2008 October/November Alabama School Boards Magazine

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FEATURES5 2007-08

PRESIDENT'SAWARD WINNERSAt District Meetings, AASB

honored 43 school boards with

strong board participation in

2007-08 Academy events.

10 FACE TO FACESen. Quinton T. Ross Jr. serves on

the Senate Education Committee

and the Finance and Taxation,

Education Committee.

12 IT’S NOT YOURGRANDPA’S CIVIC CLASSCivic engagement has long addressed

public concerns and the common

good. Civic engagement today

is so much more!

13 10 ATTITUDES FOREFFECTIVE 21stCENTURY LEADERS

14 2008 MEDIA HONOR ROLLSchool boards honor 73 media profes-

sionals and organizations for fair and

balanced coverage of K-12 education.

16 COVER STORYPre-K Push: Budget woes aside, the call

for a statewide public pre-K

program is gaining support.

26 10 QUESTIONSAuthor Calvin K. Clemons

discusses his no-nonsense guide

to quality board service.

IN EVERY ISSUE4 UP FRONT

6 EDUCATION & THE LAW

15 HELP

27 CALENDAR

28 PEOPLE & SCHOOLS

31 AT THE TABLEON THE COVER: photo©istockPhoto.com

OFFICERSPRESIDENTSue Helms

Madison City

PRESIDENT-ELECTFlorence Bellamy

Phenix City

VICE PRESIDENTSteve Foster

Lowndes County

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENTJim Methvin

Alabama School of Fine Arts

STAFFEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sally Brewer Howell, J.D.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERKen Roberts, C.P.A.

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONSDenise L. Berkhalter

DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONSLissa Astilla Tucker

DIRECTOR OF BOARD DEVELOPMENTLuAnn Bird

MEETING/MARKETING COORDINATORMandy Fernandez

MEMBERSHIP COORDINATORDebora Hendricks

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTTammy Wright

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTSDonna Norris

BOOKKEEPERKay Shaw

STAFF ASSISTANTLashana Summerlin

CLERICAL ASSISTANTPaulina Woods

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

DISTRICT 1

Patsy Black

Monroe County

DISTRICT 2

Bill Minor

Dallas County

DISTRICT 3

Jeff Bailey

Covington County

DISTRICT 4

Katy S. Campbell

Macon County

DISTRICT 5

Jennifer Parsons

Jefferson County

DISTRICT 6

Sue Jones

Jacksonville

DISTRICT 7

Susan Harris

Winfield

DISTRICT 8

Pam Doyle

Muscle Shoals

DISTRICT 9

Laura Casey

Albertville

STATE BOARD

Sandra Ray

Tuscaloosa

Alabama S chool Boards • October/November 2008 3

PUBLICATION POLICYAlabama School Boards is published by theAlabama Association of School Boards as aservice to its members. The articles publishedin each issue represent the ideas or beliefs ofthe writers and are not necessarily the viewsof the Alabama Association of School Boards.Subscriptions sent to members of schoolboards are included in membership dues,and complimentary copies are sent to publicschool principals throughout the state. Additional subscriptions can be obtained by contacting AASB.

Entered as third-class mail at Montgomery, AL. Permit No. 34.

Alabama School Boards is designed by J. Durham Design, L.L.C., Montgomery, AL.

Address all editorial and advertising inquiries to: Alabama School Boards, Editor, P.O. Drawer 230488, Montgomery, AL36123-0488. Phone: 334/277-9700 ore-mail [email protected].

InsideInside

8GRANT HELPS

AASB GROW PRE-KAWARENESS

8

ADVANCING BYRETREATINGBoard retreats bring tremendous

bang for the buck

2020

2424

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2008

Vol. 29, No. 4

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org

PRE-K POINTERSThe role of the board

in ensuring quality

preschool experiences

for all students

4 Alabama S chool Boards • October/November 2008

Decatur Students Take 7 Steps to SuccessDecatur’s 12 elementary schools regularly incorporate lessons

on the “7 Habits of a Highly Effective People” in the school day

to teach students respect and responsibility. The lessons are

based on the best-selling book written by Dr. Stephen R. Covey.

The FranklinCovey company chose Decatur City Schools as the

model school system to pilot its seven habits program. The company trains business-

people to exercise the seven steps — be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put

first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand, synergize and sharpen the

saw (physical and mental self renewal). The Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of

Commerce is also partnering in the $300,000 effort. FranklinCovey plans to expand

the program to 50 other elementary schools worldwide.

Alabama’s average scale score of 148 on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing assessment for eighth-grade reflected a six-point gain. The Nation’s Report Card reported the national average in ’07 was 154.

STATE TREND: ROUNDABOUT SAFETYCities across the state — such as Montgomery, Huntsville

and Athens — are installing roundabouts to control high-

traffic intersections. Roundabouts raise a question of

pedestrian safety and the need to educate walkers and

bikers, including students, on how to safely traverse

roundabouts. Roundabouts: Another Safe Intersection is a

book created by an Oregon city that targets students in

grades 3-5. Download your copy at http://www.

ci.bend.or.us/roundabouts/docs/Activity—book.pdf.

&Trends,Research Dates

UPFRONT

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the newly elected directors in AASB’s odd-numbered

districts. Stephanie Walker of Brewton has been elected District 1

director and will replace Patsy Black. Brett Whitehead of Tuscaloosa

County is the new District 7 director and will succeed Susan Harris.

Laura Casey will turn over the District 9 director reins to Dr. Shelia

Nash-Stevenson of Madison City. Jennifer Parsons of Jefferson

County has been re-elected as District 5 director, and Troy school board

member Roxie Kitchens will be the District 3 director since there was

no opposition. Each director’s two-year term will begin at the close of

AASB’s convention Dec. 6. ■

TAXES AND SCHOOLS■ Constitutional Amendment 3 - On Nov. 4, voters statewide gave Madison

city permission to collect 10.5-mills in property tax from annexed residents in

Limestone County. It passed with 50.4 percent voting yes.

■ Question No. 2 - Residents in unincorporated areas of Lee County

defeated Question No. 2 Nov. 4 by 65 percent. The sales tax

will not be raised by a penny to 8 cents on the dollar outside

the corporate limits of Auburn, Opelika, Phenix City and

Smiths Station. The money would’ve been used to

enhance school safety.

■ Voters in Hale County rejected a 15-mill ad valorem

tax that would’ve provided for issuing bonds to

support general education needs. There were

2,663 “no”votes cast and 1,866 yes votes

in the September election.

148 BY THE NUMBERS

SAY WHAT?“We have to do something

about education. You just can't

get the jobs without it. ...

Sometimes when I look at

Alabamians, I see them trying

to wish their problems away instead of rolling up their

sleeves and making it happen, making the painful

changes. People say, ‘That’s the way it’s always been.’

But that's not the way it always has to be.”

— Dr. David G. Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama

in a Montgomery Living magazine interview

Compiled by Denise Berkhalter

Jennifer Parsons Brett Whitehead Roxie Kitchens Dr. Sheila Nash-Stevenson


School Boards Earn AASB President’s AwardForty-three boards received the prestigious President’s Award during the Alabama Association of School Boards’ Sept. 15-

Oct. 2 regional meetings. In addition to a discussion of “Cyberspace in Our Schools: Student Issues in a Digital Environment,”

the fall district meetings agenda included award presentations in the nine AASB districts to boards dedicated to improving their boardmanship

skills. District directors and AASB President Sue Helms of Madison presented plaques to the honored boards. At least 60 percent of the boards’

members have attended three or more AASB School Board Member Academy courses in the 2007-08 academy year that ended June 30.

The 2007-08 President’s Award Winners include:■ District 1: Brewton, Mobile County, Monroe County and Thomasville school boards.

■ District 2: Butler County, Demopolis, Lowndes County, Perry County and Selma school boards.

■ District 3: Enterprise and Geneva County school boards.

■ District 4: Auburn, Bullock County, Elmore County, Macon County, Montgomery County, Phenix City

and Russell County school boards.

■ District 5: Bessemer, Birmingham, Fairfield, Midfield, Shelby County and Tarrant school boards.

■ District 6: Cherokee County, Etowah County, Pell City, Sylacauga, Talladega and Talladega County

school boards.

■ District 7: Greene County, Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County

and Winfield school boards.

■ District 8: Lauderdale County, Lawrence County,

Limestone County, Morgan County, Muscle Shoals,

Russellville and Winston County school boards.

■ District 9: Jackson County

and Scottsboro

school boards.

43


EDUCATION & THE LAW

oards of education need policies addressing theobligation to preserve all electronic materials thatcould be relevant to pending or anticipated law-

suits and to retrieve and produce these materials in thecourse of such litigation. Failure to meet these obliga-tions — which apply to boards and their schools —may subject the board and/or the individuals involvedto sanctions and liability.

Policies regarding electronic record preservationand production should apply to the board’s business-related electronic information wherever it is stored —at a board or school work station, on any laptop orPDA and even at an employee’s home. The informa-tion at issue includes all forms of electronic communi-cations and records, such as e-mail, word processing,calendars, voice messages, videos, photographs andother digital information.

Special Preservation of RecordsWhen a lawsuit is filed — or reasonably anticipated

— the board has a duty to take special precautions toprevent the loss of potentially relevant electronic data.Unless circumstances require a different approach, thefollowing protocol should be followed to comply withthese legal obligations.

1. Document Preservation Plan

When a lawsuit is commenced against the board —or information is received such that a lawsuit is rea-sonably anticipated — the board, superintendent ora designee should develop a preservation plan out-lining the immediate steps that need to be taken.The plan should generally include some or all of thefollowing basic steps:a. Identify the operating department and individu-

als who might possess electronic data.b. Send a “litigation hold” — meant to ensure that

relevant data or documents are not destroyed —to the appropriate individuals, which shall defineand identify records to be preserved and directthat the records be preserved and how to do so.

