Diane Gayley

Heather Pate

Introduction to Education

9th, May 2017

School Board Meeting

On the evening of May 2nd, 2017, I attended a meeting of the Community Unit School

District 200 Board of Education, in Wheaton, IL. I walked in about ten minutes early and took my

seat with several others on rows of chairs facing a small panel of mostly older white people

sitting at desks. A small crowd was in attendance, mostly families of members or concerned

parents I assumed.

Once the meeting got underway, I noticed it operated a lot like a courtroom would, with a

designated person calling the meeting to order, and announcing the next steps to be performed,

like calling roll and bringing items forth. The minutes were also recorded much like they would

be in a courtroom. They even stood to take an oath! They swore to uphold the laws and

constitutions of the country, state, and school district rules. I never knew that school board

members were held under any oath, but I guess that makes sense; they are publically elected

officials after all.

After several opening matters, they quickly dived into the agenda, and began discussing

and voting on matters from past meetings. They voted out loud and individually, when their

name was called. It was apparently a very important day for board member personnel. Two

board members gave retirement speeches and were officially replaced with the new members.

They also nominated and voted on all their roles. They quickly, smoothly, and professionally

decided on who would be President, Vice President, Secretary, and more. This was also

something that surprised me: I did not know that board members sorted their ranks and roles

entirely among themselves, I thought that was part of the public vote for school boards.
 Around halfway through, several locals took turns coming forward to present grievances

or requests to the board. They all talked about lacrosses lack of status as a high school varsity

sport in the districtand afterwards the meeting quickly adjournedbut it became clear through

what they said to the members that the board of education is very much in charge of many

fiscal, educational, and extracurricular matters. They are in charge of managing the budget for

the entire school district, of specific rules and classifications, and many other important

decisions. Every school district has its own board of education that is publicly elected, and

whose meetings, agendas, and decisions are all open to the public, but somehow most people

still dont know much about their local school board.

As a whole, this experience taught me a lot about the general goings-on of local

education boards, as well as their responsibilities and importance to school districts, and how

that affects the community around them.