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There are many reasons to be concerned about this School Board election. The elections are important in every place where school boards are elected as well as where they may be appointed. It’s the board’s responsibility to govern and ensure accountability.

Individual board members must not try to manage and change duties of the board. Board members (All) have the responsibility to stay alert about the policies they set and when the opportunity is presented to choose a superintendent. Eyes and minds must be open and be watchful when that devil pops up wearing familiar faces and tricks you with all of their lies.

Accountability of the superintendent comes to question, and it’s the job of the whole board to meet and let the majority make decisions about whatever the concerns are and what part of the policies are being overlooked.

When the citizens become aware of the board’s concern and learn that careless discussions or mere presence just to cast votes of opportunity have proven not to be for the good of school districts, students lose.

Instruction is the heartbeat of a school-wide change. Since July 2012, our school district has seen many leaders come and go (revolving doors), classrooms not touched, familiar lines always said, rarely done. Our students’ grades and the school performance scores are lower. The problem in our school system is definitely poor monitoring and management in each aspect of the Board’s responsibilities from choosing and holding the superintendent accountable to the Board and citizens.

In deciding the next school board member for St. John the Baptist Parish, citizens must be aware that friendships/kinships will do no more than settle the dust that’s flying around us. Our children deserve better, and we must act now to make the needed changes we need on the local level then transition to the state and federal levels.

It’s a fair criticism of intensely unfair treatments in our school system. Stop holding students alone responsible for poor grades and low school performance scores when the lack of adult leadership is mostly the problem leading to poor (TAC) Transparency, Accountability and Communication.

I failed to state explicitly the rights of every student to have qualified teachers in every classroom. They shouldn’t have to wait until the instructors (hired) have completed the requirements to try and become certified.

There are those who will inevitably say what it takes to become a teacher in Louisiana while poorly monitoring and following the process is the problem. Different states have different levels of vulnerability to these effects, and each parish also has ways of doing the process of monitoring teacher hiring.

WAKE UP ST. JOHN! We need to get back in the top 50 percentile by being sure the equitability in our school system is improving and FOR REAL!

 

Citizen Jean

Carolyn (Jeannie) Batiste