AUBURN - What is the point of a board of education?
Natalie Scavone, teacher of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services' New Visions Education program, charged each of her students to unearth the answer to that question by actually sitting in on board meetings and watching the proceedings.
“Since they want to be teachers, it's important for them to see how the government of a school works,” she said. “Many of them have not attended a board meeting before. It's a way for them to get an inside peek on how a school board functions and what issues they address.”
In the case of three New Vision students who have already witnessed a board meeting, watching the discussions and decision-making process dispelled many of their misconceptions about the board and its members.
“I know for me, before I thought they just have a meeting to talk about the interesting things that happened in the month,” said Marie Gravius, 17, of Memphis who has sat in on two Jordan-Elbridge Central School District Board of Education meetings. “It was definitely not what I expected it to be.”
“I thought the board had discussions like a high supreme court,” said Hilary Mills, 17, of Port Byron who witnessed the last BOCES board meeting two weeks ago, “and their discussions are final.”
What Mills - and one of her classmates, Kayla Beard, who also sat in on the meeting - realized was that board members' opinions are not cemented before a decision is made.
Only after carefully listening to the discussion and presentations do they decide on a major issue.
“It felt really democratic,” Mills said. “They were all taking their opinions into consideration.”
Scavone requires each of her seven students to go to at least one board of education meeting in the Auburn, Jordan-Elbridge and Union Springs School districts and BOCES this semester.
“It is my hope that they walk out of this with the role the board of education has with this community we call school,” Scavone said. “There's this link that must be forged with community agencies, community individuals and the school, and the board of education helps build those bridges.”
New Vision students are given the opportunity to witness a board meeting through the perspectives of student, teacher and board member, which “gives them a broader picture of the nature of not only the unpaid work these board members do, but the decisions they make to forge that connection between school and the community,” she said.
One month into the semester, Gravius, Mills and Beard have all realized the board's importance to the school and the community.
“I thought it was just a group of grumpy old people making decisions for people because they couldn't,” said Beard, 17, of Port Byron. “And after (the meeting), I realized how important it is for these people to make those decisions.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at alyssa.sunkin@lee.net or 253-5311 ext. 239.
“Since they want to be teachers, it's important for them to see how the government of a school works,” she said. “Many of them have not attended a board meeting before. It's a way for them to get an inside peek on how a school board functions and what issues they address.”
In the case of three New Vision students who have already witnessed a board meeting, watching the discussions and decision-making process dispelled many of their misconceptions about the board and its members.
“I know for me, before I thought they just have a meeting to talk about the interesting things that happened in the month,” said Marie Gravius, 17, of Memphis who has sat in on two Jordan-Elbridge Central School District Board of Education meetings. “It was definitely not what I expected it to be.”
“I thought the board had discussions like a high supreme court,” said Hilary Mills, 17, of Port Byron who witnessed the last BOCES board meeting two weeks ago, “and their discussions are final.”
What Mills - and one of her classmates, Kayla Beard, who also sat in on the meeting - realized was that board members' opinions are not cemented before a decision is made.
Only after carefully listening to the discussion and presentations do they decide on a major issue.
“It felt really democratic,” Mills said. “They were all taking their opinions into consideration.”
Scavone requires each of her seven students to go to at least one board of education meeting in the Auburn, Jordan-Elbridge and Union Springs School districts and BOCES this semester.
“It is my hope that they walk out of this with the role the board of education has with this community we call school,” Scavone said. “There's this link that must be forged with community agencies, community individuals and the school, and the board of education helps build those bridges.”
New Vision students are given the opportunity to witness a board meeting through the perspectives of student, teacher and board member, which “gives them a broader picture of the nature of not only the unpaid work these board members do, but the decisions they make to forge that connection between school and the community,” she said.
One month into the semester, Gravius, Mills and Beard have all realized the board's importance to the school and the community.
“I thought it was just a group of grumpy old people making decisions for people because they couldn't,” said Beard, 17, of Port Byron. “And after (the meeting), I realized how important it is for these people to make those decisions.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at alyssa.sunkin@lee.net or 253-5311 ext. 239.
