Basic Outline: What is the Union County Board of Education? « This is Union County

The quality of the schools in your area affects everything from the standard of education that resident children receive, to property values. Whether or not you have children, it is essential to know what the school board does and how they improve educational standards in your area.

Specifically, the Union County Board of Education oversees the management and structure of your child’s education, so knowing their processes and understanding their mission helps you know what the local education system is teaching your children.

Currently the Union County Board of Education has six district members, and three at-large members. District members are responsible for representing the residents of their elected area- a map of which is available on the Board’s website. At Large members represent the residents of the entire county. They are, as follows:

“    District1:  John Crowder
“    District 2:  Carolyn J. Lowder
“    District 3:  Dean Arp
“    District 4:  Richard Weiner
“    District 5:  Jon Collins (Vice Chairperson)
“    District 6:  Kimberly Morrison-Hansley
“    At-large:  Laura Minsk
“    At Large:  John Parker
“    At Large:  David Scholl

The Board is required to have regular meeting s the public can attend. Regular Union County Board of Education meetings take place at 7pm on the first Tuesday of each month.; and meeting schedules and minutes can be found on the Board’s website.

So what does the School Board do?

Live the mission statement
The Union County Board of Education’s mission statement is succinct enough: “… to plan, set policy and represent a diverse public for the benefit of children.” And while it is their duty to put forth both the policies and restrictions on the schools in order for parents and children to get the most out of the education system, it is the job of their appointee, the superintendent, to enact them.

Set policy
From staff-student relationships, to emergency closing days;  from how to advertise vacant positions, to pest control, the board enacts a host of policies by which the superintendent must abide and enforce. A list of Union County Board of Education policies can be found on their website.

Hiring a superintendent

Dr. Ed Davis

The superintendent is in charge of hiring personnel and staff who job will be to maintain a high standard of education.  The superintendent is also responsible for enacting the school district’s policies, and he answers to the school board.

The current superintendent is Dr. Ed Davis, and has been since 2005.

Involve the community
The school board is also responsible for establishing a sense of involvement from the community.  Parents and Union County as a whole are encouraged to voice their opinions at Board meetings, and get involved with their child’s education.  If something is of interest for a parent, they can bring it up with the school board to help change and shape the education system’s policies.

Tags: local government, Monroe, This is Union County NC, union county government, Union county School board

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Education, Local Government Definitions, School Board. 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.