Don't Delete that Document —

Until You Read This! By JoClaudia Moore, Balch & Bingham LLP

phot

o©is

tock

Phot

o.co

m

B

When it comes to the preservation

and production of electronic records,

court decisions and rules have placed

substantial obligations on public

and private organizations.

c. Designate a specific person to coordinate and serveas a contact.

2. Duties of Persons Receiving a Litigation HoldA person receiving a litigation hold has a duty to pre-serve all records in the person’s possession or scope ofresponsibility that are identified in the litigation hold.This duty is effective immediately. In particular, the per-son must:a. Suspend any board or divisional policies or proce-

dures that might call for the routine destruction ofelectronic records under the recipient’s control.

b. Discontinue personal practices regarding the destruc-tion of electronic records. For example, the deletionof possibly relevant e-mails, voice mails, drafts ofdocuments and the like must also be suspended.

c. Disable any “janitorial” functions, such as the auto-matic deletion of e-mails or other electronic records.The designated computer support person should beimmediately contacted if assistance is required to dis-able such functions.

d. Protect and preserve all electronic records in theiroriginal electronic form, so that all information withinit, whether visible or not, is available for inspection.In other words, electronic records must be pre-served, regardless of whether they have beenreduced to a hard copy or whether a hard copyalready exists.

e. Protect and preserve any hard copies of electronicrecords.

f. Protect and preserve any new information that isgenerated or received that may be relevant to the lit-igation after receipt of a litigation hold.

g. Advise the designated information technology repre-sentative of any personal information that maypotentially be affected by the litigation hold.

3. Ending Preservation ResponsibilitiesWhen the litigation, or the threat of litigation, thatprompted the litigation hold has ended, the person issu-ing the litigation hold will inform those who receivedthe notice that they are no longer under any specialobligations to preserve the identified categories of mate-rials. At that point, only the board’s normal retentionschedules will apply to the records.

Retrieval of Electronic Records for Discovery

After a lawsuit is filed and when the board receives arequest from an opposing party for production, or “discov-ery,” of electronic records, the board’s counsel and the

board, superintendent or a designee will determine thebest approach to take in order to efficiently produce acomplete and accurate response.

The response may consist of any or all of the following:(1.) supplying the requested information; (2.) attempting toobtain a modification of the request (e.g., by narrowing the request’s scope or obtaining agreement as to specificsearch terms); or (3.) declining to provide some or all ofthe requested data based upon expense of production orother basis.

1. Records RetrievalWhere some or all of the requested records must beretrieved, reviewed and potentially disclosed, the fol-lowing options should be considered to select the bestapproach to the specific request:a. Relying on the Computer User: In many instances,

it is reasonable and sufficient to simply ask the com-puter user to identify, copy and provide potentially-responsive electronic records and to certify that thesesteps have been taken. In these instances, the pro-duction of electronic data resembles the typical pro-duction of physical documents.

b. Enlisting Board Technical Support: Sometimes partic-ular concerns about an individual user’s time, skill ordependability in identifying the universe of respon-sive records will warrant the direct involvement ofthe relevant system administrator or other boardtechnical support personnel.

c. Using Outside Consultants: Where identification orrecovery of records requires technical expertisebeyond that readily available from internal resources,an outside firm may be called upon for some or allof the work.

2. Post-Retrieval ReviewAs potentially-responsive electronic records are gath-ered, board attorneys will review the retrieved data forlegal relevance and privilege or other protected statusand will handle all formal and informal responses to thediscovery requests.

3. Post-Production DutiesThe duty to preserve and produce information relatedto a lawsuit does not end with an initial production

of records. Relevant information andrecords generated after the litigation holdmust be preserved for future retrieval asthe lawsuit progresses. ■

JoClaudia Moore is an attorney with Balch & Bingham

LLP of Montgomery. She may be contacted at

[email protected].


’m pleased to announce that AASB has an opportunity tobroaden its pre-K support thanks to a $447,000 Pew Char-itable Trusts grant awarded to the National School Boards

Association and the Center for Public Education. The funding allows our association to join the center’s

Pre-K Network, a two-year effort to build support for highquality, voluntary pre-K education among school boardmembers in select states.

Alabama and Kentucky are the only two state associationsentering the second phase of the network.

Kansas and Texas, which will also advance into phase 2,participated in the first phase of funding along with Ohio. Inthese states, the grant helped inform local school boardmembers, state policymakers and the general public aboutthe benefits of pre-K education and effective pre-K policiesand programs.

NSBA’s Executive Director Anne Bryant tells us she isdelighted to continue the partnership with the Pew Charita-ble Trusts and is especially glad to have us participate in thisimportant work.

She also said the last two years have shown that schoolboards will back pre-K because of its proven link to narrow-ing achievement gaps and increasing student success.

Not only is AASB honored to be chosen for the pre-K net-work, but we are very proud of Alabama’s national acco-lades for high quality pre-kindergarten programs.

We look forward to working with local school boards andwith other champions of children to inspire creative ways toexpand quality pre-K education to many more 4-year-olds inthis state.

This is collaborative work, so please share with us yourexperiences in the pre-K arena. We want to know what thesuccesses, challenges and hopes are, and we want to collectexamples of best practices that operate pre-K as a pathway toincreased school readiness.

Expect more from us onthis issue in the monthsto come. ■


EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE

By Sally Howell, J.D., AASB Executive Director

Pew Grant Helps AASB Grow Pre-K AwarenessThe Alabama Association of School Boards has long been a

proponent of preschool education — a fact scribed in our bylaws.

photo©istockPhoto.com

I


COMING SOON:

AASB DISTRICT MEETINGSMark your calendar for AASB’s winter 2009 district meetings.

Ken Roberts, AASB chief operations officer and director of

research, will present a School Finance Tip Sheet to help

boards better understand financial forecasting and how

to read financial statements. The dinner meetings will be

Jan. 12-Feb. 9 in each of AASB’s nine district. Attendees

earn one hour of School Board Member Academy credit.

For more information, contact AASB at 800/562-0601.

ACADEMY DATES TO REMEMBER:

December 4-6, 2008 . . . 2008 Annual Convention The Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover

December 4, 2008 . . . . . 2008 AASB Leadership II The Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover

March 13, 2009 . . . . . . . . 2009 AASB "Early Bird" Workshop The Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover

March 13-14, 2009 . . . . 2009 AASB Academy Core Conference The Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover

July 25-26, 2009 . . . . . . . 2009 AASB Leadership I Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach

July 26-28, 2009 . . . . . . . 2009 AASB Summer Conference Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach

December 3-5, 2009 . . . 2009 Annual Convention The Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover


en. Quinton T. Ross Jr. is a mover and

shaker in the Alabama Senate, serving on

the Education Committee and the Finance

and Taxation, Education Committee. Mont-

gomery County Board of Education member

Eleanor Dawkins sat down with Ross for a face-

to-face interview. Their candid conversation is

the latest installment in a series of features recapping discussions

between members of the Alabama Association of School Boards'

grassroots Leader to Leader program and key state leaders in govern-

ment and education.

▲ Dawkins: Thanks for being here. Thanks for what you dofor education. Tell us just a little bit about yourself and howyou came to be in the state Senate.

◆ Ross: I was born in Mobile, Ala., and raised in Pontiac,Mich. My dad is from Opelika. My mom is from Mobile. Iam a graduate of Alabama State University. I was a politi-cal science major and minored in English, but I ended upgetting my secondary education English master’s. So, Istarted teaching in 1995 at McIntyre Junior High School. Ilater received an administrative certification and wasadministrative assistant at Goodwyn Junior High School.Then I went on to become assistant principal at Booker T.Washington Magnet High School, where I later becameprincipal. I’ve always been involved in politics. I was amember of the Alabama Democratic Conference, and Iworked for the Alabama Democratic Party. So, there wasalways this connection with politics and education.

▲ Dawkins: You’ve been extremely instrumental in helpingpublic education, and I’m sure that is a result of your pub-lic education experience and education committee service.

◆ Ross: I tell people all the time that I have the best of bothworlds. Having been a classroom teacher, as well as anadministrator, I’m able to look at it from a very wide range— understanding the needs of a classroom teacher, but alsounderstanding the fiscal constraints that many of the super-intendents and principals are under when it comes down toeducational budgeting. I have to make sure we provide thevery best opportunity for our children and couple that withgood fiscal responsibility. That’s the bottom line.

When you see evidence of individuals who really don’tunderstand education creeping in and trying to make par-ticular cuts or trying to raid the Education Trust Fund, thenthat’s when you have to make the decisions and take thestand that you’re not going to let that happen to the chil-dren.

▲ Dawkins: That’s why you end up being our hero in moreways than one, which is what my next question is about.You were such a supporter and a hero to us when thetourism and summer camp industries were trying to set aschool start date statewide. Do you think that issue willcome back again?

◆ Ross: It probably will. As a matter of fact, I can rememberjust this summer getting an article that was sent out by amember of the House of Representatives pointing to the factthat yet another state had gone to a uniform start date. So,I’m confident that the issue will come back again. But, I amjust as adamant as I was before that I will fight to make surethat there is continuous local control amongst the boards tobe able to make that decision for the communities that theyserve. When you talk about the diverse communitiesthroughout the state, I really think that it’s a local issue. Itdefinitely should be left to the local boards to determinetheir school start dates.

▲ Dawkins: What has been your greatest challenge as itrelates to education issues? What has been your greatestjoy?

FACE TO FACE

By Eleanor Dawkins

Sen. Quinton Ross

Sen. Quinton Ross

S

ABOUT SEN. QUINTON T. ROSS JR.

A Montgomery resident; graduate of Alabama State University with a bachelor’s

degree in political science and a master’s in education; a doctoral degree

candidate in education leadership, policy and law; a member of Hutchinson

Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity; and

married to J. Kelley Ross, father of Quinmari T. Ross.

What he does: Serving a second term in the Alabama Senate and is director of

the Adult Education Consortium of H. Trenholm State Technical College.

Committees: Education; Finance and Taxation, Education; Constitution,

Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections; Energy and Natural Resources;

Governmental Affairs; Health; Rules; Tourism and Marketing; Veterans and

Military Affairs; and chairs Commerce, Transportation and Utilities.

