St. Charles school board seeing the light?
The St. Charles school board just may be ready to make the 1944 hit tune "I'm Beginning to See the Light" its official song. Maybe the 1962 Bobby Darin version should be played before each school board meeting.
That popular dance tune comes to mind in the wake of Superintendent Donald Schlomann's "pep rally" with St. Charles district staff and board members just before the school doors opened for the 2007-2008 school year.
It also rings true with board member Jim Gaffney's public apology last week for his role in the board's now-infamous illegal closed meeting to approve former Superintendent Barbara Erwin's last contract.
And it applies to the whole board, if you agree with the decision to conduct candidate interviews in an open-meeting format. Those candidates are vying for the seat vacated when Chris Hansen stepped down a week after a contentious board training session with state officials in hopes that it could infuse some new blood.
These have been troubling times for the St. Charles school board and the most recent positive vibes are a result of attempting to ease the public's overall disenchantment and its demand for more open communication.
We have been quick to criticize Gaffney for his gaffes, but he deserves credit for delivering his apology to district residents. He now needs to master another skill that all board members must embrace in the years to come. They simply have to have thicker skins.
St. Charles school board members have, for too long, been worried about what kind of reaction their actions will trigger. This type of concern eventually leads to uncertainty and secrecy.
We feel it is relevant to make that point now, in light of the board's decision to conduct the candidate interviews in public prior to announcing its choice.
Board President Kathy Hewell said she hopes the public realizes that this type of openness is unprecedented in school board business. We believe that most residents will understand, as this move certainly sends a message to the community that there should no longer be secret decisions behind closed doors.
It does, however, open the doors wide for more opinions -- positive and negative -- because more people will witness or read about a process not normally open for public eyes and ears. We see this as a positive development -- as long as the school board members understand that an increase in criticism is a natural component of open-communication policies. There certainly will be residents who disagree about who was chosen to replace Hansen.
This could easily be a "win-win" for the district. Residents are going to have more information to digest about who is doing what in the district, and board members will get more comfortable with open discussions.
Board members who are not comfortable with how an open process works, will find out quickly that they don't belong on a school board. That, too, is ultimately a good thing for district residents, who should feel better if the board truly is "beginning to see the light."