Question: Mr. Johnson said something that concerns me – that parents should hold the board’s feet to the fire. Does the board have a mission statement and a system of accountability?

On Thursday, September 22, 2011 at Whiteford Elementary, Board of Education member Cecily Harsh-Kinnane hosted a district 3 community meeting featuring a question and answer session with superintendent Erroll Davis. 

Below is the third in a series of questions and answers addressed at that meeting.

Q: Mr. Johnson said something that concerns me – that parents should hold the board’s feet to the fire. Does the board have a mission statement and a system of accountability?

Mr. Davis: Yes, the system does have a mission statement. The board just went through a complete reorganization of its governance structure. And a key part of board meetings is time set aside for community input, which we value. Feedback from parents and community members helps inform our policies and ensure accountability. Parental involvement is so important that our remediation plan has been designed not only to work with the child, but also the parents. For example, we want parents to know that homework is there for a reason. It is not called home play; it’s homework. Working together, we can get important messages across to students. 

(Both Mr. Johnson and Ms. Harsch-Kinnane added that they’d like parents to understand and to help educate others on the role of board members. It is not to engage in the day-to-day administration of the school system.)