Our most recent school board meeting was on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. School Board meetings are no easy thing: much of the work of a board involves legally required procedures or budgetary matters. They cannot be avoided, but they are no more unique to education than a balance sheet is to a private business.…

Like most school board meetings, in districts across Wisconsin, budgets, finances, headcounts, and enrollment (all related, of course) occupied most of the meeting. Two topics, though, stood out. The first was our 4-K program. Whitewater did not originate the program, but few cities in Wisconsin need it more than we do. We are, for so…

I’ll focus on one part of the December 17th Whitewater Unified School Board meeting — the discussion of changes to the English language curriculum. (That’s Language Arts, for specialists.) The revisions may overcome some prior course fragmentation, but I cannot be alone in thinking that competitive, talented students would benefit with something more than AP…

What does it mean when someone says that education should be ‘run like a business?’ It might mean one of two things, one easily caricatured and mistaken, but one easily misunderstood yet profound. In the first case, to run a school district like a business is merely to run it with some sense of accounting,…

A foundation or endowment for the school district is a good idea. Funds raised through private means might reduce pressure of the public budget to accommodate desirable, but not core, spending needs. A foundation might be preferable, as it would be more independent of political, school board control. There are always (manageable) risks that a…

Here are some quick remarks, in no decided order. A few are remarks that I have made previously. I’ll cover the school district more in the future. Choice of school and teacher is preferable, whenever possible. Choice improves efficiencies within an organization, even if it does not lead to alternatives to the organization. Federalization of…

One seldom encounters the technology-hating, outside of ascetic communes, environmental rallies, and shacks in Montana. Most people want technological progress. Americans are justifiability proud of our advanced technology, the envy of the world, and the product of our productive, free-market economy. No one wants an abacus instead of a computer, or a slow computer instead…

Under District Administrator Leslie Steinhaus, the public school hires teachers — or principals — through an interview panel. That’s common; many public bodies, and private companies, conduct interviews through a panel with several interviewers. You may be surprised to learn, however, that an interview panel for teachers or principals might include, for example, a building…