Jackson advocate., 1951-03-03
MOST IMPORTANT ELECTED
REPRESENTATIVE?

from everywhere, hamlet, village.
small town, big town, small city.
big city-anywhere in this country
where there is school district.
They are school administrators.
school superintendent for the most
part. Dropping out of the sky, ar
irving by car, bus and train, thev
are merging upon this city hun
dreds by the minute. Before its
over more than $1,000 of them
will have placed their names on the
dotted line.
Then another session of the Am
erican Association of School Ad-
ministrators will be in action.
Americas most important Ameri-
cans will be here, for these are
the people who run the nations
schools, which prepare our coun-
try's future citizens. They can
make or break the nation.
| stress their Importance in Am
erican life because our school sys-
TENS are the backbone of our ma
tional life, and they have the task
OF directing these systems. But for
the most part, they are not di-
rectly responsible to the people.
The school boards are their bosses.
This fact emphasizes the import
ance of the school board member, if
she or he be an elected representa-
tive OF the people. Therefore, |
venture the opinion that the school
board member is our most import
ant elected representative. With
this, you may or may not agree.
! have just come from Detroit.
where shortly voters will go to the
polls to elect two school board
| members. The two fortunate candi-
| dates will serve for six years on
a sever-person board of education.
They will be charged with the
responsibility of directing the De-
troit public schools.
Detroit has 5000 public school
teachers. There are about thirty
two pupils per teacher, or more
than 100000 boys and girls entrust-
ed to the care of these teachers.
These youngsters represent future
assets or liabilities to Detroit
much dependent upon their teach
erS.
feel, however, that the real
responsibility goes back to the
school board as far as their edu-
cation is concerned. First the school
board has the responsibility of
selecting, or keeping in office, the
school superintendent, who must
have vision, qualifications and ex-
perlence necessary to run the
school district - be it large or
small.
The superintendent of schools is
the administrator of the schools.
He must be able to select capable
people for other administrative
posts. In turn. these people must
be able to put into operation top
level policies and directions which
flow down to the classroom teach
er-the foundation.
Even taking the chance of con-
tradleting my position, | now saw
that the classroom teacher is the
most important person in the
whole school scheme. But what the
school teacher is, think. to no
small degree a reflection of the
board-selected administration-the
superintendent of schools.
AT least, in Detroit, the Detroit
Citizens League considers the
school board race of top concern in
the approaching city primaries.
Thru its official organ, Civic
Searchlight, Del not only stresses
the Importance of the school race
but gives preference ratings to two
candidates.
People all over the country
should look closely at the men and
women who seek selection to school
boards, for these are the represen-
tatives who must give meaning and
implementation to the local schools
= their policies and operations.
Sometimes, they are appointed.
most times, they are elected.
Whether they are appointed or
elected, they should be representa-
tive of all the people. Therefore,
1T becomes responsibility of par
ents, specificly, and all citizens.
generally, to put the spotlight on
their fellow citizens, who try for
appointment or election to school
boards.
This would be particularly true
in the South, where the Negro
child so frequently comes up on the
short-end of schooling. A Negro
was selected for the school board
recently in Darlington, S. C. Roa-
noke, Va, has Negro school board
member.
1t appears that Detroit and other
towns and cities, North and South,
large and small, could have Negro
school board members. They are
important.