January is School Board Recognition Month

The month of January provides a unique opportunity to acknowledge a special group of volunteer elected officials in education. It is School Board Recognition Month, and it offers communities across Michigan a way to acknowledge the continuing efforts of local and ISD school board members in providing leadership and guidance to local school districts. Across the state, there are more than 4,000 school board members who dedicate countless hours of hard work to improving education for Michigan children.

School board members take that responsibility and public trust very seriously, dedicating an enormous number of hours to their work both in and outside of board meetings. Attending school functions, preparing for board meetings, reading financial reports, agendas and proposals, and making a host of difficult and challenging decisions are just a few of the regular activities board members participate in through their service.

Many board members have also made a commitment to continuous professional development to ensure they stay up-to-date on the latest education issues. Over the course of a school year, school board members across Michigan participated in nearly 7,000 hours of classroom courses and online learning, all focused on education- and board-related issues.

Today, more than ever, school board leaders are faced with the overwhelming charge of providing a quality education at a time when financial constraints weigh heavily on the health of school district budgets. In an era of unprecedented choice in education, school boards are also tasked with charting a course that provides long-term, sustainable success for current and future students in all of Michigan’s public schools.

School Board Recognition Month is part of a national effort cosponsored by the Michigan Association of School Boards and the National School Boards Association to build community awareness and understanding about the crucial role school boards play in our communities.

Board members come from all walks of life with diverse experiences and backgrounds, but working together, they make decisions in the best interests of Michigan’s children.

The school board’s main goal is to support student achievement. To achieve that goal, the board focuses on the following needs:

• Creating a vision for what parents and citizens want their school district to become and how to make student achievement the top priority.

• Setting standards for what students must learn and be able to do.

• Assessing whether schools achieve their goals and whether students are learning.

• Accounting for the outcomes of decisions and by tracking progress and reporting results.

• Aligning the use of the district’s human and financial resources.

• Creating a safe and orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach.

• Collaborating to solve common problems and to support common successes.

• Focusing on continuous improvement by questioning, examining, revising, refining and revisiting issues related to student achievement.

The current members of the Portland Public School Board include:

· Beth Goodman

· Linda Hoxie-Green

· Andrew Huhn

· Brian Pohl

· Doug Logel

· Patrick Duff

· Angela Shinaver

Image courtesy of https://www.portlandk12.org/board