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Health & Fitness

Who Calls the Shots in the School District?

HUGE changes have occurred on the Northshore School Board in the last four years. Find out why these changes are so important to the future of our children.

How many of you think about the functioning of the Northshore School District? Come on, admit it.  You don’t actually know how the District is run, or who is on the School Board. I hope to shed a little light on some of the processes that it takes to keep the schools running, and kids learning. Let’s start with the School Board.

The five Directors of the Northshore School Board are OUR elected representatives. Although each “represents” a sector of the District, they all vote on policies and therefore each represents all citizens in the District. I say citizens, not parents, because EVERY person has a stake in the education of the children in the society. And by the way, they are VOLUNTEERS – no compensation for the LONG (endless) hours they need to put in so that they can do a good job representing us.

What do they vote on? The paid School District administrators and staff make sure the District runs. They propose budgets, operating procedures, staffing, negotiate contracts with teachers and other employees, propose changes to curriculum, etc. The list is long. Every one of these needs approval by the School Board.

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After YEARS of having a School Board that was in lock-step with everything the District Administrators wanted (including the unnecessary proposal of closing of Woodin Elementary), BIG and IMPORTANT changes have occurred on the School Board. In 2007, the long-time School Board member, BZ Davis, stepped down, and parent and special-ed teacher Dawn McCravey stepped-up to fill that position. During the contentious debate over closing Woodin, Director McCravey was often the only Board member asking tough questions over the flawed plan. She was the only Board member, among those asked, that was  initially willing to meet with those families in Woodinville that were impacted by the prospective closure, even though the schools were not in her “direct” area of representation. Ultimately, the school closure was taken off the District’s agenda until more thorough studies could be conducted.

In 2009, another Director stepped down, and 2 more were defeated in their re-election campaigns by large margins. The voters CLEARLY wanted change, and a more responsive School Board. 

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They got what they wanted. Dawn McCravey is now School Board President, and under her leadership the Board has been very responsive. Directors Julia Lacey and Todd Banks also deserve HUGE KUDOS for their willingness to re-examine some decisions made by the prior Board (such as cutting the 40-year tradition of the 5th grade Camp without trying to first make it more efficient). All three Directors are willing to ask questions and not merely “rubber-stamp” everything. That is what representation means!

I would like to share part of a letter that was in the local papers that illustrates the point. Local resident Jenny Day wrote:

“Recently Northshore School District proposed a change to School Board Policy 8100 which would have expanded the mandatory distance that students are required to walk to school from a one mile radius of the school to a two mile radius…At the April 12 school board meeting, (School Board President Dawn) McCravey expressed concern over such a change in policy and the dangers in which it placed our children. At that time she stood alone among the board in her opinion that expanding the walking distance from one to two miles was an unsafe choice. Fortunately for our children ... the other school board members did come around and agreed with School Board President McCravey…(and the) proposed change has thus been stricken from the policy.”

Like, Ms. Day, I am grateful to School Board President Dawn McCravey for her unwavering support of our children and their safety!

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