Dana Tom's Gavel - May 12, 2009 meeting

School board meetings often contain more meandering hypotheticals than actual decisions. May 12's meeting was a prime example of this. A discussion of a college readiness program at Barron Park elementary school lasted nearly two hours. The program is a laudable one; a group of students who may otherwise have difficulties getting into college have a program to assist them. Longer school days and a longer school year as well as increased teacher involvement are all part of the program. Yet once the board started asking the teacher representative and Barron Park principal questions, it seemed as though the meeting would never end, and the board room emptied. The discussion was intended to simply update the board - without STAR data, a full quantitative analysis of the program isn't possible. Nevertheless, the board had a thousand questions, most of which had little bearing on the situation. After two hours, it was nearly a mercy when the board moved on to discuss the purchase of fuel for the district.

Meeting Highlights:

-Dana Tom was presented with a gavel by his fellow board members. He joked that he would use it to preside over dinners at home. There's a reason Mr. Tom is Betty's favorite board member.

- Camille Townsend mentioned, during the endless discussion of Baron Park's college bound program, the Kinsey Reports. Hope she didn't mean those Kinsey Reports.

- New Spanish textbooks were adopted. These books were chosen for their technological components. Terminator Textbooks? The governor would be proud.