query: school board democracy

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed:  apologies to Kathleen for her query getting lost in the shuffle.
Those of you doing school-oriented organizing can probably help here.]

From: Kathleen Staudt <kstaudt at mail.utep.edu
Subject: school board democracy? query

Hello Comm Org folks.  I posted this to the Inst. for Democracy in
Education and would like to hear from you too.

From: MosiAsha at aol.com

Greetings,

I am new to the list, but have a long-standing interest in and commitment
to democracy in education.  I've taught political science for over twenty
years at the U of Texas at El Paso (note in cc my work email address), plus
I connect to Teacher Preparation programs on my campus through teaching
Schools in Communities and working with public schools (esp. social studies
faculty).

In many of the courses I teach, students are asked to attend one of the
nine Independent School District (ISD) School Board meetings in the county.
 For many, it is the first time they have occupied such public space and
they are struck by low meeting attendance, the quality of dialogue, etc.
Voter turnout for school board elections is usually less than 10% of
registered voters in the region.

My query is this:  Do any of you have sustained activities in your
community to increase civic/democratic health in school board governance
and relations with the public?  I'm particularly interested in samples of
instruments that might be used for systematic observation of our many
boards in order to generate documentation for the democratic renewal of
these public spaces.

Kathy Staudt Professor of Political Science


Kathleen Staudt
Department of Political Science
University of Texas at El Paso
Phone: (915) 747-5227
FAX: (915) 747-5400