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The board’s primary roles are to develop and maintain school district policies, to recommend budgets to the town, and to make hiring decisions. Additional tasks of the board include setting the school calendar, resolving complaints*, setting educational goals, ensuring the long-term viability of the building and grounds, authorizing the payment of bills, and authorizing money management strategies for the school.
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The principal’s primary role is to administer the school. In doing so, the principal is supervised (and reports to) the WSESU Supervisor (currently Ron Stahley). “Administering the school” includes everything from making class assignments to creating class groupings to making sure that there is a procedure in place to put children on the bus.
The principal’s administrative roles and prerogatives are quite broad. The board’s administrative roles and prerogatives are quite narrow. One way to explain the relationship between board and principal is that the board decides in very broad strokes what to do and the principal decides how to do it. If the board decides that the budget allows for 18 teachers, the principal decides how best to assign the 18 teachers on staff to classrooms.
When parents and other community members want to let the board know their views
The board especially welcomes community input about budgetary, hiring, and policy matters as well as about any of the limited administrative matters that fall within its purview. Although most administrative matters lie beyond the board’s purview, the board also welcomes comments about them, as well, because the board needs to be fully informed of the climate and “hot topics” at the school in order to make its decisions responsibly.
When community members comment at board meetings, their role is to inform the board. The board will take their comments seriously, deliberate about them, and act appropriately. That process can take time.
Letters are another good way for community members to inform the board (or principal or supervisor) regarding their views and questions about or experience with school matters. Letters sent to the principal, board, or supervisor might best be copied to the other two of those parties, because, while the three parties have discrete responsibilities, they do need to work closely together and share information.
Practical matters regarding participation at PCS Board Meetings
Within the week prior to the board meeting, agendas are posted at Town Hall and at PCS. They are also posted on the PCS web site at http://www.sover.net/~putneyc/board.html#agenda.
Sometimes community members who want to comment at a board meeting about a particular topic can’t fit an entire board meeting into their schedule. Community members who contact the board chair (currently Scott Henry) prior to the meeting may find that the chair can schedule a discussion of the topic in question for a specific time. (Unfortunately, easily as often as not the chair cannot accommodate such requests.)
State regulations do set a minimum standard for the board and the means it practices for taking community input. To see the PCS board's policy regarding those standards click here. The PCS board tries at every opportunity to exceed those minimum standards. There are times, however, when the board has to fall back on the standards in order to get business done and the meeting adjourned at a reasonable hour.
The present set of school board policies is at the WSESU Central Office on Green Street in Brattleboro. Current Putney Central school rules and procedures are in the school's current The PCS Handbook. Copies of this handbook are available from the school. Copies of the present school budget are available the school, the Putney Town Clerk, or the WSESU.
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* Parent and/or community member complaint procedures are detailed in The PCS Handbook.
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