All Pawtucket All The Time

STATE HOUSE – “School committee members have a significant amount of power and responsibilities, not least of which is the development of education policies to meet the needs of their communities,” said Sen. Hanna M. Gallo (D-Dist. 27, Cranston). “Individuals who serve on school committees need to have more than just a passing knowledge of education, finances, personnel policies and all the other things necessary to properly run the schools.”

Senator Gallo is again calling for passage of legislation to require members of school boards to annually undertake a minimum of six hours of professional development. The program would be provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in cooperation with the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, which are already required by state law to have a professional development program for school committees in place.

“A six-hour professional development refresher program every year should prove highly beneficial to the individuals who have been elected to run our school systems,” said Senator Gallo, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Education. “We must make sure we are not just providing general information to newly elected school committee members, as important as that is. Education is a constantly changing field and school committees are facing new challenges every day. Continuing education is vital to give committee members the tools they need to address those challenges.”

“This legislation is not asking for creation of anything new, since the development program is already in place,” said Senator Gallo. “I believe, however, that serving on a school committee is too important to allow attendance to be voluntary. Six hours of professional development each year is not a lot to ask of individuals who ran for a seat on a school committee out of a desire to do good for their community’s schools and school children. Attending this program will help them do a better job.”

The annual professional development course includes instruction in such areas as school finance, school law, ethics, open meetings law, labor and labor relations, annual performance evaluations, strategic planning and other topics.

The Gallo bill, (2010-S2777), has been referred to the Senate