CAROL JOHNSON/SCHOOL BOARD CHAIRMAN

Just how important is it for an appointment to be made to fill the District 2 School Board seat recently vacated by Jeffrey Pegler? It is vital that the process is not delayed any longer than necessary!

The Indian River County School District has a five member board representing five distinct geographical areas (areas that are the same as the District designations for the County Commissioners). Although School Board Members are elected by the entire community; the expectation is that each of these individual constitutional officers will bring the unique perspective of the area they represent. One would hope Governor Scott will soon make his appointment to fill the District 2 seat through November 15, 2014. If that appointee is someone who then wishes to run for the District 2 seat in 2014, already having a year of involvement and responsibilities would be very helpful. However, even if it is someone who wishes to serve only for the interim appointment, the fifth voting member remains an indispensible part of making certain that the decision-making process doesn’t grind to a halt.

Most School Board Members throughout Florida would agree that a vacancy could hobble both highly important educational efforts and general operations on any board. Those School Boards in other counties that have recently experienced this same situation will attest to how incapacitating having an empty chair at business meetings can be. The potential for important choices to end in 2-2 votes leaves decisions dead in the water: no approval of policies, no contracts on important health and safety needs or other critical areas such as proposals for union negotiations. Nothing gets accomplished when there is a split vote with only four members.

Those who remember the highly dysfunctional Indian River School Board prior to 2006 that had business meetings lasting until late in the evening (and a few lasting into the early hours of the following day) know first hand the dangers of a divided board, shutting down decision making and the effect this can have on the school community as well as the community at large.

Criticism is often levied against the local School Board for voting positively on recommendations from the Superintendent at the two monthly business meetings. What the loudest critics of the organization do not take into account is the number of workshops and discussion groups that have been held prior to those recommendations being made. This is another example of why it is essential to have a full participating Board so that opinions from all sides of an issue may be represented and fully discussed before the Board gives direction for action. It would be foolish of any Superintendent to make a recommendation that they knew would not have the possibility of approval after having gone through the discussion and/or workshops.

A School Board has a statutory responsibility to do all it can to create the best educational experience for the students, parents, teachers, and staff it has been elected to govern while maintaining the taxpayer’s trust. At best, it is a challenge to fulfill this obligation without a full board. At worst, it can be impossible. This is one of the reasons that people have been so quick to volunteer to fill the vacancy of our empty chair.

It is exciting to think that we will soon be working with one of the 12 persons who have, as of the writing of this article, expressed a desire to serve alongside the four established and very diverse individuals currently in office. One can only hope the appointment is made sooner, rather than later.

Editor’s Note: Carol Johnson is in her third term and 11^th year as a School Board member having served four of those years from 1984-88 plus an additional six years employed at Rosewood Elementary School.  She retired in 2011 after 25 years of non-profit work as Executive Director of both Character Counts and the Education Foundation and served as the Public Affairs Administrator of the local Chamber of Commerce. Johnson was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Southeast States Selective Service Commission for two terms of eight years. She has lectured extensively in the southeast on “TV Violence and Its Effect on Children” and has numerous local and state education and legislative committees to her credit.