Politics penetrate many aspects of our life. The educational process is affected by it as well; each institution is driven by a chosen policy, although some of its administration workers may deny it. Nevertheless, an elaborate campaign can benefit the lives of students and their academic success. Specifically, district politics should resolve issues that interrupt the course of obtaining knowledge, and school boards are responsible for developing a proper strategy to achieve this goal.
Politics seems to be a relatively multi-faceted term related to several concepts. First of all, power is the keyword for understanding the meaning of politics. The presence of influence on other people constituting a specific group precedes the entirety of possible choices taken. Next, politics include a compromise between the members of the faction as to the power order. Consequently, some individuals become capable and responsible for resolutions concerning various fields of collaborative care. Finally, a plan or strategy is intended, organized, and implied by a ruling person or persons. The sum of these activities comprises a general denomination of politics. Thus, politics could be defined as a complex interrelationship of public agreement and power articulation of a particular party and implementation of chosen policy through arranged operations.
A specific field of educational politics deserves further consideration, namely, the relationship between superintendents and school boards, which heavily impacts the performance of institutions. The aforementioned groupings conduct different functions: the initial one is liable for governance while the latter—for management. The cohesiveness of both organizations determines the success of a promoted policy as well as its durability, especially when employees are being replaced (Cooper & et al., 2015). In addition, school board members ought to value the educational process in the first place and be “accountability driven, spending less time on operational issues and more time focused on policies” (Dervarics & O’Brien, 2019, p. 3). Therefore, the district level policy is essential for maintaining schools and should include its administrators’ collaborative and responsive work.
Granted that the possible obstacles in the work of school boards and superintendents could be overcome with due efforts, a policy that concerns issues of modern society may be intended. Indeed, any policy aims at the enhancement of student achievement (Cooper & et al., 2015; Dervarics & O’Brien, 2019). In order to succeed, a school board should guarantee a comfortable, educational process for every student. That is, apart from a safe physical environment, the mental health of the educatees appears to be an area of concern and constant work of school staff. In brief, the suggested policy’s main guideline is psychological support for every individual.
A few actions need to be taken to ensure the policy’s development and high rate of implementation. On the first stage of the realization, the school board organizes the collection of data and its thorough examination. Next, the administrators reveal the existing issues and design a strategy that would solve these problems. In the case of chosen policy, the superintendents’ collective is to be revised. Additionally, as Dervarics et al. (2019) recommend, the employees should receive proper instructions according to the new policy. To speed the process, the participants of the school board may extend the policy presentation so that more local people are informed and would support the campaign. To conclude, research, planning, and public manifestation of the policy seem vital for its fulfillment.
Under such circumstances, politics can be seen as a field that inevitably needs close attention from educational organizations. The most relevant nowadays policy on a local level is proposed that can remove the students’ severities. To assure appropriate ambiance that would not affect students’ mental health, the administration should observe the current situation and upgrade their staff to new demands. At last, the adherents of the policy may use public influence to complete their mission.
References
Cooper, B.S., Cibulka, J. G., & Fusarelli, L. D. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of Education Politics and Policy (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Dervarics, C., & O’Brien, E. (2019). Eight Characteristics of Effective School Boards. Center for Public Education.