New direction in Marysville is already paying dividends

A new chapter is, indeed, unfolding in the chronicle of the Marysville School District.

Events over the past few months have created a wonderful opportunity for the community to regain control of democracy, and affect the positive changes necessary to enhance student scores, recapture a sense of public ownership and re-establish a state of community involvement in school district decisions.

And our children will be the beneficiaries of this renaissance.

When more than 60 percent of the Marysville electorate signaled their desire for change last November, that electorate collectively rejected the ineffectual policies and aristocratic authority waged by the previous school board and leadership.

The voice of the community prevailed, and with that, change became inevitable.

Now scarcely four months later, the new board majority is delivering on our promises for change. In that short while, our progress has been significant.

Comprehensive changes in leadership are on the horizon, administrative spending and unnecessary travel has been curtailed, new budgetary checks and balances have been implemented, the district has seen a greatly improved state auditor’s assessment, and students’ test scores are on the rise.

Accordingly, Washington’s superintendent of public instruction has also embraced the new board’s directions and has, thus, extended our students extra time to prepare for this spring’s critical WASL testing. The district has adopted a comprehensive legislative platform (in the absence of one previously), our relationship with teachers and service employee unions is extraordinarily better, and community, staff and student morale has improved significantly. In fact, we may now even be setting a stage for a successful bond initiative in the autumn of 2004.

All of these changes will continue to have a marked benefit on student achievement, which, of course, is the underlying reason that a school board functions at all.

While the new board continues to implement the changes necessary for improved student performance, we will be focusing on developing more community involvement to further that goal. Increased parental involvement, the incorporation of ideas presented by Tulalip tribal leaders, establishment of community advisory boards, the exporting of successful education approaches from programs such as the Marysville cooperative program and the Arts and Technology High School, etc., are just some of the ideas being pursued.

Most importantly, the new board is committed to include the Marysville community in our decision making process. This "sharing of ownership" is not an innovative approach to educational leadership, it is the way that it should be. The new board majority is simply returning the "public" element to local public education. And the local electorate are the ones to thank for that, since they heralded that change with their votes cast last November.

While some remnant dissent does remain, the reality is that such dissent is natural and can frequently become a constructive medium for progress — but only when that dissent provides constructive input in addition to criticism.

Some dissenters have learned that lesson: a few others continue to struggle with the very concept, but again, that is a reflection of overall society.

In restructuring the district leadership and moving closer to a ratified teachers contract, the new majority has turned the page on political bipartisanship, and started the process of placing student achievement back into the center of focus. By ensuring that any remnant radical political agendas are voluntarily set aside or, if necessary, democratically defeated, we will be able to move even faster in a direction of healing and academic productivity. After all, schools are for learning, not political posturing.

I, for one, will look forward to this new chapter, and ultimately toward finishing this epic saga in the history of the Marysville School District.

Michael Kundu is a member of the Marysville School Board.