Thursday Meeting

We had a good meeting Thursday evening with everyone sharing his or her ideas. Of course one of the topics of discussion was the adaptation of the Baldrige method within the school system. Some of the other topics discussed were the lack of administrative support for the teachers, the quality of education received by the students, school expenditures, central office administration, school policies being disregarded by the School Board and the administration, and the apparent administrative disregard of the concerns of parents and grandparents.

Unfortunately only about a dozen people attended the meeting in addition to the four who organized the meeting. Therefore, one of the immediate goals that we talked about was to increase the membership of the group. Of course, if we don't have a strong group we will not be able to get much accomplished. Hopefully, if you were not able to be at this meeting you will be able to attend Tuesday's meeting. The other initial goals that we developed are to support the teachers, to continue to investigate I-SS finances, to continue to examine school policies, and to consider initiating proposals for new I-SS as allowed for under current school policy.

Again, everyone is encouraged to attend Tuesday's meeting at 7:45 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the Iredell County Library.

I-SS Citizen's Advisory Committee

Update: Thursday, June 11th

If you have been reading the comments posted on the Record & Landmark web site in relation to the article 'Schools prepare for budget crunch' you know that several individuals are interested in starting a group to address a number of issues regarding the Iredell-Statesville Schools. (The article can still be found on the paper's web site. One way to access the article is to Go to Local at the top, then Statesville and look for the article under June 9. Another way is to use the search feature.) I have now reserved Meeting Room B at the Iredell County Library on Thursday, June 18th, from 7:00 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. They are still checking the availability for Tuesday, June 23rd. Both rooms are already booked on Tuesday but they may be able to move one of the groups downstairs. My thinking is that some people might not be able to attend on one of the two days. Also, we might have a lot to discuss. If you are interested please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an e-mail (pklaene@gmail.com). Also let me know if you would be willing to help organize the group. Perhaps we could set up some kind of silent partnership for the teachers who would like to support the group, but are afraid of retaliation from the I-SS administration. If you willing to attend a meeting, help organize the group, or if you have any ideas to share, please let me know. I am willing to help organize the group but I don't want my concerns and issues to determine the direction of the group. If this is going to work then it has to be a collaborative effort. We have to work together to help improve the school system so that all students are given a chance to excel.