After last weeks blow-up with the school board, we got a little curious about how parents can best bring things to the attention of the board for action. The following is the conclusions of one of my teachers who looked into the issue:

In the Bellevue School District, it’s not the Superintendent that deserves our attention, but the Board of Directors – an independent, self-driven, and internally staffed group of decision-makers that not only oversees the regular and special business of the district but also delegates authority and oversees the work of the district Superintendent. Oddly, however, accessing the decision-making power of the board is problematic. First, consider the agenda: the board meeting agenda is compiled by Anne Oxrider, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent. Miss Oxrider compiles special agenda items from various departments within the district and organizes them within the “consent agenda”—the usual business and format agreed to and voted on at the beginning of each board meeting. The board will then hear a report from the Superintendent, and then move to dinner and an executive session. Shortly after 7:00pm, the board will sit for the “Audience Hearing”—at which time the public may weigh in, with any issue, on a first-come, first-serve basis. The board will not, however, make any decisions or receive any new proposals or propositions to be voted on from this hearing. Furthermore, this access to the board is largely at the pleasure of the board, which has no direct legal imperative to respond to the public in any official action. So, with limited access to the board and no way to initiate a vote or even a discussion of publicly offered proposals, access to the decision-making power of the board remains unclear at best, unavailable at worst. Furthermore, the Superintendent is the delegated executive of the board. He/she is charged to execute the will of the board only. As a result, while the public does have access to the Superintendent via regular election, the work of the Superintendent is largely driven by a board that citizens have essentially no access to. This is troubling. It even seems unlikely. Aren’t I missing something? There has to be a clearer route for citizen involvement in decision-making in their public schools! I must be missing it. I hope that I am!
Stay connected to http://www.bellevueschooldistrictparent.com and I’ll keep working on this. These are our schools—our children.