The Roles of Educational Stakeholders and Influencing Factors

Substantial research indicates a paradigm shift of the global society from the industrial age to the transforming information age (Watson and Reigeluth, 2008) which is an eon in which political, economical, social, and cultural patterns reflect decentralization in the flow of information (Toffler, 1984; Reigeluth, 1993; Senge, et al. 2000). According to Watson and Reigeluth, education in the United States is undergoing a systemic perceptual change, as a result of society’s dissatisfaction with individual learner’s achievement in the education arena. In education, most systemic transformation efforts involve stakeholders that are critical to achieving the desired changes, as asserted by Watson and Reigeluth.

To foster a better understanding of the roles of the stakeholders in the educational arena, I will attempt to explain the roles of six distinctive educational stakeholders-school board members, superintendent, site administrator, teachers, parents, and students-who are closely involved in the overall operations of schools. I will describe influential factors for each of the stakeholders’ roles, which may better define the significance of each educational stakeholder. Based on the a scenario-a popular instructor has decided to incorporate a nativity scene into the classroom holiday celebration, a violation of current policy; one student objects on religious grounds; a conflict ensues, generating extensive media coverage; consequently, the instructor is dismissed from his or her position-I will discuss each stakeholder’s role in regard to his or her participation in the decision making process. In addition, Team B will provide stakeholders’ perspectives of solutions to educational issues that may involve various political views and sometimes lead to employee dismissal. Finally, I will endeavor to describe a decision making process that will demonstrate fair play and respect for individuals’ rights when addressing specific educational issues.

School Board Members

A school board is comprised of members that are usually elected by the residents of the school district, but in some districts are elected by the mayor or other executives of jurisdictions that may include towns, cities, or counties. The size of a school board varies between districts and from city to city; similarly, the power of the boards will vary between districts and from city to city. School boards have the power to hire and fire teachers and administrators. They are the guardians of the policy that help implement changes that will benefit the district or support the superintendent of the district who has the responsibility of implementing and maintaining the policies set by the board.

According to Darden (2008), the school board has to take in legal considerations when making decisions pertaining to policy governing them. Darden argues that school board policy is equivalent to local law for those people who work within the district. This policy or law encompasses not only the teachers and administrators, but also the students and their parents. Ideal school boards will be educationally focused and will avoid risking legal action.

From the school boards perspective the dismissal of the teacher could have been justified if there was a policy against religious symbols instituted district wide. The idea that Christmas is both a secular and a religious holiday makes it difficult to decide what policy is best. The idea that Christmas symbols are to be banned from school came from the landmark court case of Engle v Vitale (1962) where school prayer was banned from public schools when led by a school employee. The school board could take the position of the best policy is no policy at all as was done in Marblehead, Massachusetts school district when teacher’s began to question the policy of putting up angels and other religious symbols in their classroom. After meeting with four rabbis, four priests, and for Protestant ministers they agreed that the symbols should come down only when someone voices an objection (Christmas, 2008).

Another direction the school board could have reacted according to their perspective is to go to a zero tolerance policy. This would mean that the district would allow no holiday celebrations at all in their district. This would mean that if no policy were in place before, the teacher should be reinstated to their job if they agree to adhere to the new policy or at least suspended until the new policy was placed in the contract. Since there was a policy, then there should be clause stating the punishment if the policy was violated. This would satisfy the offended parties, protect the district from wrongful dismissal, and have a policy set in place for the next school year with all teacher held liable under it and consequences if they fail to uphold it.

Superintendent

In most cases, the school board selects the school district superintendents. The school board’s responsibilities are similar to that of a chief executive officer of a large corporation. Through the help of the school board, the school district superintendent has the job responsibility of making sure personnel selections meet state standards and benefits the district with their educational experience. The district superintendent as a stakeholder also makes important decisions in matters such as new school construction, the districts finance, and a major part of the curriculum and teaching that goes on in the schools of the district. The district superintendent has other responsibilities that include creating long-term plans for technology, educational delivery, and district growth.

According to Eadie (2007), a school district superintendent needs to have a commitment to playing a leading role in the building board governing capacity and conducting school business. The selection committee should look at the candidate’s educational philosophy and the initiatives he or she will undertake in the future in terms of budgeting, strategic planning, and monitoring the performance of both the district and its employees.

The superintendent’s perspective of the dismissal would have to go two directions. First the superintendent would have to listen to the school board and honor their wishes. Though he would have input about the dismissal, the final action would be decided by the school board. The superintendent would also filter all of the media coverage and act as a spokesperson for the district.

The other direction that the superintendent would have to go would be to address the situation with the site administrator. An investigation to exactly what was said and done by both parties needs to be conducted. The superintendent would give the site administrator the suggestions and directives of how to manage their staff, media, and students regarding the situation. Since there is a district policy, the superintendent might want to hold a meeting with all stakeholders to set up a consequence and have it aligned with the dismissal so there would be no retaliation from the dismissed teacher.

