How to Address a Local School Board

The purpose of local school boards is to serve as the governing body of a public school system. Most school boards welcome comments and concerns from the general public. When addressing the local school board, the following steps should be followed to ensure that one addresses the board in an orderly manner.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• copy of board policy
• brief list of concerns

1. Find out the rules for addressing a school board. Some school boards have rules as to how to sign up to express a grievance or voice a compliment. Also most board agendas should be prepared in advance. It is wise to know the procedure because each school board's policy may vary.

2. Arrive on time. Most school boards have a set meeting time to which they adhere strictly. Arriving late can also minimize the grievance that is being addressed. One may begin to believe that if the grievance or compliment was important enough one would arrive on time to express it.

3. Following a grievance it is important to ask when the concerns addressed will be expected to have a follow-up.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep attending future meetings. If the only meeting you attend is the one in which a grievance is expressed, the perception then becomes you do not really care about the school district as a whole rather you only care about one certain thing at one particular time.