Contact him: 334/242-7880


◆ Ross: The greatest challenge has been to ensure that we garner as much fiscal support for education as we possiblycan, considering the fiscal restraints that we’ve been under.Of course, we’ve taken precautions legislatively to try tosoften the blow in the event that proration is around thecorner. We’ve done things with the constitutional RainyDay Account and the statutory Proration PreventionAccount — again, to try to soften the blow. I think settingup those accounts have helped, but they are not the “catchall” solution. It has been a major challenge just to try tomake sure we have as much fiscal support for public edu-cation as we possibly can.

The joy has been in times when the budgets have beenrobust and we’ve been able to use those funds to buildon the many programs that we have in our schools — thedistance learning programs, the technology, the readinginitiative. Of course, we’re talked about across the coun-try in terms of our reading initiative. Those types of thingsmake me feel wonderful about what we do for publiceducation in the state. It’s a double-edged sword becausejust as soon as you provide the funding for those types ofprograms the economy can dictate that now you have togo back and cut. But, I think many of us have taken theposition that we’ll do everything that we can to protectpublic education.

▲ Dawkins: What do you see as the biggest challenge facingthe state Legislature?

◆ Ross: Without question it’s going to be the budgets. We justmade it by this past budget year in doing what we considerlevel funding. The real test will be dealing with the fiscalyear to come. Of course — as we see that the receipts havenot been good in the state in terms of percentage growth

and just don’t see it getting any better — the challenge isgoing to be how we are going to deal with it come thisnext legislative session for the future budgets. The fiscal isalways going to be the issue.

▲ Dawkins: Now, local school boards struggle for every dol-lar and strive to help our students achieve and succeed andto address the many needs of the schools. How can webetter juggle the funds or the costs of the unfunded man-dates with the very, very real needs of our children in theclassroom?

◆ Ross: I’m working on my dissertation for my doctorate ineducational leadership, policy and law, and the subject thatI’m writing on is the perception of No Child Left Behind bymembers of the state Senate. A lot of times when thosemandates are passed down by the federal government,there is no real connection or communication with statelegislators in terms of what could come out of them pass-ing mandates that they don’t necessarily send money with.Though some states buck the system against No Child LeftBehind with lawsuits and things of that nature, they ulti-mately end up kind of conforming to the mandate becausethey couldn’t do without the money that is attached. As astate, we’ve done well — considering — dealing with man-dates versus how much we have locally. In times of greatfinancial distress, it becomes really burdensome.

What we’re going to have to do is slow down and takea closer look. We get a lot of Title I funding. We get a lotof at-risk funding that can be taken away. They start theseprograms and expect the local school systems and the stateto continue these programs. If there is more collaborationbetween our Congressional delegation and our state dele-gation, then we can kind of find a happy medium to workwith some of these unfunded mandates. It really calls forus to work together.

▲ Dawkins: Is local lay control — school boards’ ability tolocally make decisions on behalf of their schools and com-munities — at risk in your view?

◆ Ross: As long as we have strong school boards, as long aswe have strong advocacy organizations, I don’t see that.And as long as I’m standing in the Legislature, I won’tallow there to be a takeover of local control.

▲ Dawkins: What overall grade do you give the local, stateand federal governments for their support of Alabama’spublic education?

◆ Ross: You know Alabama is ranked last or close-to-last in a lot of things, and education happens to be one ofthem. But, we do well in a lot of things. So, to put a lettergrade on it from all those different levels is really a difficultchallenge. Locally, we’ve done a good job with our schoolboard working collectively with our local elected officialsin trying to provide the necessary resources for K-12. From

“I have to make sure

we provide the very

best opportunity for our

children and couple that

with good fiscal responsibility.

That's the bottom line.”

— Sen. Quinton Rossspeaking with Montgomery

County Board Education member Eleanor Dawkins.

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

By Sue Helms, AASB President

When I first heard the term “civic engagement,”

I wanted to know more. So, I set out on a journey.

Google, as I expected, returned more then I asked

for, which led me to do some additional research

to narrow things down a bit. What I discovered

changed me.

The very definition of civic engagement — actions thataddress public concerns and are for the common good —sent me back in time to the civics class of old. Back then,students read the Preamble of the Constitution, rattled offthe presidents, recited portions of the Bill of Rights andwere introduced to the responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.

Well, this is not your grandpa’s civics class? Civicengagement today is so much more! I can’t put it any better than San Francisco State University President RobertA. Corrigan, who once asked his faculty: “Is it not ourresponsibility ... to make every effort to produce a moredecent and educated electorate, a more humble and sincere political leadership, a morally alert and concernedcitizenry?”

I ask you the same question. I also wonder if I hadasked you before you read this column to describe yourschool system’s civic mission, if you would have silentlystared at me. Would you have told me about your school’smock elections or semi-annual civics bee? Then again, youmay have mentioned programs already in place that youhaven’t thought to call civic engagement. Many of you, forexample, have character education classes, peer helperprograms and community outreach efforts. Some of youmay actually teach civic engagement.

But, let’s think broader for a moment. How many of you have student representatives on your board? How many of you have students on your policy committees? Do any of your students’ class projects benefit a charity? In other words, do your students — across the spectrum of the

curriculum — learn through service to others and their community?

Not Your Grandpa’s Civics Class

ON THE WEB■ The Education Commission of the States,

www.ecs.org, features articles on “Renewing the Civic Mission of Schools”and “Service - Learning Policies and Practices.”

■ The Center for Civic Education, www.civiced.org, provides curricular and other resources.

■ The Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education, www.aclce.org, offers a correlation guide, as well as the Project Citizen middle school curriculum on public policy.

■ America’s National Service Learning Clearinghouse, www.servicelearning.org, has a K-12 section that shows interested schools how to start service learning.

(Continued on page 31)




Isn’t leadership the same whether it is in the 20th or

21st century? In the United States or in Zimbabwe? In

an industrial world or in a “flat” world?

The answer is no, in all instances.

We have to understand what is different now compared toeven 20 years ago. Three key points come to mind.

First, the speed of exchange of information has increased ingeometric proportions. With a push of the “send” button, anyinformation can go around the world in a matter of seconds.

Second, because of that connectedness, isolation disappears.We are as close as a personal computer screen to anyone in theworld owning a PC.

Third, the possibility of change explodes as the speed ofaccess to information increases.

Therefore, it is hard to describe a discrete set of necessaryleadership skills. So, what makes a leader different in a flat worldis attitude.

KEY ATTRIBUTESIn the late-night style of David Letterman, we now list the top10 attributes that contribute to an effective leader in a globalsociety.

No. 10: Looks forward, not backward. To quote theprolific Classical Age writer Anonymous: “If you con-tinue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue

to get what you’ve always gotten.” The past should be a founda-tion, not an anchor. A global leader must look outward towardthe future to the land of the possible.

No. 9: Uses the new 3 R’s — Relationships, relation-ships, relationships. A global leader is collaborative,which can only happen in the context of relationships.

Therefore, a leader must be interested in others, who they are,what they believe and what they need.

No. 8: Understands paradox. A leader who has poweris the leader who gives that power to others. Much ofleadership is ruled by such paradoxical concepts.

No. 7: Is comfortable with ambiguity. Life is messy.Change is messy. The world of absolutes is disappear-ing.

ORGANIC CHANGENo. 6: Sees change as a fractal. Change is not a linearprocess; it’s more like broccoli. On a stalk of broccoli,many florets are joined to a stem, which transports

food and water back and forth from the roots. The photosynthe-sis that is occurring in one floret is isolated from another until thefood joins at the stalk and descends to the roots.

Change is like that. Different initiatives occur at different loca-tions. When the change is united into a stalk and information isconveyed to the roots, then the change affects the entire organ-ism. What causes change to occur is the information that is sharedand internalized through the relationships within the organization.

Change needs strong roots, a strong stalk and many differentideas before it looks recognizable. Change brings new absolutes.Like broccoli, when mature, change goes to seed and new ideascan spring forth.

No. 5: Isn’t afraid of fear. A leader in a flat world def-initely experiences fear. If a leader does not take risksor closes off options because of fear, missed growth

opportunities are likely.

No. 4: Embraces travel experiences. A leader in a flatworld needs to travel in order to get out of the normalcomfort zone. It is difficult to lead in a global society if

one has not had an array of experiences. Sadly, only about 30percent of Americans have been outside of the United States.Traveling within the United States or outside of its borders isimportant because it makes one richer and wiser.


By Jane L. Sigford and Robert J. Ostlund photo©bigstockphoto.com


★ Justin Schuver ...............The Andalusia Star-News

Andalusia Board of Education★ Rebecca Beasley .....................The Clayton Record

Barbour County Board of Education★ Tiffany Woo ............................The Eufaula Tribune

Barbour County Board of Education★ Rahkia Nance ....................The Birmingham News

Bessemer Board of Education★ Beecher Hyde....................................WAVU Radio

Boaz Board of Education★ Elizabeth Summer ..The Sand Mountain Reporter

Boaz Board of Education★ Kerry Yencer ............................The Gadsden Times

Boaz Board of Education★ Peggie Haney....................................WAVU Radio

Boaz Board of Education★ Lisa Tindell..........................The Brewton Standard

Brewton Board of Education★ Ashley Vansant ................The Greenville Advocate

Butler County Board of Education★ Bobby Skipper.....................South Alabama News

Butler County Board of Education★ Robert Williamson...........................WGYV Radio

Butler County Board of Education★ Rosco Miller.......................................WKXN Radio

Butler County Board of Education★ The Choctaw Sun Advocate

Choctaw County Board of Education★ Gary Downs .......................................WPPG Radio

Conecuh County Board of Education★ Lee Peacock ........................The Evergreen Courant

Conecuh County Board of Education★ Lisa Rahn ...................................The Southern Star

Dale County Board of Education★ George McDonald..................................WAKA TV

Dallas County Board of Education★ Jeff Harrison............................................WSFA TV

Dallas County Board of Education★ Jim Cook......................................The Dothan Eagle

