GoBigEd

Friday, June 24, 2005


A CHANCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN NEBRASKA ED

There’s an opening on the State Board of Education for the Lincoln area. Calling all cars! AA-OO-GAH! Let’s see if we can encourage a great person with a heart for children who is impervious to educrat propaganda and has a lot of common sense to step forward and take this important job.

Kim Peterson of Lincoln, a board member for eight years, has announced that she will resign at the end of this month. The term runs through 2008.

District 1 covers most of Lancaster County, except parts of the northwest area. You can check the district map on
www.nde.state.ne.us on the State Board subpage.

Applicants should send a cover letter and resume with a completed application form to Whitney Bumgarner in the Governor's Office, at P.O. Box 94848, Lincoln, NE 68509. The application form can be found on
http://gov.nol.org or call (402) 471-2244. Deadline: June 30.

Service on the State Board of Ed is one of the best ways to influence the future and serve the public in its top-priority need for quality education. This development fits nicely with today’s Show ‘n’ Tell topic:

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HOW CAN JUST ONE PERSON MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Q. The problems with K-12 education are so enormous, it’s daunting to even think of getting involved and getting anywhere. How have individuals been able to make a difference?

-- Enroll your children in private school or homeschool them, since competition appears to be the best way to bring about change in the public schools.

-- Start a private school or afterschool.

-- If you keep your child in public school, then equip yourself by reading books, attending conferences and networking to become an effective volunteer advocate for your child and all others.

-- Befriend the principal, the school secretary, and the school janitor, not necessarily in that order. They’re all well-informed and quite powerful.

-- If you disagree with your child’s teacher on an issue, or with the school’s direction in any given area, present solid background evidence for your position in writing, and bring in an expert consultant to meet with the teacher, school officials and a school-board member.

-- Be a leader in your PTA / PTO and change the focus to academics, not fluff.

-- Volunteer in the classroom for an indispensable bird’s-eye view.

-- Serve on district committees.

-- Befriend your superintendent and other key officials, sending them brief articles and other data from the parent and taxpayer point of view.

-- Plan a year in advance to run for the school board, get elected, and focus on informing voters about key issues.

-- Write letters to members of your state board of education and your state legislature on education bills, and follow up on their voting.

-- Write letters to the editor on education topics, citing an outside source for more information to increase your credibility.

-- If networking and working within the system don’t solve an important problem, occasionally, you have to sue. Parents have stopped outrageous sex ed, unauthorized genital examinations of young girls, violations of First Amendment rights, and many other atrocities, by devoting their time and money to win justice for us all.

Homework: One of the most inspiring stories of one person making a difference is www.marvacollins.com


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