The Broken Board

Yes, I am finally saying it out loud.

A year ago I started this journey of serving on the IPS school board.  I knew there were problems and I knew there would be some roadblocks.  I assumed there would be personality differences.  But I had no idea the board was broken.  You may wonder, what does that mean?  Well, there are 7 elected officials.  Five serving districts and two at large.  Each Board member represents those persons in their district.  (They are suppose to listen and represent their constituents.)   Three of the longest serving board members ran unopposed in their last elections.

It is no secret that the board is usually split.  Sometimes 5-2 sometimes 4-3.  The same four ALWAYS being on the same side, the side of the Superintendent.  In fact, one board member has said that they will NEVER vote against the Super.  And those that do are met with criticism, insult, and are excluded.  I am not talking about a Jr. High kind of exclusion, I could care less about being someone's friend.  But we have been excluded from emails, conversations, and important information is not being shared. 

Most recently I saw how dysfunctional this board is.  These 4 board members hijacked the process of electing officers of the board.  Two members, on the other side of the split, showed interest in holding the president and vice president spot.  Those 4 wouldn't allow that.  The same members are just rotating the positions and not allowing anyone new to sit in these seats.  

Here is a list of the officers from past several years.  It's like Groundhog Day.

‎2011-2012 President Busch, Vice Brown.   
2010-2011 President Gore, Vice Zaphiriou. 
2009-2010 President Brown, Vice Gore. 
2008-2009 President Busch, Vice Zaphiriou. 
2007-2008 President Busch, Vice Zaphirou. 
2006-2007 President Campbell, Vice Busch. 
2005-2006 President Brown, Vice Campbell.

The public is NOT being represented by this board.  Those 4 board members are silencing the other three, in effect, silencing the public we represent.  At a time when the public is begging for change and IPS has 7 failing schools, one would think we would think outside the box and try new leadership on the board.  This is simply another year lost.  I apologize to the people of this city and I fear for our children.