A precedent to the policy that the superintendent could use is Florey v. Sioux Falls School District (1983) where it was determined that the singing of religious carols at school violated the ideal of the separation of church and state. The superintendent would have to be weary of teacher using the case of Clever v. Cherry Hills Township (1993) in which a New Jersey District Court stated the ornaments and other religious decorations could be displayed at schools as long as the school’s curriculum remained secular.

Site Administrator

The site administrator represents the single most influential stakeholder in the school setting (Spillane, Camburn, and Pareja, 2007), and is expected to set the academic tone for students, parents, staff, and community members through effective participatory leadership. Effective site administration leadership develops a collaborative team approach to decision making and problem solving (U. S. Department of Labor, 2008), while simultaneously and consistently developing and maintaining district wide policies and guidelines. Additionally, the successful site administrator employs a distributive approach to routine school operations to ensure maximum involvement of other internal and external stakeholders (Spillane, Camburn, and Pareja, 2007). For example, the site administrator may choose set up task force committees-including parents, teachers, community leaders, and students-to research a particular issue and report their findings to the School Improvement Team. Finally, the site administrator may be subject to significant influences by the cultures-explicit and implicit interactions among staff-of the school, which may determine the effectiveness of his or her leadership. For example, many explicit interactions-ceremonies and rituals-are routine and are expected, such interactions should be encouraged and honored; whereas, implicit behaviors stemming from unwritten expectations are potentially problematic (Kezar, 2001). For instance, teachers with seniority expect certain privileges-select their teaching assignments, or to receive first opportunity to attend a state conference-from the site administration. Therefore, the site administrator will need to be aware of the inter works of these cultures to maintain effective leadership, as asserted by Kezar.

Teachers

The teacher, along with the student, plays an interactive role in the education process because one cannot function without the other. “The empowerment of teachers will facilitate the empowerment of students (Short and Greer, 2002).” Teacher empowerment takes the form of providing teachers with a significant role in decisions making, control over their work environment and conditions, and opportunities to serve in a range of professional roles (Short and Greer, 2002). The teacher as a stakeholder is expected to possess the professional knowledge to lead the students in instruction. In addition to serving in an instructional role the teacher can be a mentor, supervisor, counselor, and community leader. The teacher can be a mentor to students or other teachers. The role of supervisor is present in every aspect of a teacher’s daily responsibilities. The teacher’s role as counselor can be used to offer advice to students or school advisory committees.

The motivational factors for teachers is related to the impact their role plays in producing individuals who are an asset to the community they live in. “The ends of education have to do with such things as providing the society with a culturally literate citizenry, a world-class workforce, people who can think and reason (Schlechty, 2001). The teacher is motivated to fulfill their role with an understanding of how important teachers are to society. Without teachers, our society would not be able to function as a global competitor.

Parents

Parents play key roles as educational stakeholders. Parents’ primary objective is the assurance that their children will receive a quality education, which will enable the children to lead productive rewarding lives as adults in a global society (Cotton and Wikelund, 2001). Parents bring a valuable quality to the educational experience of their children because they may better understand their own children and can influence significantly student behaviors such as time management and study habits, eating practices, and their personal safety and general welfare. Parents as educational stakeholders provide additional resources for the school to assist with student achievement and to enhance a sense of community pride and commitment, which may be influential in the overall success of the school. For instance, parent involvement with their children’s educational process through attending school functions, participating in the decision making process, encouraging students to manage their social and academic time wisely, and modeling desirable behavior for their children represent a valuable resource for schools across this nation, according to Cotton and Wikelund. In addition, parents have the right and the responsibility to be involved in their children’s educational process (Department for Education and Children’s Services, 1996). Legislation such as Public Law 93-380 encourages and enhances parent involvement in their children’s education (Essex, 2005).

Parents are very important stakeholders to the educational decision making process. As suggested by Essex (2005), many parents’ decisions on educational issues are significantly influenced by their values and beliefs rather than school law. In addition, each geographical area is subject to present different beliefs and values. Therefore, the parent’s position on the nativity scene may be dependent on his or her value system or the area he or she lives.

Students

Escaping from England the Puritans, in an effort to free from religious persecution and establish a healthy economy, set up the first American school (Barger, 2004). Educational institutions were incepted for the purpose of providing free schooling for all children. Schlechty (2001) states “statements about the purpose of education have emphasized the intention of the schools to provide all students with the “opportunity to learn” (p. xiii).” “For years, they [public schools] have taken as their primary customers those students who come to school with the backgrounds, incentives, and work habits that lead them to desire to engage in academic pursuits (Schlechty, 2001).” Today schools serve a wider range of students who are expected to meet standards that were required of only a few students years ago (Schlechty, 2001). Those who are identified as students have changed from all to those who participate but their role in the education process has not change. The student plays the lead role in the educational process and as stakeholders are expected to participate in the process. “Successful schools encourage significant participation by parents, students and teachers (Wilson, 2008).” Although the student’s primary role is that of a recipient, students should be encouraged to exercise their decision-making role in the education process. By giving aid to the decision-making process students become an integral part of a successful institution. Empowering students with shared decision making increases their choices and responsibilities for their own learning (Short and Greer, 2002).

