The following e-mail was sent to the Horry County Board of Education and leaders of the Horry County Schools administration on Thursday, April 14, 2011. I titled it "Autocratic Governance."
Members of the Board:
Superintendents have been expanding their leadership roles for many years in traditional governance districts around the country, long before the policy board movement and the concept of Policy Governance began to be embraced in the late 1990s. School boards have been relinquishing their control since early in the twentieth century. Numerous cities have completely bypassed school boards and placed control of public education in the hands of mayors. Other variations exist, and many do exhibit hybrid characteristics. My campaign of late has NOT been to completely marginalize educational leadership and expertise, only to balance it with reasonable input from the public. I am NOT trying to introduce a type of pure democracy and rule by the masses, only access to viable influence through their elected board representatives. Superintendents and district administrations will still have the bulk of the influence on school boards. Citizens will more often NOT make the effort and take the opportunity to involve themselves in the inner workings of our schools. Yet, they should have the opportunity to do so. This can only happen in a district that has a semblance of traditional governance, as I have defined it. Boards of education must have management oversight and vote on curriculum, finance, operations, and all district policy, or school districts can no longer be considered democratic-republican institutions. Without this practice, they become autocratic. Yes, that means totalitarian. There is no other way to describe the phenomenon of Policy Governance, Coherent Governance, or any other name for the policy board movement. This philosophy demeans citizens, including teachers, and is highly elitist. Let’s end it here and stop it from ruining other parts of our country.
Bobby
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