DISTRICT TAKEOVERS STRAND SCHOOL BOARDS

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DISTRICT TAKEOVERS STRAND SCHOOL BOARDS
by Anne C. Lewis for America Tomorrow

SAN DIEGO --The takeover mania that has put several school districts in the hands of mayors' offices is leaving school boards in limbo, according to Michael Kirst of Stanford University.

Speaking to school administrators here at their annual conference, he said he was concerned about the continuing existence of some urban school boards. Even where they are still functioning, some no longer focus on district-wide policymaking. They are into monitoring individual schools or representing sections of the city rather than being elected citywide.

With a mayor in charge, different things happen, Kirst said. They are able to manipulate the media better than school districts, and they can get responses from federal officials quicker, he said. In Chicago and Boston, cities where he has studied the takeover but mayors, the public seems to approve of the idea, even though mayors are more autocratic than previous governance of schools. The mayor and school head in Chicago "mounted an aggressive after-school program that the school board could not have done," he said.

"Even the harshest critics of the change in Chicago believe the move established hope," Kirst said. People seem satisfied with having a single decision maker rather than the diffused and often chaotic situation before.

The takeover is being done differently in the two cities. Paul Vallas, a non-educator appointed by the Chicago mayor to head the schools, is using a traditional standardized test to hold schools accountable and lengthening the time spent in school by students through retention policies and summer school. Kirst noted that the legislation on the takeover only gave Chicago three years to show results, although a bill now before the legislature would extend the takeover.

In Boston, Superintendent Tom Payzant is seeking deeper changes by emphasizing standards and teacher professional development. It may take years to show results there, Kirst said.

One result of the takeovers is a lot more involvement in the schools by city councils, a dubious development, according to Kirst. "If the alderman replace school boards, I'm not sure we come out ahead," he said.