| BVSDWatch.org introduction to community |
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| Tuesday, 27 February 2007 | |
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BVSDWatch.org made its’ official introduction to the Boulder Valley community with an announcement to the Boulder Valley School District’s board meeting February 27th. The new Boulder Valley School District watchdog group BVSDWatch.org officially introduced itself to the Boulder Valley community at the Boulder Valley School District board meeting Tuesday February 27th. BVSDWatch.org was created by a group of local parents, volunteers, and community members to assure the transparency, effectiveness, accountability and community responsiveness of the Boulder Valley School District administrative staff and School Board. Mike McDaniel, Co-Founder and director of BVSDWatch.org, says the organization was a coalescing of people who shared concerns and sometimes frustrations with events or policies within BVSD. “Over the years many individuals have started campaigns over their grievances with BVSD. When running a campaign by yourself however, it’s hard to organize a serious movement for an extended length of time; it takes a lot of time and energy that most people don’t have. Together as a group we can share ideas, resources and talents that will be more effective and harder to ignore.” McDaniel goes on to say that his group wants to be a long-term voice for the community in a way that is assertive and uses critical thinking, not anger and finger pointing. “Every member on our steering committee has had a disagreement with BVSD at one time or another. But together we can talk things through more completely and hopefully have conversations with the BVSD board members and administrators that have a better chance of being heard and dealt with.” Karyn Robinson, a member of BVSDWatch.org, who co-founded “Save Our Schools” a few years ago in an effort to stop the closure of neighborhood schools, thinks BVSDWatch.org is a necessary entity for Boulder, “We all may have different reasons for being a part of this group, but the common thread is a desire for better BVSD accountability and communication. I think it is imperative that board members listen to the community that elects them and to direct their staff and the BVSD administration similarly. The recent steps I have seen from BVSD are encouraging but there is a long way to go yet to proving consistent accountability and responsiveness to the community it serves.” Through their website (www.bvsdwatch.org) they will have commentaries on the latest issues within the BVSD community, and mechanisms for community input, like an anonymous email link where people can share their ideas and comments with BVSDWatch.org. They will also have quick links to BVSD board members and administrators email addresses, and frequent polls to quickly gauge the thoughts of the community. McDaniel says not everything they comment on will be slanted to the negative. “We are not going to be a group who is always pointing out what we think BVSD has done wrong. We are happy to point out those things we feel BVSD has done a good job with, and we have.” At this time there are several "areas of interest" they say they are following, progress in technology deployment, energy policy, proper oversight of last November’s $300 million bond initiative, and the search for a new Superintendent. They feel that the search for a new BVSD Superintendent is one of the most important issues that the Boulder community will face this year. McDaniel says they were initially concerned about BVSD’s consulting firm’s decision to have the interviews held behind closed doors. But the decision to hold publicly accessible interviews starting March 6th he sees as a positive sign. He hopes many people will attend the upcoming meetings. More information about the upcoming Superintendent interview meetings can be found on their website. BVSDWatch.org invites interested community members to attend or watch (via Channel 8) the February 27th meeting and to contact them with comments and ideas. |
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