Dothan Board of Education★ Comcast Cablevision

Dothan Board of Education★ Fox 34 TV

Dothan Board of Education★ HIS Radio

Dothan Board of Education★ Knology Television

Dothan Board of Education

★ The Dothan Eagle

Dothan Board of Education★ The Dothan Progress

Dothan Board of Education★ WDHN TV

Dothan Board of Education★ WJJN Radio

Dothan Board of Education★ WOOF Radio

Dothan Board of Education★ WTVY TV

Dothan Board of Education★ WWNT Radio

Dothan Board of Education★ The Eclectic Observer

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Millbrook Independent

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Millbrook Progress

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Montgomery Advertiser

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Prattville Progress

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Wetumpka Herald

Elmore County Board of Education★ The Wetumpka Progress

Elmore County Board of Education★ WAKA TV

Elmore County Board of Education★ WSFA TV

Elmore County Board of Education★ Janet Cooper ............................The Tri-City Ledger

Escambia County Board of Education★ Lavale Mills ...............................The Red Bay News

Franklin County Board of Education★ Eddie Dodd ............................The Abbeville Herald

Henry County Board of Education★ Lisa Terry........................................Headland Voice

Henry County Board of Education★ Terry Grimes ..........................The Abbeville Herald

Henry County Board of Education★ Pat Newcomb ........................The Huntsville Times

Huntsville Board of Education★ Steve Campbell.....................The Huntsville Times

Huntsville Board of Education★ Newschannel 19

Huntsville Board of Education

★ James Phillips ...............The Daily Mountain Eagle

Jasper Board of Education★ Melissa Bonds ...............The Daily Mountain Eagle

Jasper Board of Education★ Wayne Martin ...................The Birmingham News

Jefferson County Board of Education★ Regina Grayson......................The Lowndes Signal

Lowndes County Board of Education★ Mike Quails .............................The Monroe Journal

Monroe County Board of Education★ WSFA TV

Montgomery County Board of Education★ WVAS Radio

Montgomery County Board of Education★ Amy Bowers ....................................The Opp News

Opp Board of Education★ Doris Wismer...................................The Opp News

Opp Board of Education★ Jeremy Henderson........The Andalusia Star-News

Opp Board of Education★ Robert Boothe..................................WOPP Radio

Opp Board of Education★ Ebony Horton.............................The Dothan Eagle

Ozark Board of Education★ Sarah Gilbert.............................The Southern Star

Ozark Board of Education★ Mark Clark ..................The Citizen of East Alabama

Phenix City Board of Education★ Belinda Copeland ...........................Phenix Citizen

Russell County Board of Education★ Greg Funderberg ..................................WTVM TV

Russell County Board of Education★ Gary Hanner ....................................St. Clair Times

St. Clair County Board of Education★ Brandon Fincher ..........................The Daily Home

Talladega County Board of Education★ Anita Debro........................The Birmingham News

Trussville Board of Education★ Meredith McCay ..............................St. Clair Times

Trussville Board of Education★ Kimberly Rankin .....................................WIAT TV

Tuscaloosa City Board of Education★ Bill Singleton.....................The Birmingham News

Vestavia Hills Board of Education★ Progessive Era

Wilcox County Board of Education★ WYVC Radio

Wilcox County Board of Education

AASB Congratulates the 2008 Media Honor Roll winners listed

by name and/or news organization and the nominating school board.

the local level, I would give Montgomery an A because, asyou and I know, for a long time the idea of ‘entities workingtogether’ did not exist. But, that has happened.

If you talk about the state Legislature listening to the needsand working with the state Department of Education — withthe exception of just having the money to fund everythingthat they ask for — I would really say that working relation-ship would be graded as an A.

Now, on the federal side because of the many quirks withNo Child Left Behind, I would probably give them a Cbecause of the way that it was set out. ‘No Child Left Behind’is a very catchy name that speaks to the emotion of every-one and promises to be something great. But, when youlook at it closely and look at its heart — particularly with itsschool choice and its voucher programs — to me there is adirect connection to eating at the very fiber of public educa-tion as it is today.

▲ Dawkins: Do you see the role of public K-12 changing?◆ Ross: It’s forever changing because our communities and the

young children that we serve are ever changing. We’re in adifferent world than we were 40 years ago, and we’re goingto have to adapt to that. When you talk about the state andlooking at curriculum and when you talk about the localboards, we’re really going to have to take a hard look at thepractices that we have now and really begin to try to adaptto where we are in society today.

One case in point is when we look at career technical education. Years ago that was the path that a lot of ouryoung people were able to take and later get wonderfuljobs. Then we took this turn in the whole academia, andeverybody was going to go to college. Well, there’s not aone-shoe-fits-all.

▲ Dawkins: How do you see the school board’s role changing?◆ Ross: The school board will serve as that catalyst because

you represent a constituency and are familiar with the ongo-ing changes. You’ll have those superintendents come in andwant to think outside the box, which means it’s your respon-sibility to allow him to think outside of the box and to notbe so rigid. It’s going to take creativity. Your role is to be for-ever changing. You can’t have the same type of ideas. It’sgoing to be a critical role. You’re going to need to go outand make those connections with those communities and beable to articulate the visions of change to your constituency.

▲ Dawkins: What do you hope to accomplish during yourtenure as state Senator? What are your future aspirations?

◆ Ross: What I wake up to accomplish every day as a state leg-islator is something good for not only my constituency butfor the state. That’s my goal — whether it is ensuring that wehave the proper funding for education or ensuring that thestate Department of Education has the ability to offer certain

licensure or certificates. Anything I can do that is going tobenefit the district and the state of Alabama — that’s whatI’m for. I don’t ever want to be in a situation where it’s self-serving. I want to be what they call a servant leader.

In terms of any aspirations, I just tell people I always wantto be good where I am. If there is an opportunity to dosomething in the future and the people who I serve deem itnecessary, I’ll have to pray about it and see if I accept thecalling.

▲ Dawkins: Finally, is there a message that you would like tosend to the local school board members across the state?

◆ Ross: First of all, thank you school boards, and a ‘thank you’to all of the employees and members of the education com-munity. People don’t understand that our children can spendthe majority of their childhood in front of a teacher. We moldand shape great minds, and we have to give honor andthanks to those people who work in that arena every day.And so, I would just like to say thank you.

I’d like to say also, while sometimes it looks bleak for edu-cation, we just have to continue to be faithful, to continue towork from the grassroots level and stay engaged. What helpsme is when they allow their voices to be heard. You know— engage their legislators, engage the process. Don’t justtake ‘no’ for an answer. For them to consistently be engagedin the process is a great help, I think, for any legislator. Yousee, I’m only as strong as the people who sent me here. Andso, if I can hear from my board members or I can hear fromthe parents and the community, it makes me strong and ableto stay steadfast in decisions I have to make down here.

▲ Dawkins: Thank you. ■

Face to Face: Sen. Quinton Ross

Continued from page 10


Q.We have 17-year-old seniors who want to

work full-time. Do they require work permits?

A.Yes. Alabama law requires all minors under the age

of 18 to have work permits. The law also authorizes

all county and city boards of education and most

high schools to issue work permits. A written

monthly report along with a copy of each work

permit issued must be submitted to the Alabama

Department of Labor. There are certain job and

hour restrictions for 14- to 15-year-olds and 16-

to 18-year-olds who are enrolled in high school.

For more information on the state’s Child Labor Law

and reporting requirements, call 334/353-1761.

—Denise L. Berkhalter

Help.


Alabama’s 4-year-olds number

59,000, yet less than 13,000

of them will receive pre-kindergarten education through state-

funded, federal Head Start or special education preschool programs.

Fewer still — about 3,384 pre-K students — are in the

state-funded pre-K classrooms, including

the 87 public school sites able

to provide appropriate

facilities, teachers and

programming.

That could change.

By Denise L. Berkhalter


ome powerful early education advocates in Alabama,including the governor, want all 4-year-olds to at leasthave the opportunity to participate in age-appropriate

pre-kindergarten programs that prepare them for “big school.”It’s a lingering request that has made inroads. Alabama even leads the nation, along with North Carolina,

in preschool quality. In 2006 and 2007, Alabama met all 10 ofthe National Institute for Early Education Research’s qualitybenchmarks — ranging from teacher credentials and trainingto class size and early learning standards.

Expanding Pre-K AccessThe birth of the Alabama Office of School Readiness

within the state Department of Children’s Affairs in1999 marked the official jumpstart of state-funded

pre-kindergarten.The Legislature established the office —

using state, federal and local matching dollars— to oversee a coordinated effort to edu-cate all 4-year-old children. High qualitywas the target from the outset, and in itsfirst program year, the Office of School

Readiness funded eight pilot programs.As the years went on, access to the

state’s pre-K program seemed stagnant at2 percent. Even when the Legislatureappropriated $5.4 million for pre-K two years ago, the 400-percent fund-ing boost over 1999 did little to reachsignificantly more children. The statefunded early education for 1,062 students — including 522 public

school students — using a variety of

S


delivery methods. These “delivery methods” included state-funded slots for students in Head Start classrooms, as well asfor students in private, faith-based, college and university lab-oratory pre-K programs and housing authority programs.

It was in 2007 that Gov. Bob Riley unveiled “First Class:Alabama’s Voluntary Pre-K Initiative,” putting the national uni-versal pre-K movement into high gear in Alabama. First Classprovides funding for children who are age 4 on or before Sept.1 of the enrollment year.

Last year the Legislature nearly doubled state pre-K funding to spend $5,056 per student. That $10 millionenabled the Office of School Readiness to expand its program

to 4 percent of 4-year-olds. The doubling continued

for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.The Legislature approved$20 million in funding forstate-funded pre-K, adding1,926 pre-K students to theFirst Class roll. Now thestate serves 3,384 students

or 5.5 percent of 4-year-olds. Earlier this year at a private preschool in Prattville, Gov.

Bob Riley met with the media to celebrate expansion of the state’s First Class program. The new state dollars for FirstClass programs this school year funded 107 additional pre-Kclassrooms.

