January 10, 2010 Board Meeting Agenda Available

Click on the post to view the agenda for the January 10 (this Monday!) Evansville School Board Meeting at 5:30 in the District Board and Training Center. The Packet isn't active yet, but beginning with last month, the district is posting the entire board packet for the public to see. It's interesting and very eye opening when you check out the budget stuff especially. To check it out on the school website, click on school board then Board Meetings. Active agendas and packets will be highlighted in blue. I expect the January Packet to be available by Friday this week.

The hot topic this month will probably be 4K, which is up for a public discussion after Heidi updates everyone on the financial ramifications of setting up a 4K program. I think the program based budgeting process discussion may ironically vie with 4K for the top hot topic pick. It depends on how contentious the board members are feeling Monday evening. If business goes per the new "usual" for ECSD School Board, it could be a long night. Yippee.

Monday, we'll get an update on who's running for school board this year as well. I'm not clued in on that yet. I have Christmas inertia and haven't called for an update. We'll all know soon... The looming budget crisis does not help attract civil servants to School Board or City Council seats for that matter. Being a civil servant is hard enough. Getting paid about a penny an hour is even worse. But in this economy, it's like running on a platform of "abuse me and abuse me some more! After that, don't reelect me." All in all, a pretty dreary job with Scott Walker at the helm. He's going to ^&(&()slap schools so much they're going to pine for the days of Tommy Thompson, architect of the dread revenue caps which educators universally curse in Wisconsin. He's already threatening to expand the "successful" Milwaukee school voucher program across the state. I can't help but wonder what criteria he has used to deem it "successful." I was under the impression the program was a hotbed of financial chicanery and nobody has improved their test scores to boot. Apparently his definition of success is "reduction in the number of children enrolled in the Milwaukee Public Schools." Mission Accomplished, Scott! Let's see how many other Wisconsin School districts you can disembowel in the same way while you're in office. Great Idea!

But I digress. Please join us Monday at 5:30 if any of the agenda items appeal to you. Let your voice be heard or the assumption is acquiescence.