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Why School Boards Matter - by Scott R Levy (Paperback)
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About this item
Highlights
- How school boards are uniquely positioned to strengthen our public education system and our democracy.
- About the Author: Scott Levy is Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
- 286 Pages
- Education, Administration
Description
About the Book
"A defense of an essential American institution - the public school board - with strategies for strengthening both democratic structures and education outcomes for students"--
Book Synopsis
How school boards are uniquely positioned to strengthen our public education system and our democracy.
In Virginia, a contentious school board meeting led to an arrest and trespassing summons. In Utah, eleven people were charged with disorderly conduct after a board meeting turned chaotic. Not long ago, school boards conducted mundane district business. Understudied and underreported, they were an afterthought of centrally driven education reform efforts. Now, across blue, purple, and red states, school boards have become the epicenter of heated debates, reflecting society's deep divisions. In Why School Boards Matter, Scott Levy challenges conventional wisdom by reminding us of the essential role school boards play.
While battles in the boardroom may be uncomfortable, they exemplify how passionate Americans are about education. As policymakers debate the federal government's role in K-12 and states pursue sharply divergent policies, Levy offers a roadmap that empowers school boards to tackle intractable public education challenges, including initiative fatigue, district climate, and accountability. School boards are where theory meets practice, where federal and state requirements converge with local policies, and where constituents can advocate for important issues affecting our children today. Every K-12 stakeholder--administrators, teachers, parents, and students alike--has a vested interest in understanding how school boards shape education.
Review Quotes
"Thoughtful, earnest, well-researched... Levy offers a dozen worthy suggestions for improving the functioning as well as the span of control of local school boards: curbing state and federal interference, recruiting stronger candidates to run, providing better training for those who win, improving relations with the superintendent, and much more."
--Education Next
About the Author
Scott Levy is Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has been elected four times to a local public school board in Westchester County, NY, and has served as president of a regional school boards association. He has also served as chairman of a children's hospital and Executive Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He spent two decades as an investment banker advising corporate boards and senior executives.