at the tiller.

Certainly, we are not experiencing de-creasing rhetoric. In budget meetings, in summer study committees, and from consultants, politicians, and chastising letters, board members are being of-fered “advice” from all corners. When evaluating this range of concepts and proposals, remember that your fi rst duty is to the children and taxpayers of your communities. Good public schools are something all Vermonters should be proud of. Work with your colleagues to be an open-minded, innovative, and fair school board, and communicate with the VSBA so that we can serve and represent you here in Montpelier.

David Cyprian is a legislative analyst for the VSBA and the editor of From the Boardroom.

Want more data?

www.vtvsba.orgVisit the VSBA website to view or download the Current Realities pre-sentation. It can be viewed as a free video and you can download the presentation to use the data in your budget presentations.

10

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was sched-u led to be reauthorized in 2007 while P r e s i d e n t

George W. Bush was still in offi ce, but Democratic leaders in Congress chose to wait until the new administration was in place to tackle the numerous complaints about NCLB - its lack of fl exibility, punitive approach to school reform and reliance on standardized testing.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was fi rst enacted in 1965 and reauthorized by the Bush administration in 2001 as NCLB. Intended to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers, NCLB encompasses numerous programs with $22 billion in 2008 appropriations. While most would agree that the intent of NCLB was both positive and important, many educators, researchers, and poli-cymakers believe there are major fl aws in the conception and application of this legislation.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has agreed with critics who claim the current system encouraged states to lower standards so that they could report signifi cant progress. "It unfairly labeled many schools as failures even when they were making progress," Duncan said. "It places too much emphasis on raw test scores rather than student growth. And it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.

Reforming No Child Left BehindBy Sheri Krause

"But the biggest problem with NCLB," he added, "is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not. "

Duncan credited NCLB for highlighting the achievement gap in schools and for focus-ing accountability on student outcomes, and said he is committed to policies that work toward closing that gap while raising the achievement of all children.

He said he wants the next version of NCLB to create tests that better measure student learning and to build an accountability sys-tem that is based on the academic growth of students. He also wants the law to cre-ate programs to improve the performance of existing teachers and school leaders, to recruit new effective educators, and to ensure that the best educators are serving the children that are the furthest behind.

"Our role in Washington is to support reform by encouraging bold, creative ap-proaches to addressing underperforming schools, closing the achievement gap, strengthening the field of education, reducing the dropout rate and boosting college access," Duncan said.

When Duncan was named secretary of education last year, his immediate fo-cus was on the disbursement of federal stimulus dollars earmarked for education. Most of these dollars were put into two programs: State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (which Vermont received), and Race to the Top Funds (which will be awarded to states in competitive grants in the coming

REFORMING continued on page 11

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stimulus will continue to be the focus of the administration. They are: (1) Adopting rigorous college- and career-

ready standards and high quality as-sessments;

(2) Establishing advanced data systems that track student performance on assessments throughout their school year and tie those results to teach-ers, principals, and their preparation programs;

(3) Creating new pathways into the teach-ing profession and basing teacher tenure, compensation, and promotion decision on performance data;

(4) Turning around the lowest performing schools – including allowing charter schools to fully emerge as replace-ments for traditional public schools.

Establish ambitious state-level educa-• tional attainment targets and strate-gies to achieve these targets.

Establish state-level standards for • college readiness.

Expand access and ensuring funding • for dual enrollment and other college-level learning opportunities for high school students.

Educator QualityExpand clinically-based learning op-• portunities for aspiring educators.

Adopt a four-tier career ladder and • profi ciency-based licensing standards for educators.

Expand professional development •

POLICY continued from page 7

Duncan travelled the country this summer–including a day in Vermont–on a "Listening and Learning" tour to gather information about education reform and how NCLB can be improved. The administration is planning to develop its pro¬posal for re-authorizing the legislation in the coming months, based on recommendations and input from various stakeholders.

The jury is still out on whether the fed-eral government can drive improvements in student achievement with its reform agenda. Never before has the federal government played such a heavy-handed role in our public education system. Only time will tell what kind of impact this will have on our local schools.

Sheri Krause is a government relations specialist with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

This article was excerpted and reprinted with permission from Wisconsin School News.

REFORMING continued from page 10

and collaborative planning time for educators.

Formation of Regional Education Dis-tricts

Education Redistricting Commission • to facilitate consolidation of all public school districts (including all public schools and technical centers) into 12 – 24 education districts, each gov-erned by a single board of directors.

