The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Want to run for school board?
Feb. 2 workshop slated to help candidates
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
By Laura Catalano, Special to the Local News
The May primary elections may be months away, but it's not too early to start thinking about running for the school board.
Prospective candidates should start the process of getting on the ballot soon. Unfortunately, many have no idea how to go about running for school board.
The Chester County Intermediate Unit wants to change that by hosting a workshop on how to run for a school board seat. The seminar is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, at the IU's Educational Service Center, 455 Boot Road, Downingtown.
Participants will learn the basics on how to get on the ballot, including information about deadlines, signature requirements and party affiliation. They will also get a brief overview of the roles, responsibilities and commitments involved in being a school board member.
A representative of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association will discuss the support school boards are given on the state level, and CCIU Executive Director Joseph J. O'Brien will speak.
This is the first time the IU has held a workshop for prospective school board candidates. Administrators decided to hold the meeting, which is not restricted to county residents, at the suggestion of West Vincent resident Rob Johnson.
Johnson organized a similar meeting two years ago for the Owen J. Roberts School District community at a time when many residents were dissatisfied with the board. A parent of two children in the district, Johnson had been hoping to attract new people to the board.
Twenty-one people attended his information session in January 2009, and 17 candidates had their names on the May primary election ballot.
Johnson later helped organize a slate of candidates to run in the regular election.
For the 2011 election, Johnson originally considered holding a series of similar sessions, one for OJR residents and several for other districts, such as Great Valley, which has six open seats. But he quickly found that not all school districts were supportive of the idea, and school administrators and school directors alike questioned his role as organizer.
Johnson then turned to the CCIU and asked if it would be interested in holding a session open to anyone seeking information about running for a school board. Administrators there liked his idea.
"I believe a school board member is an extremely important part of the educational process. They set the direction for the educational program that, for some (Chester County) districts, affects as many as 12,000 students. I think it's important for the community to know how to go about the process of running for that position," said Mary Curley, CCIU communications director.
Curley said it makes sense for the intermediate unit to organize the workshop.
"We're centrally located in the county, so it's convenient for most people in the county to get here," she said. "And we're used to providing workshops on a countywide basis for parents, teachers, community members and administrators."
For his part, Johnson is pleased that area residents will have a forum for learning the basics about becoming a school board candidate.
"It could have a positive impact if we have a pipeline of new people coming through the system," he said. "If the information is out there, I think there will be more people who want to get involved."
With the IU involved, Johnson's primary role has been to help promote the workshop. Nevertheless, he said the workshop could provide interested residents the impetus to be candidates.
"School board members do an important job," he said. "We need to think down the line so we have more people take on that role. As budgets get tighter we need clear-headed people to make decisions about what should be cut. When you have good people, you are more likely to get good decisions."
He said he hopes the session is well attended and perhaps a series of sessions will be held in future years. And he's spoken with the PSBA about introducing the idea to other intermediate units statewide.
The session is free. For more information or to register, call 484-237-5171 or e-mail Kathy Gurnee at kathyg@cciu.org.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/01/25/news/srv0000010735531.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. Although I asked people to sign their comments (or at least use their initials), I have only been getting 'anonymous' comments. I have changed the settings to that the posts will need some sort of identifier.