Thanks to increasing investments in early education,NIEER now ranks Alabama ninth in the nation for its pre-Ksupport.

Looking Toward TomorrowIn another move to strengthen pre-K, Riley recently pro-

moted Office of School Readiness Director Dr. Marquita Davisto commissioner of the state children’s affairs department.

Davis said she’s rolling up her sleeves and getting to work.Alabama’s No. 1 NIEER ranking last year and this year, shesaid, doesn’t mean it’s time for complacency.

“Yes, we’re No. 1 in the nation for quality,” she said, “but,we just don’t serve enough children.”

Riley, too, has said he wants to reach more of Alabama’s pre-school-age children.

He sees pre-K as an investment in the future of Alabama. “High quality, voluntary pre-K,” he said, “will improve our

K-12 system and also our children’s opportunities for success.We know without doubt today that children who receive pre-kindergarten education are more likely to graduate highschool. They’re less likely to end up on welfare, and they willearn higher incomes as adults.”

Davis said the state’s investment in pre-K last year provided85 full grants and 44 incentive and emergent grants, which aresmall one-year grants given to sites to help them bring up thequality of their preschool programs.

“We want to enhance the quality of their work, and thesegrants are one apparatus for doing that,” Davis said. “When wesend money to a site, we have a list of quality standards,including research-based curriculum, teachers, playgrounds,classroom size. There should be dental, vision and hearingscreenings. We also have a group of experts who go out andprovide support for these classrooms.”

The state’s pre-K calendar includes 180 program days —each with at least 6 1/2 hours of instruction — and seventeacher training days. The calendar is modeled after the publicschool’s academic calendar, but Davis emphasizes that pre-Kdoesn’t mean mini-kindergarten.

“These 4-year-olds shouldn’t be sitting at desks raising theirhands for long periods of time,” she said. “Any program has toaddress the developmental domains, emergent literacy andnumeracy, but these programs should also be developmentallyappropriate.”

Facing the ChallengesEven with Alabama’s apparent willingness to invest in early

education to improve school readiness, there are challenges. NIEER applauds the state for its high pre-kindergarten

teacher standards. Yet, finding, retaining and paying teachersisn’t easy. According to the Mobile Press-Register, just 13 per-cent of the state’s 3,700 education graduates leave higher edu-cation each year with the early childhood certification neces-sary to teach pre-K.

The national shortage of highly educated pre-K teachers —some lured away by schools and industry with better benefitsand higher pay — is such a problem that Teach for Americahas begun sending top-tier college graduates to teach in com-munity-based preschool programs nationwide.


ma,asttel.”

na,oftyng

ssined

—rsu-tyitsol

heatre-K d-chte62 icof

Announcing “FIRST CLASS: Alabama’s Voluntary Pre-K” Program were, left to right, state

Sen. Wendell Mitchell, state Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton, Gov. Bob Riley,

Commissioner Dr. Marquita Davis, state Department of Postsecondary Education Chancellor

Bradley Byrne, Prattville Mayor Jim Byard Jr., and members of the state Board of Education,

including Stephanie Bell.


Alabama’s high standards do come with pay meant to ele-vate the pre-K teacher’s position.

“In a First Class classroom,” Commissioner Davis explained,“we like to have two teachers to 18 children. We require teacherpay that is somewhat higher than what is paid in day care. Pay,in some respects, is how you measure the value of a person’swork. This is valuable work.”

Each public school pre-K classroom must have a certifiedlead teacher who has at least a bachelor’s degree in early child-hood education.

However, teacher qualifications differ for private, faith-basedand other preschool programs that receive state funding. Teach-ers in these settings must have a degree in early childhood orin child development. Assistant teachers must have a childdevelopment credential or equivalent and 12 hours of trainingin early childhood coursework.

Beyond the teacher shortage, there is the constant fight forfunding exacerbated now by today’s weak economy. Revenuefor K-12 education funding is way down. Deep across-the-board budget cuts in the near future are likely. The climate fornew funding for many important educational endeavors isharsh, and it will take more dollars to reach more 4-year-olds.As it stands, NIEER ranks Alabama near the bottom — 38th inthe nation — for pre-K access.

In addition, few preschool-age children in rural, poor com-munities can actually enjoy the benefits of high-quality, pre-Kprograms. Obstacles in these communities are many, includingfew if any preschool providers, the cost of transportation andnutrition programs, a lack of qualified teachers and few dollarsfor adequate pay and facilities.

Building AwarenessThe Alabama Association of School Boards, which has long

and prudently supported quality preschool opportunities for chil-dren, will do its part to expand access thanks to a Pew Founda-tion Grant that adds AASB to theCenter for Public Education’sPre-K Network — under the aus-pices of the National SchoolBoards Association.

The network began withschool board associations inTexas, Kansas and Ohio. Ken-tucky is also new to the networkthis year.

AASB will focus its efforts onbuilding awareness and support— especially among schoolboard members — for high-quality, voluntary pre-K experi-ences for 4-year-olds.

“We must, even in these times of economic turmoil, find fis-cally responsible ways to expand access to pre-K programswhile maintaining our nationally recognized quality,” said SallyHowell, AASB’s executive director.

“Obviously, we can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. Our K-12 educa-tion dollar is stretched quite thin, and there are so manyunfunded needs,” Howell explained. “Yet, we cannot ignore thebenefits of preparing children socially, emotionally, physically,mentally and academically for kindergarten. This is absolutely aschool readiness and student success issue.”

Pre-K Push: Voluntary Preschool for All Gains Momentum

Continued from page 17 QUALITY STANDARDS CHECKLISTIn 2006 and 2007, Alabama has met, and in some areas

exceeded, all 10 of the National Institute for Early Education

Research’s quality standards.

✔ Comprehensive early learning standards

✔ Teacher degree

✔ Teacher specialized in pre-K

✔ Assistant teacher degree

✔ Teacher in-service

✔ Maximum class size

✔ Staff-child ratio of 1:10 or better (Alabama at 1:9)

✔ Screening/vision, hearing, health, and support services

✔ Meals

✔ Site visits and monitoring Source: NIEER.org

1%

2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

4%

5.5%

2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2008

Percent of Alabama’s 4-Year-OldPopulation Enrolled in Pre-K

Source: Pre-K Now and Alabama Office of School Readiness

Percent of Alabama’s 4-Year-OldPopulation Enrolled in Pre-K

Getting Ready for Big SchoolSeveral statewide polls conducted in Alabama found that

voters also see enhanced pre-kindergarten as a means ofimproving education.

A December 2006 poll found that three-quarters of votersbelieve the state should fund voluntary pre-K for all children,reports child advocacy group VOICES for Alabama Children.And, 64 percent would rather invest in pre-kindergarten thanpay for remedial and special education for children whoweren’t ready for school. Most respondents, 87 percent, saychildren who have attended a pre-K program have an advan-tage over those who have not.

Of the kindergarten teachers surveyed in Alabama two yearsago on the pre-K issue, 44 percent said a quality preschoolexperience would help children transition into kindergarten.

National surveys show similar results.Pre-K Now leads the national universal pre-K effort and

recently announced findings that 7 in 10 voters want state andlocal governments to provide voluntary pre-K for all children.In addition, 56 percent of voters said local, state and federalgovernments do too little to ensure all children have access toaffordable pre-K programs.

Turning the TideIf the state Department of Children’s Affairs commissioner

has a say, the tide will turn. An Illinois transplant living in Alabama since 1989, Davis

dreams big for this state. Politics, she said, may be one reason why pre-K hasn’t

received its due. K-12 education, higher education and otherentities jostle annually for the thinly stretched education dollar.And there are the critics who question pre-K’s impact on schoolreadiness and those who say early education is the parents’ soleresponsibility.

Nevertheless, Davis said she doesn’t see the need for politicalplay when it comes to the future of the state’s youngest students.

“It’s not political for me,” she explained. “Really, this is abouthow remarkable we can be as a state at the forefront of the pre-K movement. The train is moving. Now is the time. Weneed to be able to write our own history and define who wewant to be in this nation as it relates to quality education foryoung children.”

Davis believes Alabama has the potential to impact studentsuccess early enough that students who enter the educationpipeline finally exit as graduates. Just talking about the possi-bilities excites her.

“Listen,” she said, her voice an octave higher, “we arealready ranked No. 1 in the nation. Imagine if these young chil-dren across the state had the ability to walk into school readyto learn and loving to learn. Isn’t that what we should want forevery child in this state?”

Gov. Riley echoes her hopes. “We’ve come a long way,” he has told Alabama’s citizens.

“We’ve laid the foundation for success, but we can’t stop here.Education is not only the key to the success of our children, itis the key to a successful future for our state. That’s why wenow have to embrace pre-kindergarten in Alabama like wenever have before.” ■


ON THE WEB■ First Class: Alabama's Voluntary Pre-K Program -http://www.dca.state.al.us/Default.aspx?catid=12

■ Economics of Pre-K in Alabama: Results and Analysis -http://www. governorpress.alabama.gov/documents/pre-KDeravi_study.pdf

■ Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation, Alabama Summary -http://www.epi.org/books/enriching/states/al.pdf

■ A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy - http://www.nccanet.org/Portals/0/A%20Science%20Based%20Framework.pdf

■ School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps - http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/Volume_15_No_1.pdf

■ National School Readiness Indicators Initiative Report - http://www. gettingready.org/matriarch/

Alabama’s Annual Pre-K Spending

Source: Pre-K Now and Alabama Office of School Readiness

Year Total Per Child Enrolled

2007 $5,369,898 $5,056

2006 $4,326,050 $4,216

2005 $3,291,050 $3,386

2004 $4,584,500 $3,638

2003 $2,400,000 $3,175

Alabama’s Annual Pre-K Spending

AASB “supports preschool programs

for non-school-aged children” and

“supports completion of kindergarten

before entering first grade.”— Alabama Association of School Boards Bylaws, 2007

20 Alabama S chool Boards • October/November 2008 photo©istockPhoto.com

With the increased number of school

systems offering voluntary preschool

options for 4-year-old children,

questions continue to surface about

the role of the school board in ensuring

quality early learning experiences

for their youngest students.

