School Board Meeting

         The school board meeting I attended was different from how I thought it would be. There was a lot of people there (I think this was from a bunch of students from SUCO attending), and there was not as many  parents attending as I thought. There was a few parents that shared their story with the board, and there were also community members present to share their ideas to the board.The process of the school board meeting was very formal. They had an agenda of what they needed to discuss and gave time for others to present what they needed to.
         There was many different issues discussed. The school board had a presenter come to show them his suggested plans of renovation in the three schools. I thought it was important that he presented ideas on how to make the school safer with cameras and scan cards to get in and out of the building. A parent also shared her story with the board about her son being hurt on the school bus twice. I thought that it was sad she did not get the answers she was looking for and that her son had to go through that pain twice. I think that the school bus garage should be able to influence the actions of the drivers and push them to make safer conditions on the bus. I was surprised that the school board did not answer any of the questions that were asked by the audience but instead just heard what they had to say.
         I wish I had witnessed more participation within the audience. I was glad that I saw some parents voice their concerns but it would be interesting if I was able to see members of the school itself presenting information to the board. I think to get more people involved with the school board I would allow for a time during the meeting for more of a dialogue between the board and concerned parents. The school board even stated during the meeting that it was not a meeting that had "dialogue." Which I thought was odd, the parent had to wait until after the meeting to get her questions answered.
         In chapter 9 of Teachers, Schools and Society, I thought it described the purpose of the school board well. I thought it was interesting to see the plans of the renovation being presented to the board and suggestions made to them. I think the discussion between the board members about the presentation had very good points. Overall I enjoyed my experience at the board meeting and would like to go to another one to see what other topics they cover.