Participant is not the only role of students, but the student is used as a determining factor for some aspects of education. The student determines the educational services offers such as special education for those who are gifted and learning challenged. The number and needs of students can be a determining factor for allocating resources. As a result of their participation students gain the skills and knowledge needed to be productive and viable part of our society. Students as stakeholders possess both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. The intrinsic motivation comes with understanding the value of an education. Extrinsic motivations are the accolades students receive for successful completing their education.

Conclusion

The roles of each stakeholder in a school district provide an integral part to the entire organization. Like a system of checks and balances, the school board oversees a superintendent and the superintendent oversees the site administrators. The parents and students, as stakeholders, have a right to complain to the board, to the administration, and to the superintendent concerning the changes and adherence to policy. Though each stakeholder has a say in the business of the district, the power and influence of say may depend on the role and the position of a stakeholder.

As the ideas and methodology change to meet the information age, the structure and hierarchy within a school district and the role of the stakeholders may change. America is currently revamping administrative and teaching roles within the schools, which may restructure the leadership of the school board, superintendent, and other educational stakeholders who participate in the educational processes.

As the roles change for the stakeholders, a new set of skills will have to be incorporated into each role. Additionally, decision making powers may shift; the check and balance system may move in different directions; and the final authority may come from stakeholders other than the school board or the superintendent of the district.

As the students evolve and adapt to the educational models that are introduced, student may dictate the success or failure of the programs. The students are creating their world through the education that the stakeholders provide and in time they will restructure and modify the educational system to fit their environment and learning needs.

The perception of each stakeholder in regards to the teacher’s dismissal for displaying the nativity scene is as individual as the roles of the stakeholders themselves. Each perception has to be incorporated in the support or defense of the dismissal and the entire academic community will be changed because of the dismissal. Though the ideal of the separation of church and state sounds simple, each stakeholder has to cope with their individual beliefs and those of the population of parents and students for which they serve. The stakeholders represent the beliefs and standards of a community while still abiding by the decisions of state and federal law. How the stakeholders perceive the incident will define the moral boundaries or interpretation for issues that are forthcoming.

References

Barger, R. N. (2004). History of American education web project. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/

Christmas in the classroom. (n.a., 2008) Time Magazine Online. Retrieved July 10, 2008 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840480,00.html.

Clever v. Cherry HillTownship Board of Education, Civ. 93-1012 {1993). Retrieved on July 10, 2008 from http://www.belcherfoundation.org/clever_v_cherry_hill.htm

Cotton, K., & Wikelund, K. R. (2001). Parent involvement in education. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from http://www.nwrel.orglcomm/resources.html

Darden, E. (2008). Policy, the law, and you. American School Board Journal, 195(4). Retrieved on June 19, 2008, from EBSCOhost database

Department for Education and Children’s Services. (1996). Parent and school policy.Retrieved June 18, 2008, from http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/files/communities/docman/1/ParentsSchoolPolicy

Eadie, D. (2007). Hiring a board savvy superintendant. American School Board Journal, 194(11). Retrieved on June 19, 2008, from EBSCOhost database.

Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962). Retrieved July 7, 2008 from http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1961/1961_468/

Florey v. Sioux FallsSchool District, NO. 79-1277 (1980). Retrieved on July 10, 2008 from http://www.belcherfoundation.org/florey_v_sioux_falls_school_district.htm

Kezar, A. J. (2001). Understanding and facilitating organizational change in the 21st century: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report (28). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Reigeluth, C. M. (1993). Principles of educational systems design. International Journal of Education Research, 19(2), 117-131.

Schlechty, P. C. (2001). Shaking up the schoolhouse: How to support and sustain educational innovation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N., Lucan, T., Smith, B., Dutton, J., & Kleiner, A. (2000). Schools that learn: A fifth discipline fieldbook for educators, parents, and everyone who cares about education. Toronto, Canada: Currency.

Short, P. M. and Greer, J. T. (2002). Leadership in empowered schools: Themes from innovative efforts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Spillane, J. P., Camburn, E. M., & Pareja, A. S. (2007). Taking a distributed perspective to the school principal’s workday. Leadership and Policy in school, 6(1), 103-125.

Troffler, A. (1984). The third wave. New York: Bantam.

U. S. Department of Labor (2008). Education administrator. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/home.htm

Watson, S. L., & Reigeluth, C. M. (2008). Community members’ perception on social, cultural changes and its implication for educational transformation in a small school district community. Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Changes, 5(1), 45-65.

Wilson, L. (2008). Great American schools: The power of culture and passion. Education Digest, 73(6), 13-18.


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