◗ What are the roles of the board in

ensuring quality preschool?

◗ What are key actions boards must take

around those important roles?

◗ What do school system leaders need

to know about early childhood education

to successfully support and monitor

programs to ensure preschools deliver

on the promise of improved school

readiness and success in school?

To help answer these questions,

information from K-12 research on the

important roles boards play in improving

student achievement has been summarized

with research from early childhood education.

The sections in this article provide guidance

for school leaders on the actions boards must

take to ensure quality preschool education.

The Role of the Board foThe Role of the Board fo

photo©bigstockphoto.com


d for Ensuring Quality Preschoold for Ensuring Quality Preschool

ocal research on school governance reveals schoolboards play important roles in improving studentachievement. Reports from the Iowa School Boards

Foundation’s Lighthouse studies (1998-2007) describeactions related to five key roles for school board membersto ensure students in grades K-12 learn at high levels: settingclear expectations; creating conditions for success; holdingthe system accountable to the expectations; building collec-tive will; and learning together as a board team.

1. Set Clear ExpectationsInsist on a “pre-K through 12” mindset that recognizes pre-school as an integral part of the school system’s learningcontinuum — one that does not consider preschool as an“add-on” component to the K-12 system no matter wherethe program is housed.

Boards must:

◗ Focus on student learning pre-K through 12. Teaching andlearning are a vital part of a quality preschool classroom,just as they are in any other grade level.

◗ Ensure the preschool program is included in the school’sfocus for improvement and the focus for improvement isbased on student and program needs.

◗ Set clear expectations for both the student learning out-comes and the learning environment. Boards mustexpect high-quality early childhood education frompreschools that meet national preschool program stan-dards and hold themselves accountable to rigorous earlychildhood learning standards. Starting earlier by invest-ing in preschool won’t make a difference in children’slearning if programs are not high-quality.

Boards must:

◗ Have a clear understanding of the current performanceand needs of their youngest students.

◗ Believe more is possible and communicate high expecta-tions that young children have a great capacity to learn.

◗ Hold themselves accountable to rigorous child learningstandards.

◗ Ensure the preschool program meets national preschoolprogram accreditation standards — such as the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children EarlyChildhood Program Standards.

2. Create Conditions for SuccessProvide the support necessary for the implementation of aresearch-based, high-quality preschool program. Listedbelow are key areas where board support is needed.

Leadership:

◗ Provide the necessary support to ensure the preschoolprogram administrators are knowledgeable about earlychildhood education.

◗ Create and support a distributed system of leadershipfor pre-K through 12. Developing and supporting lead-ership at all levels of the system to guide and protect thework to improve student learning.

Quality Teaching and Learning:

◗ Provide adequate resources for highly-qualified preschoolteachers with a degree in early childhood education.

◗ Provide for an amount of instructional time that is consis-tent with research-based best practices — 12.5 or morehours of instruction per week associated with short andlong-term benefits for children.

◗ Approve and monitor a rigorous, evidence-based anddevelopmentally appropriate curriculum for preschoolersaligned to early learning standards.

◗ Approve and monitor a rigorous, evidence-based anddevelopmentally appropriate assessment of student per-formance, aligned to early learning standards.

◗ Provide the necessary support to ensure instructionalpractices are aligned with the curriculum and assess-ments being used.

◗ Provide the necessary support to ensure preschoolteachers participate in quality, ongoing professionaldevelopment aligned with the learning needs of pre-school students, consistent with the state’s preschoolprofessional development model and linked to the professional development of the K-3 teachers.

◗ Approve and monitor the implementation of quality preschool program standards that describe a rich learn-ing environment appropriate for preschoolers.

Alignment and Transition:

◗ Provide the necessary support to ensure the alignmentof curriculum, assessment and instruction between pre-school and the K-3 grades in order to create a coherentcontinuum of learning.


Five Key Roles of the Board for Ensuring Quality Preschool

L


◗ Provide the necessary support to en-sure smooth transitions for children andtheir families as they move from pre-school into kindergarten, whether it’sthe academic/social/emotional adjust-ment of children or connecting parentsto the school.

Comprehensive Services:

◗ Collaborate with appropriate com-munity partners to provide additionalsupports such as transportation;extended-day child care; vision, hear-ing and other health screenings andparent education services, etc.

◗ Collaborate with community partnersto streamline efforts, maximize re-sources and reduce costs for preschoolprogramming.

Funding:

◗ Collaborate with appropriate commu-nity partners to blend funding streamsand increase resources for quality pro-gramming.

◗ Provide supports that allow childrenfrom different backgrounds, incomelevels and ability levels to be served inthe same classroom setting.

3. Hold the System Accountable to Expectations

Monitor the impact of the preschool program, using both formative and suma-tive assessment processes. Ongoingassessment of student learning and anappropriate evaluation process thatfocuses both on the child learning outcomes and implementation of the preschool program standards are criticalaspects of quality preschool program-ming. To hold the system accountable toexpectations boards must:◗ Provide support for ongoing collection

and use of appropriate assessments anddata related to student progress.

◗ Establish policy for program evaluationthat includes various methods to monitorprogram effectiveness — taking the burden off of the 4-year-olds and makingadults accountable for student learning.

◗ Review data regularly and referencedata in decision-making and problemsolving.

◗ Provide support to take correctiveaction when progress toward the out-comes is not sufficient.

◗ Make judgments about the costs andbenefits for students over time as partof the overall program evaluation.

4. Build Collective WillCreate awareness of the importance ofquality preschool. Achievement gapsbegin early. The achievement gaps com-monly seen in later years are obvious atkindergarten entry. To create awarenessof the need for quality preschool theboard must:◗ Value and communicate the importance

of community stakeholders as partnersin providing quality preschool programsfor all interested families.

◗ Demonstrate their commitment toearly childhood education consistently

through their conversations at theboard table and in the community, andthrough their decisions and actions asa board.

◗ Understand what’s at stake for studentsand communicate a sense of urgency tostaff and the community about the stu-dent, family and learning environmentneeds.

◗ Confront their own beliefs and the be-liefs of others about what’s possible toexpect and what the school has thecapacity to impact in terms of studentlearning.

◗ Communicate high expectations for allstudents and a belief that students whocome to school with less can learn andachieve as well as most students.

◗ Talk about the current needs based ondata and reliable information.

5. Learn Togetheras a Board Team

Establish learning time that encouragesthe board/superintendent team to studyissues together and talk to one anotherthrough extensive board conversations.To build the commitment for quality pre-school through shared information andproductive discussions the board must:◗ Know the characteristics of a high-qual-

ity preschool program and recognizethe similarities and the unique differ-ences between preschool and K-12.

◗ Learn the needs of the children andfamilies within the community.

◗ Know who is providing early care andeducation for families with young children.

◗ Understand the community, identifyneeds and available services, note gapsand work with community partners toensure all children have quality earlychildhood education experiences.

◗ Collaborate with other partners to pro-vide quality preschool programs thatmeet the needs of children (quality pro-grams) and families (transportation,extended-day child care, etc.). ■

Permission granted to copy and distribute from the

Iowa School Boards Foundation (c) 2008. The full report

and resources are available through The Iowa School

Boards Foundation, the research affiliate of the Iowa

Association of School Boards (www.ia-sb.org).

Ensuring Quality Preschool


ENSURING QUALITYPRESCHOOL:◗ Setting clear expectations

◗ Creating conditions for success

◗ Holding the systemaccountable to expectations

◗ Building collective will

◗ Learning togetheras a board team


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or 800/365-3714

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• BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama . . . Birmingham, AL 205/220-5771

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• Council of Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birmingham, AL 205/841-2653

Coca-Cola Bottlers Inc.

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Architecture and Design

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Alabama Association of School Boards

Professional Sustaining Members

APartnershipThat Works!AASB appreciates these professional members for supporting association activities and you all year long.


Many school systems around

the country, along with other

nonprofit and public organizations,

have found that involving their

boards, superintendents and

senior administrators in a retreat

can produce powerful results.

The term “retreat” is typically described as a special work

session lasting at least a full day and often 11/2 to two

days — anything less than a day is a meeting, not a

retreat — and that is held away from the office to focus on

accomplishing work that cannot feasibly be done in regular

board meetings. Because the normal “rules of the game”

are suspended at retreats, you are able to do such extraordinary

jobs as updating system values and vision statements, identifying

critical issues facing your system, brainstorming possible change

targets to address the identified issues, thinking through improvements

in school board structure and process to strengthen governing performance,

and coming up with ways to enhance the board-superintendent working

partnership, to name a few powerful outcomes that retreats can produce.

By Doug Eadie



▲ A RISKY BUSINESSHowever, if retreats are potentially powerful vehicles for pro-

ducing critical results for your school system, they are also high-risk endeavors, primarily because of the involvement of yourboard in a far less structured session than your typical board meet-ing. Everyone can come up with at least one “retreat from hell”story that proves the point: from everyone’s being bored to tearsto far more damaging outcomes, such as visceral debate that endsup fracturing — rather than cementing — consensus and that pro-duces oodles of bad feelings to boot. Experience has taught methat if you don’t take steps to minimize the risk, you’d be better offskipping the retreat. Fortunately, there are five practical steps thatyou can take to ensure that your retreat produces powerful resultswith minimum risk for everyone involved: (1.) make sure yourschool board is actively involved in designing the retreat; (2.) setprecise objectives; (3.) build in active participation; (4.) program insystematic follow-through; and (5.) meet away from the office.

