The Barrow County Board of Education gave a resounding vote of disapproval to a report put together by the state Commission for School Board Excellence during a called work session last Thursday.
BOE members balked at suggestions that the state become involved in local school board issues and policies.
“They are using Clayton County as a way to beat up the rest of the state,” BOE member Larry Ballard said referring to the embattled Clayton County school system which recently lost accreditation due in part to school board problems.
The study was put together by a group of state business leaders as a way to study national school board governing practices and then to make recommendations for improvements.
The commission’s recommendations fall into three categories: Board governance accountability, an education task force and board candidacy and elections.
A board survey was included asking school boards if it believed the state should intervene if local boards were having trouble or were not meeting certain standards.
Barrow BOE chairman Bill Bramlett polled members in attendance on each question to formulate a response and all questions were answered “No” when it came to allowing the state to become involved with local issues.
“I will respond and say the whole concept done by the commission to bring the state in to oversee local boards flies in the face of what we believe,” Bramlett said.
DuWayne R. Anderson
Winder, GA