Schools

Teamwork and Academics Top Priorities for School Board

Bayport-Blue Point board of education brings in Longwood board vice president to discuss responsibilities and values boards of education must uphold.

Bayport-Blue Point's Board of Education invited Longwood board vice president Daniel Tomaszewski to about the responsibilities of being a board member at a special forum Tuesday.

B-BP board president Jim March said numerous residents recently approached him, expressing an interest in learning what being a board member encompasses. The board agreed to bring in someone from a neighboring district to provide another perspective for potential board members.

A Longwood kid "from day one," Tomaszewski worked in the district for 33 years as a social studies teacher and sports coach. After his retirement, he "just couldn't walk away," and decided to run for the board of education. He is the co-author of a manual for boards of education that has gained noteriety throughout the state, according to March.

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After nearly 10 years on the board, Tomaszewski's number one priority remains the same, he told the audience at Tuesday.

"A board member needs to be a fierce advocate of public education," he said. "It's a huge undertaking, especially when [public education] is going through one of the biggest changes ever. Academic achievement should take precedence."

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Necessary skills and values board candidates must possess include the ability to observe and listen, work as a team with the board and look and act professional- all while being in touch with the community.

The board is charged with hiring a superintendent, which is a "big, big, big job," Tomaszewski said. "You must hire a good one, a [good] superintendent is key."

The longtime Longwood board member said there is a chain of command: the superintendent works for the board, and the rest of the school works for the superintendent.

Contrary to what a majority of people think, board members are not volunteers, but elected officials, according to Tomaszewski, who added that the board is expected to perform, according to law, exactly the way they would perform if they were an elected official.

School boards are faced with a variety of issues that can deeply affect the students, school district and community at large.

"We make decisions on people's lives, jobs, kids and money," Tomaszewski said.

When the board is dealing with hot-button issues and decisions that may stray from what one member thinks is best for a particular group of students, taxpayers, etc, it is important that they look to their fellow board members, to trust their colleagues, says Tomaszewski.

If one member voted against an action that the rest approved, it is that lone trustee's job to then support the item approved and move on.

"By that vote the board makes the law of the district and you have to get behind it," Tomaszewski said.

The above example highlights Tomaszewski's point that the board must work as a whole to represent the community; that the board of education makes a better decision together than one person could alone.


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