The
Prince George's County public school system traces its roots back to the
aftermath of the Civil War and the 1864 Maryland Constitution. Under the first
school board president and first superintendent, Dr. John Bayne of Salubria, OxonHill, Maryland, and local control was established in order to meet the specific
needs and preferences of the population. The governance of the education system
was separated from general governance of the County with a focus on lay
oversight concentrating on policy making. Day to day operations relied on a
professional superintendent for management.
The
public responsibility to educate its young in order to ensure their ability to
participate fully in the workforce of tomorrow is a constant challenge for Prince
George's County, Maryland. Unlike in Washington, D.C., where the Mayor has
direct authority over the city’s school system, or in, say, Philadelphia, where
the Mayor appoints two members to a five-member school system authority, in
Prince George’s County, the executive has no control over the county’s schools
beyond allocating funds.
In essence, the management is patterned on corporate
boards of directors with a chief executive officer.[1] The democratic representation of all citizens
through at-large elections, however, is missing. The election by specific
district reinforces the parochial interference that is an on-going characterization
of the school system.
According
to the Maryland state department of education, 41 percent of Prince George’s
County’s schools have been identified as schools in need of improvement.[2]
There is an obvious need for change in how the school system is administered at
the highest level - the school board. And yet we have had a series of school
boards so it would follow that it is not the specific personalities as much as
the system of the independent school board itself that may be at the root of
the challenges and problems. A well-worn cliché tells us that repeatedly doing
the same thing while expecting different results is the very definition of
insanity.
Perhaps
it is time to have a public conversation about holding a county executive and
his team responsible and moving the school system into the county executive's
office. This idea comes with significant risk, of course, especially in light
of recent illegal activities and pay for play antics of past years, however,
given the school systems budget comes from the County Council and the County Executive,
it seems a natural consideration to hold them accountable directly instead of
injecting yet another layer of self interest into the mix. Let's see if we can
stop going the same thing over and over again, and stop being constantly surprised that we get the
same results over and over again.
[1] Deborah
Land. 2002. Local School Boards Under Review: Their Role and Effectiveness
in Relation to Students’ Academic Achievement. Johns
Hopkins [accessed July 29, 2012] http://www.csos.jhu.edu/crespar/techReports/Report56.pdf
[2] George
Barnette. 2012. Maryland No. 1 in School Rankings although Baltimore and Prince
George’s lag. Afro.com. [accessed July 29, 2012] http://www.afro.com/sections/news/Prince-Georges-County-News/story.htm?storyid=73778
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