Multi-year transition process to fully • implement consolidation by 2015.

Each public school would have a • “Community School Council,” with advisory functions.

See Appendix K and Appendix L in the Commis-sion’s full report for two consolidation concepts (13 and 20 districts respectively).

12

Among the most important factors that in-fl uence the educational and administrative performance of every school district is the relationship between a school board and its chief executive offi cer, the superinten-dent. Certain outcomes that are critical to your school system’s success depend on these two partners working closely together as a “strategic leadership team.” Together, they need to provide a clear vi-sion for the future, long-term educational goals, targets for signifi cant innovation and operating priorities. They also have to make decisions on the rational allocation of fi nancial resources and the manage-ment of relationships with key stakehold-ers such as state and local government departments, to name but a few.

When this professional marriage weakens or becomes strained, your school system is in for real trouble if steps aren’t taken to shore up the partnership. I’ve seen what appear to be minor irritations create a distance in relationships that rapidly turns into a chasm that can’t be bridged. For example, the board begins to question the superintendent at length on relatively minor administrative actions. Perhaps it decides to table what were once routine matters for consideration at the next meeting.

As far as I know, no school board in human history has ever fi red itself for relationship problems with its superintendent.

It is the superintendent who always moves on, frequently at a high cost. Not just fi nan-cially. There is a cost when educational performance shortfalls aren’t remedied and strategic innovation opportunities are missed.

Board-Superintendent Relations: A 2-way Street

By Doug EadieOne cannot put a price on a tarnished public image, decline in public support, and a deterioration in administrative and faculty morale. Then, of course, there is the time and expense of recruiting a new superintendent.

What can your governance team do to keep the board-superintendent partner-ship healthy, thereby reaping the benefi ts and avoiding the costs?

The Superintendent’s Part: The Right Attitude First, the superintendent must accept primary responsibility for building and maintaining a strong, positive working partnership with the school board. As a start, the superintendent must bring a positive attitude to the relationship. He or she ought to view the board as a pre-cious asset and vital partner rather than as a damage control challenge. Too many superintendents I have met over the years have started with a negative viewpoint that makes success well nigh impossible.

“Boards are apt to meddle and microman-age if they’re not closely watched and controlled,’” they said to themselves, “and my major job is to make sure that they stay in their place and out of trouble.” If a superintendent approaches his/ her board with this attitude, divorce is highly likely somewhere down the pike.

Armed with a positive attitude, your su-perintendent can also make governance a high priority, becoming a real expert in this rapidly developing fi eld. There is virtually universal agreement that high-performing

STREET continued on page 13

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A study released Dec. 2 by the Brook-ings Institute reports that in the fi rst nine months of 2009, only 1.4 percent of na-tional news coverage (television, news-papers, Web sites, and radio) addressed education. Although it may be hard to fathom, this is actually an increase from recent years. In 2008, only 0.7 percent of news coverage focused on education and 1 percent in 2007.

“This makes it diffi cult for the public to follow the issues at stake in our educa-tion debates and to understand how to improve school performance,” the report states.

The study found that little of the educa-tion reporting addressed hard issues such as school policies or ways to im-prove the curriculum.

“There was hardly any coverage of school reform, teacher quality, or other matters thought to be crucial for educa-tional attainment. Instead, most stories this year dealt with budget problems, school crime, and the HINI fl u outbreak,” the report states.

The Brookings Institute concluded that the decrease in education reporting is partly due to the overall drop in newspa-per circulation and advertising revenue. However, the study did note that the use ‘of online media such as blogs, YouTube, and Twitter has helped people tap into local education topics.

“Local blogs can encourage substantive debate on education issues, and school systems have used new technologies to keep parents in closer touch with their children’s schools and educational progress,” the report states. “But none of these can replace regular, systematic and ongoing coverage of education by news outlets.”

school boards play a leading, creative role in strategic decision-making. But the likeli-hood of your school board’s developing a strong role in strategic planning on its own is nil. The superintendent must take the lead in designing the planning structure and process that will make a creative board role possible.

“Board-savvy” superintendents fi nd ways to strengthen board members’ feelings of ownership-hence, strengthening their commitment-by involving them in gen-erating directions, rather than merely reviewing fi nished documentation. This is why board-staff retreats have become so popular. They also look for every op-portunity to provide their board members with ego satisfaction, making sure that they receive credit in the media for system accomplishments.

