Board of Education President calls for more district sharing

The president of the State Board of Education is urging more schools to enter into sharing arrangements. Gene Vincent of Carroll, the state Board of Education president, says school districts “need to be better neighbors.” He says larger district could offer “small “struggling schools” services they can’t offer students or can’t really afford on their own. “I think it’s excellent that we compete hard with ’em in sports and so forth, but when we go to the classroom…maybe there’s things we can share,” Vincent says. For example, Vincent says a larger school district’s business manager might be able to manage the financial affairs of a neighboring smaller school, too. Vincent doesn’t offer specifics, but does envision changes in the overall operation of Iowa high schools. “It’s time to take a different look at traditional high schools as we know ’em today,” he says. “There’s possibly other avenues that we could do a better job with than what we’re doing in high schools. We know it’s being tried and is being successful in other places.” Vincent is urging school administrators, school board members and parents to “twist the arms” of state lawmakers and urge the Legislature to provide more money to schools. Vincent was appointed to the state Board of Education in 1996. He was first elected to a seat on the Carroll School board in 1978, and served 13 years as the Carroll School Board president.