Waltenburg

The Grant County Education Service District is joining the 197 school districts and other 19 ESDs throughout Oregon to celebrate January as School Board Recognition Month.

School board members are volunteers who spend countless hours ensuring that students in our county receive the best possible education. They are individuals who care about kids, families, school staffs and the communities in which they serve, and have dedicated themselves to serving everyone regardless of our differences. Celebrating School Board Recognition Month is one way to say thanks for all they do.

School board members represent their fellow citizens’ views and priorities in the complex enterprise of maintaining and running our county public schools. They also reinforce the principle of local control over public education, which is an important, highly valued aspect of education in Oregon.

The school board’s main goal in a district is to support student achievement. To achieve that goal, the board focuses on the following needs:

• Creating a vision for what parents and citizens want their school district to become and how to make student achievement the top priority.

• Setting standards for what students must learn and be able to do.

• Assessing whether schools achieve their goals and whether students are learning.

• Accounting for the outcomes of decisions by tracking progress and reporting results.

• Aligning the use of the district’s human and financial resources.

• Creating a safe and orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach.

• Collaborating to solve common problems and to support common successes.

• Focusing on continuous improvement by questioning, examining, revising, refining and revisiting issues related to student achievement.

We take the month of January to celebrate the work and accomplishments of all of our school board members in Grant County. Each and every individual fills an important role in governance and vision for our districts. They give of their time and energy to support our schools and communities, and for this we say a hearty “Thank you!”