The Austin Board of Education adopted new first-ever school board standards Monday night.

Tuesday, November 14, 2000

The Austin Board of Education adopted new first-ever school board standards Monday night.

The decision wasn’t unanimous.

Board member Kathy Green held firm to her opposition and cast the only vote against the proposed resolution.

"I take my job as a school board member very seriously," Green said.

It has taken the school board two months to fine tune the standards resolution and Green has been a vocal opponent from the beginning.

The final "tweaking" of the proposed resolution involved the insertion of the word "parents" in the statement: "The school board shares in the responsibility for student achievement with the students, parents and education community."

"I like it better now that the word ‘parents’ is in this thing," Larry Andersen, another school board member observed.

The resolution, recommended by the Minnesota School Boards Association, attempts to set standards for board members as well as high expectations.

Green’s criticism softened at Monday night’s meeting. She previously suggested approving such a resolution would in some way obligate the Austin school board to unilaterally support any and all initiatives of the Minnesota School Boards Association.

At Monday night’s meeting, Green said it was a question of semantics that continues to stir her opposition and that the latest version was "too vague."

"It’s a feel-good, sounds-good resolution and far too vague," she said.

Another board member, Bruce Loveland, expressed his appreciation to citizen David Ruzek, a former board member, for his "thoughtful" letter on the proposed standards.

When the vote was taken, Green’s was the only "nay" vote cast and the standards resolution passed by a 6-1 margin.