...And Continue with Overseeing, not Micromanaging

At every major company, a Board of Directors is in place to oversee the company CEO and work out large scale policy and procedure issues. You would never expect the Board of Directors to hire a QA analyst or a customer service representative. Those decisions are relegated to the supervisors of those departments. That supervisor knows what he or she needs for a particular position. They have the experience, knowledge, and training to do their job. It is a day-to-day operation. The Board of Directors are to put the system or method in place to be followed and places a certain degree of trust in that CEO to make the best choices for the good of the company. The Board of Directors are also responsible to see that the company is fiscally solvent.

The Board of Education should facilitate the same role on a public level. The hiring committees in place at each school, along with the administrators, are responsible for following the procedures that are set up to execute the hiring of personnel that will fit the position that needs filling both from a professional stand point and that of interaction among the existing staff. Their recommendation should then go to the superintendent to interview the final candidate or two, again because they have expertise in the field of education. The final candidate is then presented to the BOE for hire.

Most Board of Education members are not professional teachers, administrators, custodians, or secretaries, and as such could not be expected to make good hiring/firing decisions for a field they have limited understanding of for day-to-day operations. Looking at resumes does not present an overall picture of how effective a person will be at those jobs. Finding and hiring a quality superintendent is the same as finding that top notch CEO at a company. By hiring a good, qualified, superintendent who does have that understanding of best practices, the BOE could rely upon that superintendent to do their job and trust their judgment that this is the best person for the position as they in turn hire the individual school administrators. In essence, it is a trickledown effect. Having BOE members review applications alone and chose a person other than the one selected by the hiring committees, principals and superintendent after all the other steps have been taken, shows a lack of faith in the personnel that took part in that process. A BOE member can still be part of the hiring process as part of the hiring committee if desired.

The BOE should be more concerned with the overall vision for the future of education and its long range goals than the micromanagement of every day operations like the rearrangement of desks at Central Office. Again, that should be a Central Office decision. Are we going to implement All Day Kindergarten or perhaps offer Spanish for 5^th graders? Are we going to strive for a maximum 18:1 student teacher ratio in grades K-3? What ways can we better communicate the support we need from the community to achieve these goals? How can we further minimize our operating budget without sacrificing the students' needs? What other support can we offer our teachers and staff in the way of training and funding that training from sources other than our operating budget? How can we work with our unions to come to agreements we all can live with and will help us retain the best staff?

 Stephen, Diane and I plan on addressing these questions and concerns, as well as the ones you, the public, have expressed at our listening sessions. We look forward to working with the district's staff to create a plan for now and the future while supporting and trusting them to fulfill their role educating the youth of Oxford. We will continue to listen to YOU!

Sincerely,

Amy Cote

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www.voterowaoxfordboe.com

email: RowAForOxfordBOE@gmail.com