The Board’s Part: Governing Skills Of course, good relationships involve reciprocal obligations. The school board should: • Focus on playing a high-level governing

role, rather than getting bogged down in administrative details.

• Make a fi rm commitment to strengthen-ing governing skills.

• Treat the superintendent as a colleague and partner deserving respect, rather than as an adversary.

Playing a truly productive role in governing a school system depends on your board’s taking responsibility for leading a large and complex public corporation, rather than merely representing the views of particular constituencies.

Doug Eadie is an author and consultant special-izing in board/CEO relationships. Reprinted

with permission from the Maine School Boards Association newsletter.

STREET continued from page 12Study Finds Education

Stories are Underreported

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Study Finds EducationStories are Underreported

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The Legislature will consider a bill this session that would give schools broad authority to discipline students for out-of-school misconduct.

As both a school board member and as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, I don’t think the bill, as written, is a good idea.

Here’s why:

1. Disciplining children for misconduct is the responsibility of parents. When a child is in school, or at a school-sponsored event, the responsibility is temporarily given to schools as a necessary transfer of authority to maintain school order. Outside of school, however, parents expect -- and the law recognizes -- parents’ authority.

2. A bill as broad as the one proposed is likely to run into legal challenges. The bill uses standards from employment law, not school law, to defi ne offending behavior.

Bill Will Target Students’ Behavior Away from School Grounds

By Allen Gilbert, U-32 Board Member

3. With authority comes responsibility. School administrators or boards could be sued for NOT intervening in cases where parents claim their child was bullied or harassed outside of school.

4. If the bill is targeted at cyberbullying, there’s already a law addressing mis-use of the Web, cell phones, or other electronic media. It doesn’t seem wise to turn this responsibility over to administrators, who are already overburdened and ill-equipped to do forensic investigations.

Questions? E-mail Allen Gilbert at agil-bert@post.harvard.edu

Allen Gilbert is the executive director of ACLU-Vermont and a member of the U-32 school board. As of press time, the bill referred to in this article

has not yet been introduced into the legislature. VSBA will provide updates on this and other ed-

ucation-related bills in our Education Legislative Reports available by email and on our website

(www.vtvsba.org).

The Vermont School Crisis Planning Team, supported by a grant from Vermont Homeland Security and Vermont Emergency Management, has funding available for school safety audits and visits for all Vermont public and private schools. The Team’s facilitators, comprised of retired principals and emergency responders, will assist schools in developing or reviewing their crisis response plans using the Vermont School Crisis Guide 2008. The guide is available in MS or PDF format at the Vermont Department of Education and Vermont Emergency Management web sites. A new FAQ section will be added to the sites this month with answers to school questions raised during facilitator visits. Topics will cover door locks, cell phones, Vermont 2-1-1 and recommendations for classrooms response kits. Districts or individual schools wishing to schedule visits can contact the Committee Chair, Stephen Earley, at searley@gmavt.net or call 802-434-4743.

Vermont School Crisis Planning visits still available.

15

$20 DVDsFree

Online VideosAgendas & Meetings• (12 minutes)

School Policy • (15 minutes)

Board Reorganizataion • (10 minutes)

VSBIT• (4 minutes)

Act 82 • (11 minutes)

Public Engagement • (11 minutes)

Robert’s Rules • (16 minutes)

Code of Conduct• (9 minutes)

Executive Session • (7 minutes)

Local Board Orientation • (5 minutes)

Public Complain Process • (4 minutes)

Basic Negotiations• (9 minutes)

Filling Board Vacancies • (6 minutes)

Budget Control Strategies • (5 minutes)

Vt School Board Standards • (6 minutes)

School Board Meetings • (6 minutes)

Board Work Sessions • (7 minutes)

Planning Agendas and Managing • Meetings (12 minutes)

Negotiations • (1 hour 20 mnutes)

School Policy • (40 minutes)

Passing the School Budget Under • Act 82 (1 hour 30 minutes)

Governance Options & Enrollment • Projections (1 hour 20 minutes)

Roles, Responsibilities & • Relationships (1 hour)

Improving Board Operations • (1 hour 10 minutes)

Conducting Board Hearings• (40 minutes)

Superintendent Evaluation • (30 minutes)

The Role of the School Board • Chair Person (5 minutes)

Policy Governance Board Role in:• Budgeting • (48 minutes)

Communication• (38 minutes)

(Several Policy Governance Options)

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