Three Low-Cost Day One Proposals
The community has lost faith and trust in the Fairbanks North Star Borough school board and school district administration. As I have detailed in many past submissions to the News-Miner, questions are pre-screened, information is selectively presented, clever word games are played, and minimal dialog takes place with those who have dissenting opinions. A major reason that I decided to run for School Board Seat F is my frustration with these “control the narrative” tactics. We cannot improve our school district until the current dynamic is altered. I propose three changes that can be implemented immediately at little or no cost.
Educators have firsthand knowledge of what is and is not working; they have the insight and experience to suggest solutions. Currently their only mechanism to provide feedback at a school board meeting is for a representative to give testimony, time limited to three minutes, during the public comment period. The first proposal is simple. At every school board meeting, the three associations that represent teachers (Fairbanks Education Association, FEA), staff (Education Support Staff Association, ESSA), and principals (Fairbanks Principals’ Association, FPA) should have the option of presenting a report.
One reason that the community often receives only part of the story with respect to district issues is that district leaders are rarely compelled to respond to the tough questions. The second proposed idea is one that I am sure is used by many organizations but that I have encountered in my day job interacting with NASA. A week or so before they stage a virtual “town hall” with a selected audience (in my case, researchers for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate), a web site pops up where anyone can pose a question for the administrators conducting the town hall. All questions that have been posed are listed, and others can go to the web site and upvote a question that they like. During the ensuing town hall, the administrator is required to address some number of the most upvoted questions. This system could easily be implemented in our district to require the superintendent or his designee to answer a few questions from the community during each school board meeting.
Right now major decisions are made with minimal knowledge of where the community stands and without fully disseminating what is known. Our school district already has a developed capability to survey parents, students, teachers, staff, and the community regarding district-wide issues. Unfortunately, this system is usually used for minor issues like shifting the school calendar a few days. School start times is the only significant issue for which I can recall parents being surveyed over the last few years. My third proposed idea is to allow school board members to survey the community in a controlled fashion to gauge interest regarding a variety of current issues and ideas. Every other board meeting, a board member could put forth a question or idea. Parents, guardians, teachers, and staff would take a short survey and have the option to add comments. Results would be reported at the next board meeting. Here’s an example:
Topic area - Transportation to schools of choice.
Proposal - The school district should seek to partner with local shuttle services to develop a jitney service for transportation to schools of choice, with the district covering costs for students from low-income families.
Please rate on a 1-5 scale, with 5 indicating highest interest, your interest in this general topic and this specific proposal. Please provide any additional thoughts you may have.
To summarize: dedicated speaking time for employee associations, superintendent question time, and surveys from school board members. I believe that implementing these three modest, low-cost ideas will jump-start the process of regaining the faith and trust of the community in our school district. In different ways, each of them encourages transparency and honesty, and provides accountability and engagement.
