Kids in school as leadership qualification
A recurrent theme from critics of St. Louis Public Schools’ Special Administrative Board — the three person panel appointed by the state to run the district after it lost accreditation — is that none of its members have children enrolled in the district.
There is an appeal to the point: parents of school children are in the middle of the action; committing kids to the district shows a special commitment to public education.
But, standing alone, just how important a qualification is it when measured against the practical needs of St. Louis Public Schools?
Should parenthood alone, for example, trump proven experience in solving problems with systems in complicated organizations? Is a longtime community member with a solid record of leadership somehow less qualified because he or she does not currently have kids in school in or in the district?
I’m not saying that being a parent with kids in the district doesn’t mean anything.
I just wonder how important it is in the hierarchy of qualifications a governing board needs to transform St. Louis Public Schools — especially when a board member has access to many such parents and their best thinking.
(1 votes, average: 1 out of 5)
Loading ...
Eddie Roth writes about education and social justice. He recently joined the Post-Dispatch editorial page after six years as an editorial writer with the Dayton Daily News. But he is not new to St. Louis. Eddie grew up in Webster Groves and south St. Louis County. He's a lawyer who for many years practiced with a downtown firm. He and his wife, Jeanne, and their three daughters, Emily, Julia and Alice, lived in the Shaw Neighborhood, where he was active in neighborhood affairs, and now have made it their home again. He also served a term on the St. Louis Police Board. When it comes to community organizing, he endorses Quentin Crisp's advice: Rather than keeping up with the Joneses, it's better to pull them down to your level. 
“Is a longtime community member with a solid record of leadership somehow less qualified because he or she does not currently have kids in school in or in the district?” No, but if they do a poor job it’s not affecting THEIR kids. Having children attending these schools certainly gives you more of an incentive to do what’s best for them.
Kind of reminds me of the lawmakers that so adamantly oppose vouchers because they believe it would hurt the public schools and therefore force children to be trapped at failing schools, yet these same lawmakers send THEIR children to private schools.