▲ INVOLVE YOUR BOARD IN DESIGNThere are two very important reasons for involving board

members in designing the retreat: having the benefit of theirexperience and wisdom and building board ownership of theupcoming retreat. A very simple approach that I’ve seen workwell countless times is to create an “ad hoc retreat design com-mittee” involving board leadership and the superintendent to puttogether a detailed design for the retreat: its objectives, structureand the blow-by-blow agenda. If you employ a professional facil-itator, this is the group she or he would work directly with inpreparing for the retreat. The board of a mid-size suburban sys-tem in the midwest, for example, involved their board president,vice president, secretary/treasurer and chair of the Policy andPlanning Committee, along with the superintendent in theirretreat design committee. This ad hoc committee not onlyworked out a detailed retreat design, but also signed the six-pageretreat description that was sent to all participants three weeksbefore the retreat.

▲ PRECISE OBJECTIVESOf course, there’s no way you can come up with a workable

structure and process for your retreat if you don’t specify whatyou want the event to achieve. This is one of the key respon-sibilities of your ad hoc retreat design committee. For example,among the retreat objectives set by the design committee men-tioned above were: “to clarify our system’s strategic framework— its values, vision and strategic directions; to understand theimplications for our system of national, state and local condi-tions and trends; to identify strategic issues facing our system.”And the retreat objectives of another system I worked with afew years ago included: “to fashion a detailed board leadershipmission; to flesh out the roles, responsibilities, workplans andoperating procedures of our new standing committees; to identify practical ways to strengthen the board as a humanresource; to clarify the board-superintendent partnership andidentify ways to enhance it.”

▲ ACTIVE PARTICIPATIONCommitment to following through on the results of a retreat

heavily depends on the ownership that participants — especiallyschool board members — feel for the results. Feeling like anowner comes from participating actively in producing the results.One of the best ways to achieve participation is to use breakoutgroups led by board members to generate information and ideasin your retreat. For example, one school system used nine differ-ent breakout groups led by board members at one of its retreats,including groups titled “vision;” “values/culture;” “strategicissues;” and “characteristics of a sound board-superintendentpartnership.” Of course, breakout groups can bomb badly if theyaren’t meticulously designed to produce specific results throughwell-defined methodology and if the board members who leadthem aren’t well prepared to play the facilitator role.

▲ FORMAL FOLLOW-THROUGHSpending only a day or two together dealing with really com-

plex, high-stakes matters isn’t enough time to come up with finalanswers about anything, and if you try, the whole thing is likelyto come unraveled by the next Monday, when you return to theproverbial salt mine. Many school systems have reached agree-ment as part of the retreat design process on how follow-throughwill be handled. One system, for example, required that the pro-fessional facilitator it retained for the retreat prepare a detailedset of action recommendations, and created a steering committeefor the expressed purpose of reviewing the recommendationsand taking them to the full board for decision-making. Withoutbuilding in such follow-through, your school system’s return onits investment in a retreat is likely to be paltry.

▲ GET AWAY FROM THE OFFICEIt’s really important that you hold your retreat in a comfortable

setting as far away from system headquarters as feasible, since a dif-ferent location will help participants rise above the “business-as-usual” mentality, freeing their minds for “out-of-the-box” work. Youdon’t need a luxurious resort, although an attractive resort locationwould be an asset. I’ve seen modestly priced, nearby hotel meet-ing rooms work well, and you might even be able to arrange fordonated space, such as the board room of a local corporation. Thepoint is to avoid holding a “suspend the rules” meeting in yourboardroom, where the rules come all too easily to mind.

▲ DO IT — BUT DO IT RIGHTRetreats are probably the best way to involve your board

creatively in generating critical products that can’t be handled inregular board meetings, so if you haven’t made use of retreats asa board involvement tool, you’re well advised to. Just make sure

you keep the above tips in mind as you put yourretreat together. ■

Doug Eadie is president & CEO of Doug Eadie & Company, a firm

specializing in building strong board-superintendent partnerships.

You can reach him at [email protected] or 800/209-7652.


10 QUESTIONSBy Denise L. Berkhalter

alvin K. Clemons, president and CEOof Clemons & Associates Inc., penneda practical guide to board service titled

The Perfect Board.It’s a quick, easy read that takes full

advantage of Clemons’ 30-plus years experience as an association managementexecutive.

It matters not if you’re an aspiring boardmember or seasoned pro or if you want to become an effec-tive member of a board of directors or board of education —the advice is all the same.

Clemons took a moment to speak with Alabama SchoolBoards by phone from Maryland to discuss this nuts-and-bolts handbook, now in its second edition.

Q. Why did you write this ‘perfect’ little guidebook?

A. I thought it would be a wonderful thing to try to achieve,knowing how most people are imperfect. Sure, it wouldbe great to have a board where everyone knew exactlywhat they were supposed to do and what their responsi-bilities and duties were. That would be a wonderfulworld.

It’s a great little primmer that helps new board mem-bers understand what their role is and be a little moreeducated about what the responsibilities are. It’s alsogood for the seasoned board member, too. Seasonedboard members may not know everything.

Q. Does that wonderful world of perfect boardmanship not exist?

A. Thirty-one years of working with boards and being theCEO of 16 different boards showed me that there were alot of people who just didn’t know what board service isall about. They believe it is kind of an honor for them tobe on a board, recognized by their peers and businessassociates. They see it as a great opportunity and think ifthey serve on a board, they get all kinds of benefits anddon’t have to do anything.

Q. Is that not true?

A. That’s what we call the biggest lie in the board industry.

Q. I agree. I think veteran school board memberswould agree, too. So, how did your association correct this misconception about board service?

A. We kind of solved that by having a commitment form. Itcould be just a simple paragraph or as complex as peo-ple want it to be, but basically the commitment says: ‘Weappointed or elected you to the board, and here is whatthe responsibilities are — from meetings and trips towhatever makes up a term of office.’

Q. Did people sign that?

A. If they said they agreed, they signed it. We expected them not to say they didn’t know what was involved inboard service or how much time it would take or what was expected. I think boards look at those kinds ofinstruments.

Q. Does this guidebook apply to school boards?

A. There are legal requirements when you’re on a board inmost cases, unless it’s an advisory board. So sure, theyapply. A lot of school boards are elected and a lot areappointed. You have both. Same here in Maryland. Samething holds true. When you’re elected, it’s even moreimperative you understand what your duties and respon-sibilities are. Those running for office have an idea ofwhat a time commitment serving on a board can be.

Q. What tips in your book are themost important?

A. One of the things I’ve felt is themost important for any boardmember is integrity. You’ve got tobe honest. Honesty comes backand pays dividends. When youhave integrity, people see it. Youwant to be the kind of person peo-ple know and trust and respect.

I already talked about under-standing the commitment. Showup and be prepared. Whetheryou’re elected or appointed, youstill represent the people from your

Calvin K. Clemons, author of ‘The Perfect Board’

Calvin K. Clemons

LEARN MORE

Author of “The

Perfect Board,”

Calvin K. Clemons

is president and CEO

of Clemons & Associates

Inc., and has more than

30 years experience

as an association

management

executive.

Find more info at

www.theperfect

board.com.

C


✔MARK YOUR CALENDAR

JANUARY 200912-Feb. 9 AASB District Meetings

30-Feb. 2 NSBA Leadership ConferenceWashington, DC

FEBRUARY 20091-3 NSBA Federal Relations

Network ConferenceWashington, DC

3 Legislature Convenes in

Regular Session

MARCH 200913 “Early Bird”Workshop

Wynfrey Hotel, Hoover

13 Board of Directors’ MeetingWynfrey Hotel, Hoover

13-14 AASB Academy Core ConferenceWynfrey Hotel, Hoover

APRIL 2009

4-7 NSBA Annual Conference

and ExpositionSan Diego, California

MAY 2009

18 Regular Legislative Session Ends ■

constituency. They are expecting you to do the job and rep-resent them well. How can you do that if you don’t show up?

Q. What other responsibility should our boards take seriously?

A. In line with that would be the ability to accept responsibilityand to understand the rules you’re serving under and that youhave duties to perform. There are two others I like.

Q. What are they?

A. One is the person is independent, and the other thing is theyshould stand up for what’s right. A lot of people just go alongand get on the train. I like people who are decisive and makedecisions. When the board would study something like thecolor of stationery for 18 months, it would drive me nuts.Make a decision. You have to be careful and cognizant of theimplications of the decisions you make, but you shouldn’tdelay decisions. Delaying decisions is just as harmful as mak-ing wrong decisions, maybe worse. You’re keeping people inlimbo. They don’t know what’s going on.

School boards may have it tougher, I would think, becausea lot of people are looking over your shoulders at curriculumand discipline and instruction. But, we want transparency. Wewant people to come look in and see what’s going on. I thinkin the past, nationally, some things were done behind closeddoors, and now we’re all the beneficiaries of some of the lawsand practices going on.

Q. What is your advice to new school board members?

A. You may not be aware of all the problems and situations thatexist on the board unless you have gone in and done exten-sive study or served on a committee. The barrage of work thathas to be done might catch you off guard. Get Roberts’ Rulesof Order and understand the basic rules most organizationsfollow. Look at the past minutes of the organization andbecome familiar with those. Become familiar with not onlyissues and positions but the people. You can learn quite a bitfrom minutes. If there are many extensive issues, study thoseas well. The important thing is, you have to learn soonerrather than later.

Also, understand that public scrutiny is the same thing astransparency and that it’s important for a board to make adecision and move forward. That gets us back to the point ofbeing independent and standing up for what’s right. If you’rea board member who stood up for what you thought was right and lost, then you still have to stand with the board.If the community disagrees, you have to know they some-times won’t have all the knowledge the board had. Not everything a board does will everyone agree with, but theboard is supposed to act with unity. Once the board doesmake a decision, you shouldn’t go out and bad-mouth members of the board or go to the press. I’m not discountingdissent at all, but dissent should happen in the meeting, not in the parking lot. ■


&People Schools

Florence BellamyAlabama Association of School Boards President-elect FlorenceBellamy of Phenix City was chosen by the Southern Region asan alternate member of the National School Boards AssociationNominating Committee.

Steve FosterAASB Vice President Steve Foster of Lowndes County was chosen by the Southern Region as an alternate member to theNSBA National Resolutions Committee.

