A citizen-initiated effort to place an elected school board referendum on the ballot has succeeded. Petitions circulated throughout Norfolk gathered enough valid signatures to allow voters to decide if they want to join the rest of civilization and elect school board members.
I’ve polled questions like this on numerous occasions, and the simple fact is this: Whenever you ask voters if they’d like to vote, voters always say yes.
No one on Norfolk City Council that I’ve heard had spoken out against this, and that is telling.
Some will say that electing school board doesn’t magically fix everything, but we kind of like democracy here in America. Every school advocate says that they want more parental involvement in education. Denying school board elections is contrary to that calling. It’s tough to get parents involved in schools while telling them they have no say.
It will be interesting what happens in Norfolk. Norfolk would be wise to accept this as a needed jolt of populism to a school system badly in need of improvement.
I expect voters in the 80% range to support choosing school board representatives. I expect some rough times for any Superintendent who is unresponsive to the community. I expect a few battles between City Council and the elected School Board for funding priority.
All these debates are good for education, and the more involved Norfolk citizens are in these matters, the better.
