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Alex Brady's avatar

Thanks for the article. I agree that the school board has a very important job and their responsibilities should not be taken lightly.

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Brian's avatar

Excellent article. Hopefully the author will agree that another role played by board members is financial responsibility toward the property tax payers.

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Elliot Pierce's avatar

Absolutely! Imagine the waste when schools spend big on tools like laptops, smartboards, and new curriculum without ever checking if they actually help students succeed. If no one is tracking how these investments impact achievement, how can they know what’s working, what’s not, or whether the next shiny purchase is even worth it?

Take Walker County as an example: the district shelled out nearly a million dollars in 2022 for a social-emotional curriculum called 7 Mindsets. Since then, there’s been zero follow-up or evaluation. Last I heard it’s not even being used. anymore That’s a massive investment with nothing to show for it.

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Brian's avatar

Man, that makes your point right there. I imagine there are plenty of programs with no or little followup or metrics for measuring success. Good work getting this put together in an understandable, factual, and non-judgemental manner.

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