Community Education Council District 2 News

June 30, 2007

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Neighbors,

It is with great pride that, after 3 years, I step down as President of CECD2. I have had the opportunity to learn about our school system from the “inside out”, work with some great people on the Council and some equally great people working for the Department of Education.

Ours was not a Council who sought Press. We were rarely quoted in the paper or seen on television. I was not a President who repeated what you may have wanted to hear. Ours was not a Council that argued without purpose and suggested solutions, as when the Middle school application process changed, raising minimum test scores without warning, we were able to raise the issue and stay the process, giving parents a little time to regroup, and negotiate terms that contemplated more than just test scores with each child’s application.

CECD2 was as effective as we could be given the limited amount of actual authority in our hands. When we learned of a school that was not getting enough food for meals, we worked effectively with the DOE in resolving. When we learned of a school with inadequate power supply and unacceptable wiring, we were able to communicate with the DOE and remedy the situation. When we learned of a school’s gym in such disrepair that children were injuring themselves, CECD2 was instrumental in getting the repairs done the very next school break.

The list of small, but important, victories is quite long. We were successful to the extent possible. And we were successful because we always “made sense”. We worked “with” the DOE and conducted ourselves respectfully and firmly. To their credit, Region 9 and District 2 administrators communicated and worked with us, the very same way. Alas, the Region is no more and the District’s role, though to be protected by all of us, is a cloudy one.

Although without authority, the Council’s role is an important one, one that parents, children and schools need to take advantage of. CECD2 can only impact what they know about and it is our responsibility, as parents, to make certain that they know as much as possible, about all of our school communities, as each of them have special needs.

When you conduct yourselves professionally and have compelling discussion, you will succeed more often than not. Make the Council SUCCEED FOR YOU.

Although we may not be happy with its execution, the coming changes in our school system are interesting. Indeed, these are exciting and fragile times for District 2 and each and every one of us must be ready to step up and ensure a successful transition, and step up I will. I am not retiring!

To the new Council, in addition to demanding accountability, be accountable. In addition to demanding to be heard, make sure you listen as well. In addition to demanding respect, exhibit respect. In addition to demanding inclusion in the process, earn the right to be heard. In addition to bringing issues to the DOE, bring them up with thoughtful and practical suggestions to resolve them. And most of all, ALWAYS be reasonable. Reason will often prevail, hostility seldom does. Always make sense.

Thank you to my Colleagues for your support and efforts. Thank you Region 9 and District 2 for your cooperation and responsive performance to the needs of District 2. Thank you friends and neighbors of District 2 for your support and for trusting me with your CEC for the first 2 terms. I did my very best, at all times.

And now its time to consider what I can do next.

See you around!

Michael A. Propper
President
Community Education Council for District Two

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.