A. Robert Kaufman 2001 N. Hilton Street Baltimore, MD 21216 410-728-8611 A Pox on Both “Solutions” Throughout the nation, both appointed and elected school boards have proven inadequate to solve America’s educational dilemma. For decades, if not centuries, cities and states have played “musical chairs” with our schools’ governance crisis. Simple sanity should dictate we look for new solutions. On the one hand, why should politicians appoint school board members? On the other hand, elected school boards attract the same sort of blow-hard, incompetent egotists who already populate our City Council and State Legislature. The same anti-social financial interests that currently dominate the city, state and federal political scene would dominate the school scene. Lots and lots of school contract at stake! What is the alternative? Democracy! School boards should be dominated by those constituencies most concerned with providing quality education – parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, students and other school employees – bus drivers, maintenance crews, kitchen workers and principals. The parents’ organizations should elect a majority. All constituencies should have the right to elect anyone they choose, and the right to instantly recall any delegate not performing to their satisfaction. Such constituencies are most able to pick representatives who are earnest, capable, dedicated - and get along well with others. Real “local control” school board members should be adequately paid. The argument that somehow an appointed board would require a mayor or governor to be directly responsible and answerable to the voters, can partly be refuted by asking how well do they currently manage their police departments, housing, sanitation, public welfare, public health, streets, alleys, and air quality! Expectations that such politicians would do a better job with our schools, is not very realistic. Far better to empower our parents, teachers, students and other school employees, with such responsibility Finally, any effort to unite such mutually concerned constituencies could well become a dominant political force in local, state and national political life. That is why it will only happen if these constituencies get together and make it happen!