Every so often in your child's school experience an issue may arise that you would like to have addressed by a school representative. Most of us on the school board have children in our schools now, or did have children enrolled at some point in time so we can relate to these feelings. I know that many teachers express on Back-to-School night a desire to have parents come to them first with any questions or concerns before they go to the building principal, the reason being that the teacher can hopefully answer any questions or concerns first and save you a trip to the principal's office.
In our school board training classes we learned that there is a similar chain-of-command in school district operations. Issues and concerns get moved through the following chain: Teachers - Building Principal - Director/Administrator - Assistant Superintendent - Superintendent - Board of Education. As a board member your responsibility is not the day-to-day running of the school district and you are not allowed to just "pop-in" to a building unannounced and check in on things, that responsibility goes to our superintendent and his assistants. However, we are kept fully informed and updated daily by Dr. Bryant as to any issues or concerns that he is working on and if we have a question for him it is responded to immediately.
We also hear or read concerns from parents regarding all sorts of topics. For instance, this week we have heard concerns regarding the Middle School/High School bus run being late and we have also heard parent concerns regarding the hot temperatures at Park Ave. Elementary School. Both issues are being looked into by the superintendent and his team and we are being kept informed of their status. We will report on them at our next board meeting since that is the time dedicated for such a purpose.
The week before school started we went on a school-wide district tour with Dr. Bryant. We had an hour-long tour in each school building that was led by the building principal. Each principal showed us around, answered our questions and shared things with us about their school that they felt were important. We ate lunch with the transportation department and buildings and grounds crew and were able to thank them for all of their hard work in getting everything ready for opening day. The day before school started we attended all the school faculty meetings with Dr. Bryant and were able to say a personal thank you to all of the principals and their teachers and wish them a good school year.
One of the reasons we wanted to have a Board of Education blog was so that we could have a way to connect with our community when we are not at a board meeting. Your child's education and safety is important to each one of us and we take our responsibility as your elected officials very seriously. Please know that although you may not hear from us on a daily basis, we are kept informed of your concerns and we have a very hard working team of people in WVCSD who are making sure they are addressed as soon as possible!
Submitted by Shannon Hockswender
