School Issues Newsletter #73

Return to School e-mail archive directory

Subj: School Issues Newsletter #73: Final Newsletter from Dr. Klagge

December 11, 2003

Dear Friends,

This is the last newsletter I will send you as a school board member. Having served 2 four-year terms, I have decided to retire as District F representative. Doug Eckel was recently elected to this position, and he has my full support. He has expressed an interest in continuing these newsletters. I have chosen not to share my mailing list with anyone, so if you are interested in receiving future newsletters, please notify him at deckel1@hotmail.com. I will be discontinuing my e-mail account with bev.net.

Though my use of these newsletters became more irregular as the years went on, I hope they served to inform people about school issues, well beyond what appears in the newspapers. I think this is important to the functioning of a democracy, as it is a bad idea to just leave things up to other people to deal with, and it is important to know what's going on in government.

I think the following issues are of on-going importance to our schools, and I hope you will help to move them forward, through sharing your views and, where necessary, advocating them at meetings of the school board or the board of supervisors:
1) Money. The financial malaise of public services in Virginia goes far beyond the fluctuations of the economy. It is also due to the tax structure and the willingness of citizens to tax themselves to provide public services. Especially as the population ages, there are fewer voters with a direct interest in children. We have to temper voting in our own immediate interests, and look more to the longer-term interests of the next generations.

2) Democracy. In the last election, none of the school board races were contested. Perhaps that means that everyone was completely satisfied with what's happening on the school board. That's flattering if true. But our community would be better off if there were more discussion of differing points of view, and choice between different approaches to school issues.

3) Diversity. I encourage interested people to become involved in the Diversity Forum. This wide-ranging group was begun in the Spring of 1998 to address issues in the schools that have become increasingly important. The group seeks to be active and not just re-active. The group continues to flourish, and has received a statewide honor from the VEA, and will soon be receiving a national honor. The work of this group is one of the things I am proudest of during my tenure on the board. If you would like to get involved, the group meets monthy in the school board office. Contact Lisa McAlexander lmcalexander@mail.mcps.org for the schedule.

4) Leadership. The most controversial issue when I was elected was the superintendent at that time. Montgomery Copunty had had a series of superintendents, none remaining for any length of time. That has changed. Fred Morton has now been here for over 6 years. He has set a tone of openness. Some people who have problems still say: "I don't want to talk to the administration about it because I'm afraid of retribution". That may have made sense 6 years ago, but after 6 years of openness, that reply is now just a cop-out. Please--if you have concerns that you think are not being adequately addressed, talk to the superintendent.

I want to thank Mike Ewing, who has faithfully posted past issues of these newsletters on the internet on his website http://www.gisone.com/schools.htm. I don't know if anyone ever consulted them, but it's quite a collection when you look back at them. For any of you who continue to be interested in my views about public issues, I have posted and will continue to post various op-ed pieces and other things on my own web site at http://www.phil.vt.edu/JKlagge/PublicIssues.htm.

I will be teaching in Switzerland next semester at VA Tech European Studies Center, so that will provide a natural transition away from school board politics. Please keep the new school board and the new board of supervisors on their collective toes. Here are the e-mails of school board members:

Wat Hopkins, current chair, District G: whopkins@vt.edu
Tacy Newell, current vice-chair, District C: tlnew@infi.net
Mary North, District D: mhnorth@mail.mcps.org
Rick Johnson, District A: culinary@vt.edu
Penny Franklin, District B: pfranklin@mail.mcps.org
Wendell Jones, District E: bjones@moog.com
Doug Eckel, District F: deckel@vt.edu or, deckel1@hotmail.com
and Fred Morton, Superintendent: fmorton@mail.mcps.org

You can get contact information about the school system at its web site:
http://www.mcps.org/,
and you can get contact information about the board of supervisors at the county government web site: http://www.montva.com/.

Thank you for your interest in school issues. Please find ways to continue it.

Best,

Jim Klagge
District F Representative
Montgomey County School Board.

email: admin@gisone.com