School governance

Thank you for giving attention to the important issue of school governance in your editorial of April 2nd. The Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education is supporting LD 1403; a Resolve to Establish a Task Force on School Governance because we believe that increasing turnover in leadership positions on school boards and among superintendents and principals is a statewide problem. We know the importance of continuity of leadership in achieving good academic performance. The fact that it is more and more difficult to recruit strong candidates for leadership roles in our schools should worry all of us.

Our Coalition agreed to study school governance at the request of the Maine Leadership Consortium. We have spent the past 18 months reviewing the rich base of recent material on school governance that has lessons to offer Maine. Just last month the Institute for Educational Leadership released Leadership for Student Learning: Restructuring School District Leadership. Rod Paige, the new Secretary of Education, chaired this study. It recommends new measures to recruit and develop school leaders and school board members. Late last year the New England School Development Council released Thinking Differently: Recommendations for the 21st Century School Board and Superintendent Leadership. Here in Maine, the Rosser Commission reviewed school governance issues as part of a broader education review in 1995. While much time has elapsed, the Rosser Commission recommendations on school governance still retain relevance and merit consideration.

The real point is that there is a problem: gaining the quality and continuity of leadership that will result in improved education performance. There is also a growing body of national and state information that a Task Force such as that proposed in LD 1403 can draw on to address governance issues here in Maine.

Ronald M. Bancroft

Chair

Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education

Portland