City Council's Role in Education

By Karen D. Ortega

City Council has no direct authority over our schools but we can join forces with the District and others to help our students and families.

Having been elected in November, 1991 to the Board of Education I worked with my four colleagues to create a recovery plan to bring the district back under local authority. We accomplished this and the district is steadily coming back to financial accountability.

I, like so many others have thought and talked about what can be done to improve our schools. This is not an easy task, nor a quick fix. I would like to take a step in the right direction as follows:

Begin work by including the school district, fellow Council members, City staff, business, non-profit, religious, neighborhood councils, and other community organizations in focusing on a school by school basis in each neighborhood on particular needs and how we can meet these needs. We should create a list of priorities and begin with those schools in most need. By creating partnerships with the surrounding community and it school we will all benefit.

The well used phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child" is no understatement. The time has come when we must assume our village duty to raise our children.