| Cheryl Coleman has become the Epitome of an effective school Board 227 Member with strong Leadership Skills In over two decades, we have not seen such an outpouring of love, respect, and admiration for a public servant who represents all the children and the district 227 community. Since joining board 227, Cheryl has practiced the basic steps in becoming an effective board member. She understands her role, who she is, and who she should represent. Her intent in performing her role was always to get at the truth and to insure that our student progress outcomes were just. She realizes that change is not just a matter of talking. She understands that the intermediate step is to talk the walk. Cheryl Coleman has earned our community's respect in her role to improve student achievement levels and to democratically engage the full board and school district 227 community to achieve that goal. When the day comes when we have a majority of like-minded school board members, like Cheryl Coleman, on the school board who is committed to our children, community, justice, and educational excellence, rather than just each other, then we will accomplish our academic goals in district 227 turn around. This much we pledge and more. Although since becoming a school board member, she has been criticized for informing herself by visiting the schools, serving as a tutor for high school students in need, and informing our community, she has persisted in serving in these key school improvement areas any way. Upon Cheryl's first entrance on the school board, she was like a lightning bolt committed to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and she defined our district's clear goals toward that vision. As an open government advocate, Cheryl realizes that positive and inspiring visions require the widespread involvement of those whose lives will be influenced and shaped by the vision. Cheryl also understands that the proper use of parliamentary procedure will make our school board meetings more organized, efficient, cohesive, fair, united, inclusive, equitable, impartial, and committed to educational excellence. She understands that unity in any organization requires equity, fairness and impartiality toward all assembly members in protecting the rights of all, and equity in taking turns in discussions of strategies to solve problems, not unfairly blocking collaborative discussion of targeted board members with the full board, before taking actions on an agenda item. Cheryl is also fighting to ensure a quality learning environment committed to excellence for her own children who will enroll in high school district 227 when the excellence which we are seeking and fighting for will become a reality in the near future. As a result, Cheryl has fought to make sure that the district's goals are becoming the district's top priorities and that nothing else should detract us from them. This is true despite the fact that the board majority is still not even vaguely aware of the significance of board accountability, their significant state responsibility in district evaluation toward making progress, and the necessity to act on year-round continuous evaluation and school improvement initiatives. Where there is little evidence of a pervasive focus on assessment, accountability, and school renewal at the board level, then it will not be present at any level within the school system. As a district 227 parent, Cheryl has strong shared beliefs and faith with our community, parents, and minority board members about what is possible for students, our ability as a school board to improve student achievement levels with committed board members, our students' ability to learn, and of the system and its ability to teach all children at high levels with an accountability-focused-caring-data-driven school board. Her focus has been on the need for school board continuous improvement practices and policies to improve student achievement. She believes that poverty, lack of parental involvement and other factors are challenges to be overcome when the community votes in a school board that respects our parents, community, and full board, and encourages rather than discourages and denies full board and community participation efforts. Community involvement equals community commitment. Cheryl realizes that without community involvement there is unlikely to be much commitment on the part of those upon whom we must rely to achieve our vision. Since coming to the school board in April 2011 Cheryl has demonstrated commitment to school improvement, integrity, transparency, and a collaborative relationship with the full board, parents, staff, and community. Cheryl realizes that to be effective and united as a board, decisions within the organization must be based upon facts, full board and community participation, open governance, accountability, and not lies, speech suppression, false perceptions, and politics. Despite efforts by the board chair of blocking her, she has established a strong communication structure to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in setting and achieving goals. With Cheryl, we can see specific examples of how she has connected and listened to the community as a school board member, and has received information from many different sources in her efforts in representing and protecting the school district's academic, instructional, and fiscal assets. While Cheryl also realizes there is truth in the adage that "An informed community is an empowered community" she also understands that information tools are never a substitute for good judgment, processing the data and information, and common sense. As a champion of open government, Cheryl has not just listened to our parents and community and their longing for school improvement. She has understood! Cheryl knows that the better she learns her significant and important role as an effective school board member, the better the student achievement results will be. We are proud of the work that Cheryl has done toward turning our school district around, informing the public on the realities of our plight, advocating for students, ethical leadership, equity, accountability, transparency, and commitment to community engagement, and continuous improvement in putting it all together. With less than three out of every ten of our high school students achieving at grade level in the 2010-2011 school year, she knows that unwavering commitment will be required to meet the challenges ahead. Cheryl is a rare example of hard work, integrity, collaborative action, and what strong leadership can accomplish. Like other successful and highly effective school board members in highly successful school districts, Cheryl believes that leadership needs full board and community input. Without it, we cannot succeed. With it, we cannot fail. We are proud of Cheryl's work on the front lines of public education, the work she has already done, and the appropriate school board role she has played on our road toward recreating the quality public education system that we knew in district 227 over twenty years ago. Our community thanks her for carrying out her responsibilities in our efforts at restoring equity, ethics, and excellence in public education and for leading the community in our next step on the road toward preparing all students to succeed in a rapidly changing global society. David Morgan School Board Member, Ph.D., Educational Leadership Rich Township High School District 227 Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 WEB ADDRESS: richthscoalition.org |
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