Building A Team

Education is an investment that we make in the future. The success or failure of today’s students will affect how well we are able to compete in tomorrow’s marketplace. While current statistics show that we are not performing well against our global competitors, we seem more focused on playing the blame game than finding real solutions. The future would be better served if we found ways to work together as a team.

The first step towards building a team is recognizing the needs of the other stakeholders. While the Los Angeles City Board of Education states that “all Board business takes place in public,” these meetings are held on Tuesdays at 1:00 in the afternoon. This is not a time that encourages participation from working parents. Teachers and students are also unable to participate. Therefore, “the governing, policy-making body” of the district is effectively working without any public input from their constituents.

United Teachers Los Angeles is currently circulating an online petition for the Board of Education to move their meetings to 6:30 P.M. While this is a good first start, I believe that the Board needs to go further. The school board should move some meetings to the weekend  and occasionally rotate the meeting site away from the Downtown headquarters. This would enable more participation and will facilitate improvements to our education system.

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