Mandy FernandezMandy Fernandez joined the AASB staff this year asmeeting/marketing coordinator. She is the formermarketing/communications coordinator for Smoothie King Fran-chises and is a magna cum laude graduate of SoutheasternLouisiana University. She is responsible for helping to developand execute plans for AASB’s events and for assisting with tar-geted marketing efforts.

Shayla A. CrenshawShayla A. Crenshaw, a Selma native and juris doctor candidateat Vermont Law School in South Royalton, is completing a legalinternship at AASB. The former teacher attended public schoolsin Selma, earned a master’s degree in education at AlabamaState University and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from

Tuskegee University.

AASB Welcomes Your News Send news of appointments, elections, promotions, retirements, honors, births

and deaths to Attn: People & Schools Editor, Alabama School Boards Magazine,

P.O. Drawer 230488, Montgomery, AL 36123-0488 or [email protected].

Steve Foster

Florence Bellamy

Mandy Fernandez

Shayla A.

Crenshaw

ON THE MOVE■ Sonia Ward is a new face on the Walker

County school board.■ Robbie Copenhaver has started his term

on the Scottsboro school board.■ Dothan’s school board has been joined

by Franklin Jones.■ Allison Gray is now a member of the St.

Clair County school board.■ Joey Holley of Elmore County is now a

member of his local school board.■ Sharon Buford is the newest member of

the Thomasville school board.■ Dr. Suzanne Lacey has been named super-

intendent of Talladega County. ■ Dr. Doyle Miller has been chosen as Gads-

den’s superintendent.■ Welcome Ryan Hollingsworth, the new

superintendent of Marion County.■ Dr. Austin Obasohan has been named

superintendent of Selma city schools.■ Opp’s new superintendent is Michael

Smithart.

OF NOTE■ Congratulations are in order for Debora

Hendricks, who was recently promoted asAASB membership coordinator/administra-tive assistant. Hendricks joined the associa-tion’s staff in 2000 as a membership serv-ices and governmental relations adminis-trative assistant.

■ Kudos to AASB’s Lashana Summerlin,who has been promoted to staff assistantwith special office-technology duties. Sum-merlin has served as the association’sreceptionist since September 2001.

■ Paulina Woods joined AASB as a clericalassistant. She comes to the associationthrough her school’s business opportunitycooperative program. She is a senior atJeff Davis High School.

■ AASB Public Relations Director Denise L.

Berkhalter has been chosen to co-chair

The AASB Caucus of Black School Board Members presented long-time officer Henry Spears

with a service award upon the occasion of his retirement from the Montgomery County

school board.



the Learning First Alliance of Alabama along with Council forLeaders in Alabama Schools Executive Director Earl Franks.

■ As a thank-you for completing AASB’s Membership Survey,Cindy Railey of Tallapoosa, Dr. Udo F. Ufomadu of Selmaand Maria Bladorn of Saraland won a free registrationeach to an AASB training event.

■ Winners of drawings for customized, facilitated full-boardtraining chosen at fall AASB District Meetings were Monroe

County of District 1, Selma of District 2, Ozark of District 3,Tallapoosa County of District 4, Birmingham of District 5,Oxford of District 6, Sumter County of District 7, Morgan County of District 8 and Huntsville of District 9.AASB will conduct a new research-based, full-board work-shop for free in the winning districts. ■ T.S. Morris Elementary School Math Teacher Stephanie

Glover of Montgomery County is Alabama’s only 2008Milken Educator Award recipient. Known in some circles as the “Education Oscar,” the award comes with an unre-stricted $25,000 financial reward and an all-expenses-paidtrip to next year’s Milken National Education Conference.

■ Eleven schools earned the 2008 Alabama Safe SchoolsAward of Excellence presented by Attorney General TroyKing. They were: Forest Avenue Academic Magnet

Elementary in Montgomery County; Prattville Junior

High School and Prattville High School in AutaugaCounty; Bryan Elementary School in Jefferson County;Greenville High School in Butler County; Opelika Middle

School in Opelika; Brookhaven Middle School and Cedar

Ridge Middle School in Decatur; Girard Middle School

in Dothan; Pleasant Home School in Andalusia; John E.

Bryan Elementary School in Jefferson County; and Southside Elementary School in Etowah County. ■

&People Schools Continued from page 28

Madison Schools Named National Technology Leadership Network Site

The Madison Board of Education placed third in the medium category of

the national Digital District Survey. The National School Boards Association part-

nered with the Center for Digital Education to look at how school boards across

the nation use technology to serve better and connect with their communities.

Systems from 21 states were reviewed in three size groupings based on

enrollment: large or more than 15,000 students; medium or 2,501 to 15,000;

and small with 2,500 or fewer students. The ranked school systems were

recognized at NSBA’s T+L (Technology Plus Learning) conference in Seattle.

The Madison Board of Education has also been named a 2009 NSBA Technol-

ogy Leadership Network Site. Education and technology leaders from across the

nation will visit the school system March 25-27 to observe the use of technology

in instruction. To register for the site visit or read more about Madison schools,

visit http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/SiteVisits.aspx.

The state Board of Education presented a resolution in recognition of Demopolis

High School in Demopolis as a 2008 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon of

Excellence School. Of the 320 blue ribbon schools named by the U.S. Department

of Education for outstanding achievement, five are in Alabama. The others

are: Spain Park High School in Hoover; Wrights Mills Elementary in

Auburn; Leon Sheffield Magnet Elementary in Decatur; and George

Hall Elementary in Mobile.

FINDING JOYNo. 3: Likes differences. A leader in a flat world likesdifferent types of music, art, books, literature, theaterand people. Differences are the source of creativity.

No. 2: Enjoys a challenge. A leader in the flat world isenergized by a challenge and recognizes that mistakesare growth opportunities. A flat world leader recog-

nizes the truth in Nietzche’s quote, “What does not kill me,makes me stronger.”

No. 1: Sees joy in little things. There is much to besaid about the simple value of enjoying a sunset, rejoic-ing in the first smile of a child or being excited when a

child learns something new. Thich Nhat Han, a Buddhist philoso-pher, said, “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but

sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” A leader ina flat world knows that smiles and joy are portable, recognizablein any society and wherever one leads.

Shel Silverstein, the poet, says it well in his poem “Put Some-thing In:”

Draw a crazy picture,Write a nutty poem,Sing a mumble-gumble song,Whistle through your comb.Do a loony-goony dance‘Cross the kitchen floor,Put something silly in the worldThat ain’t been there before. ■

Reprinted with permission from the August 2008 issue of The School Administrator

magazine. Jane Sigford is executive director of curriculum and instruction in the

Wayzata Public Schools in Wayzata, Minn. E-mail: [email protected].

Robert Ostlund is superintendent of Wayzata Public Schools.

10 Attitudes for Effective 21st Century Leaders


Phot

o Cr

edit:

Cha

rles V

. Cre

el


School Board

Greene County Board of Education

Hometown

Forkland

A Board Member for

5-plus years

Books at Bedside

The Death of a Fat Man by Sen. Hank Sanders

Inspiration

As a board member, I just love to see young people learn.

Motto as a Board Member

Be prepared for the unexpected.

Walter Mitty Fantasy

To see everybody saved.

Advice to New Board Members

Go to these conferences and learn all you can about being aboard member. If you don’t have the background and don’tknow what a good board member’s objectives should be, you’re not going to succeed. What I initially thought it was to be a board member is entirely different than what it is in actuality. Every decision you make should focus on the students.

Greatest Accomplishment as a Board Member

When I first became a board member, our school system was under state intervention, and we were over $1 million in the hole. Our system is free of that. To be able to makeour own decisions is a good feeling. It was a joint effort. The whole community came together.

Pet Peeve as a Board Member

When board members behave as if they’re acting on their own and they forget that we are only a board when we’re alltogether in session. It bothers me when people want to runthe board as if it’s their own personal business. There, again,board member training is important.

Reason I Like Being an AASB Member

It gives me the opportunity to help my students by beingthe best board member I can be. I can exchange ideas anddiscuss problems with other board members from all overthe state and find out what works and doesn’t work forthem and their students.

My Epitaph

Here lies a believer in God — a good father, good husbandand good friend. ■

AT THE TABLE

Leo Branch

A primary method for accomplishing these all-too-important lessons in civic engagement is service learn-ing. Teachers use this technique to help students applytheir academic skills and knowledge in a way thataddresses real-life problems and needs in their commu-nities. Service learning teaches students civic participa-tion skills and develops in them a service ethic andsense of civic responsibility. This method increases moti-vation and retention of academic skills because class-room goals are tied to community needs. The addedbonus is students provide valuable services to schoolsand communities. Can you imagine a more compellingreason to learn than applied education that actuallymakes a difference?

Public schools were founded on the premise ofpreparing young people to become informed, engagedand ethical citizens in our democracy. We strive tograduate students of good character who are intellectu-ally prepared, civically engaged and compassionatemembers of the community.

Schools help produce young people with strongcivic character and who value and demonstrate hon-esty, personal integrity and respect for others. Thesechildren grow into citizens who constructively resolvedifferences, are empathetic and caring and effectivelymanage their emotions and behavior. They are enlight-ened. They are responsible. They participate in thepolitical process and democratic institutions that shapepublic policy.

What can school boards do?I encourage each of you to:• Look deeper into the civic engagement component

of education and ask questions. • Have dialogue with your fellow board members on

how you are promoting civic engagement in yourschools.

• Indentify ways in which your schools are using serv-ice learning as a teaching tool.

Civic engagement and service learning complete the circle that starts with education and revolves back tothe community. You, too, are a part of that circle. Youcan help those in your school systems and your com-munities understand that through civic engagementand service learning: • Education becomes more relevant to students. • The community experiences the significance of what

students learn. • The sense of community grows. • The community’s support for schools increases.

Every part of the circle grows stronger. Will you doyour part? ■

Not your Grandpa’s Civics Class


Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAID

Montgomery, ALPermit No. 34

Alabama Association of School Boards

Post Office Drawer 230488

Montgomery, Alabama 36123-0488

Documents

2008 October/November Alabama School Boards Magazine