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Progress Takes Time

As a former educator, I want to compliment our Board of Education on the progress it has made this year. The board’s leadership has started to implement a number of important organizational changes—things that will create a better, more responsive Board of Education that Madison parents, teachers, and students alike deserve.

Changes include updating its bylaws to reflect modern, best practices in education management; greater transparency in internal decision-making processes; and the creation of two new committees: facilities and communications. The Facilities Committee is exclusively dedicated to the oversight of school buildings and should help streamline discussions around a long-term capital improvement plan, fostering a new plan that is equitable to all students, responsive to the community, and financially prudent.

The board is also dedicated to making information easy to find and more accessible through a recently proposed communication committee, which will focus on getting facts and details to the public in a timely manner. In addition to simple things like adding a “contact the board” field to its website, the board has started putting videos of its meetings online so busy parents can watch them at their convenience rather than having to attend evening meetings. It has also dedicated a section of the district website to updating parents on the planned school reconfiguration happening in 2019.

Progress takes time and hard work, but I am grateful this board is modernizing the way it conducts its business rather than sticking with the practices of the past.

Andrea Aron

Madison