Dear George,

I'd like to add my two cents to the elected school board discussion on your blog, if I may.

There seem to be two themes expressed by some opponents of elected school boards. It ain't broke, so don't fix it. Distrust of others and inability to understand why others distrust the appointed school board.

In the first case, it's often difficult to find a clear cause and effect relationship. Is an elected school board a necessary and sufficient condition that will improve the schools? No.

If opponents remain bitter, that by itself could impair the effectiveness of the new board. The ruling party, conservative in nature and adverse to change, will likely try to sabotage the new board given council's history. One way would be to convert it from mixed ward-atlarge to straight atlarge election of the seven members after the referendum simply by dragging their feet on the enabling legislation.

Since logic cannot answer whether elected is better, we look for correlation or anecdotal evidence that elected is better than appointed.

"Our process for selecting school-board members has worked well for the 37 years I’ve been unofficially watching. A one-year glitch should not demolish a system that’s gained for our city a reputation and a reality of strong, diverse participation." -- Virginia Germino

"I couldn't possibly agree more with Virginia Germino (re:appointed school boards), I would only take exception to her comment on "token salaries"; having spent three years and fifteen days on the Charlottesville School Board, I think my total remuneration was a few sandwiches and coffee for special luncheon meetings.

"The hours were long, the tasks, difficult, but we managed to accomplish much - kindergarten classes were established; we started the first transportation system, ending the "get there any way you can"
problem; we closed the McGuffey School, ending what was essentially the "warehousing" of children with handicaps and learning disabilities; we broke ground for the new high school; we initiated a student school board, involving the kids and getting their ideas and criticisms; and,among other accomplishments, we were the first school system in the Commonwealth of Virginia to unanimously vote to abolish corporal punishment (overturned by the Attorney General because it was state mandated,but later outlawed)." -- Harry Tenney

Why is picking out good things that have coincided with an appointed school board a weak argument?

Because someone may come along and point out a few bad things.

Under the appointed school board, we have a policy of not maintaining our capital resources, such as school buildings. By the time McGuffy was abandoned in the early 1970s, it had already fallen into a delapidated condition. Was the school closed because the building was warehousing children, or because the school board had a policy of warehousing children? By this time, the Midway school at the top of Vinegar Hill had been let go by the board. With the new high school, there would no longer be a need for Lane High, now the Albemarle County Office Building. And most recently in 2002, the appointed board split up Jefferson preschool and gave the 1926 building back to city council.

Jefferson was by far the oldest educational institution among the city schools. While the originial building did not survive, the institution was created in 1865 as an all-black private school.

Just by looking at the history of closing schools, you can infer that appointed boards value new and cheap over old and meaningful. You should want to maintain your schools over time because they become a shared experience in the community and across generations.

They help build trust and make people feel more secure. Old schools are living historical markers.

Decades after graduation, you can go back and feel the memories vividly. So, could you say appointed school boards place a low value on historical continuity within a community?

The appointed board system defied state and federal court orders to desegregate. Political appointees decided not to open city schools in the fall of 1958.

The appointed board coincided with the creation and expansion of an achievement gap that did not exist before integration. The growing numbers of well-educated blacks was the driving force to desegregate.

Do you get my point? You could go on and on in this line of reasoning. I'd hardly call the history of the appointed school board in Charlottesville a "one-year glitch."

What about the distrust? Let's start with why the public doesn't trust the appointed school board. They keep closing our schools. We can't trust them to maintain and preserve our heritage. Test scores have been on a longterm decline. We can't trust them to teach our kids.

"Finally, why are we having this referendum at all?

The reason, as everyone knows, lies in the deep divide that surfaced last year. Some were angry because they saw no support for Dr. Griffin; others were angry because they thought she should not have been supported at all. Both sides felt they were ignored.

School board meetings provided the setting for these opposing angers to be expressed and the school board took the blame from both sides. It deserved a share.
But it makes no sense to overhaul the entire system because of the events of one tumultuous year. Let’s keep our eye on the prize and vote no." -- Paul Gaston

As everyone knows? One tumultuous year? What about in 2002 when Kevin Cox was trying to get this issue on the ballot? Was that effort motivated by a single year of dissatisfaction, too? The smarter and more informed you are on city schools, the more likely you are to support trying a new idea. The more you oppose the change, the more likely you have a personal stake, such as a reputation or legacy or income, and hence unwilling or unable to accept the painful truth as documented everywhere. Opponents seem to feel that any change would undermine their authority and bring down the house of cards.

Why don't supporters of the appointed school board trust the public? Some of it is what I call education discrimination or educational dominance. That's when you're required to have academic credentials in order to participate in the discussion. Otherwise, your ideas are ignored. In the work world, this is when a capable employee is passed over in preference to a less capable employee who happens to have a degree. At its core, the appointed board excludes new ideas, which has simply led to a bankruptcy of ideas.

If you still oppose reform, stop and think about how you're feeling right now. What I've said has made you feel bad. Therefore you don't like me. So you certainly would not want to appoint me to the board.
At the heart of it, public education is intended to empower people to voice painful truths that lead to beneficial change. The scientific method strives to rise above your expectations because they prevent you from seeing reality. So would it be fair to say the appointed school board is anti-education?

How about this painful truth? Some of you may remember that I applied for the school board this year. I was bringing a perspective from the other side of the achievement gap. After the final interview with city council, which was open to the public for the first time, two city councilors thanked me for my candor and said my honesty was refreshing. I interpreted that to mean they appointed dishonest people to the school board. And somehow we're supposed to trust the current system.

One part of the achievement gap is they don't recognize your achievement. Take me for example. Since I have a different creed, I can't get any credit for defining the eminent domain issue, which made it possible for people to talk about it. In the world of education, creating a body of knowledge is good only if it agrees with you. Maybe if I had a degree in journalism. A lot of history has come out in Charlottesville in the last 5 years. I don't take credit for it being negative. That's the nature of the subject.

I hope I have been insightful and thought-provoking.

So I say to the appointed school board supporters what has been said to me a million times-- Change is hard.

But you can't stop progress.

Sincerely,

Blair Hawkins (electronic mail, November 5, 2005)