Two Open Positions on DHS School Leadership Team
Decatur Metro | August 11, 2010Past President of Decatur High School’s School Leadership Team, Lew Lefton, writes in…
This fall, there are two parent positions open on the DHS SLT. Initially, there was a deadline of August 6, 2010 for applications, but that deadline is being extended to make sure anyone who is interested has an opportunity to apply.
If you have a child at the high school, this is a great way to be involved. If you are interested in being on the ballot, you are encouraged to submit the following to the DHS office or via email to Lauri McKain (lmckain@csdecatur.net):
- A short biographical sketch or résumé (including, name, contact information, relationship to the School (e.g., ages/grades of kids), occupation/background, any other relevant information).
- A brief statement of why you are interested in serving on the SLT.
Please consider running for this important elected position. The election will be held in conjunction with Curriculum Night on September 2nd, and new members will begin their terms in October. If you have any questions or comments, you are always welcome to contact any member of the current SLT. That includes myself (lew.lefton@gmail.com), and anyone listed at http://dhs.csdecatur.net/charter/
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BACKGROUND:
The SLT is the school’s governing body, as described in the system charter. The team, which meets monthly, is composed of parents, teachers, administration, a student, and other appointed members. The SLT has decision-making and management authority in several areas of school operation including:
- Determining use of non-personnel funds (e.g., for technology, instructional materials, etc.)
- Participating in interviews and recommendations of personnel for hire
- Developing the continuous school improvement plan which describes specific goals and action items.
The driving theme behind all of the SLT work is to improve student achievement and performance as outlined in the system strategic plan. Members of the SLT act as a liaison, facilitate communication, and encourage participation of parents and others within the school community. The DHS SLT meets on the fourth Monday of every month.
The most important requirement to be a member of the SLT is an honest desire and commitment to contribute to the educational experience and learning of all the children at Decatur High School.
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DHS Parents: No application, no complaining!
While I understand the basis of your point, I don’t think one needs to agree to be on this team in order to have the right to voice an opinion. I’m not particularly fond of meetings and am not terribly good at things that require a lot of meetings. I am, however, very good at getting stuff done. Boots on the ground, hands dirty sorts of things.
As a volunteer, I have sometimes been taken aback at people who criticize how others have handled something. I can almost always silence them by asking them to take part in doing something. Hear those crickets chirping?
Of course all 2,000 or so parents can’t run! And everyone has to find where they fit best as a contributer to their school community. But I want to make the point that we can complain and debate one another all we want but meanwhile others are making the decisions. If a DHS parent wants to be a decision-maker for DHS, here’s the opportunity. The CSD Charter has delegated some pretty substantial authority to SLTs for school-level decisions and a School Board member has said that it’s up to the SLTs to seize the opportunity and use that authority. If parents show little interest in being on the SLT, the school system can interpet it as a sign that parents don’t really want a leadership role in our schools. Maybe that’s true. IMHO, I think many know that serving on SLTs has had its rough spots and growing pains–initially, lots of folks ran to be SLT members. It’s hard to volunteer your free time for something time-consuming and sometimes difficult, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes frustrating, sometimes without proof of impact. The hardest part is discussing issues and sometimes disagreeing with the administrators and teachers in whose hands you place your children every day. But governance isn’t easy, especially when the form of governance changes without changing out the people involved. SLTs have a lot of potential if the system can learn to trust and empower them and the parents and teachers can commit time and energy to them.
So which SLT are you on?
She was definitely on an SLT last year, but I won’t name it so I don’t blow her cover.
Not sure if she’s still on it this year.