VASHON ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT

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General Board Contact Info

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Please Be Advised: that using this link does not immediately send your message to the entire Board. Your message will be relayed to the Board members by staff if appropriate.

School Board

Position #1 Term: 11/07-11/11
Dan Chasan Director
17228 Westside Highway S. W.
Vashon, Washington 98070
206 463-2571
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Position #2 Term: 11/05-11/09
Bob Hennessey Board Chair
23402 107th Avenue S. W.
Vashon, Washington 98070
206 463-1931
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Position 3 Term: 11/07-11/11
Kathy Jones Director Legislative Rep
21602 135th Ave. S. W.
Cell: 206 300-2441
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Position #4 Term: 11/05-11/09
John Osborne, Director
8010 S. W. Hawthorne Lane
206 567-0065
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Position 5 Term: 11/07-11/11
Laura Wishik Director Vice Chair
P. O. Box 1434
Vashon, Washington 98070
206 463-6561
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How to work with the school board

The school board is made up of five volunteers who have been elected to guide and direct the school district. As elected representatives, the board is responsible for collecting input from the community. How do you make your school board work for you?

To understand how best to work with your school board, it’s important to understand what the board does and doesn’t do. A school board’s main role is to set direction and establish goals for the district. Members of the school board are responsible for governing, while the superintendent and his administrative staff are responsible for managing. The superintendent’s role is to implement and administer the direction set by the school board. Together, the two make up the leadership team for the district. To clarify, here is a definition of roles:

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There are many ways to make sure your interests are represented, including through letters, email, and school board meetings. The school board meets on the second and fourth Thursday of each month beginning at 7 p.m. in the McMurray Middle School library. Occasionally, this schedule will change due to school breaks so it is best to check meeting dates and agendas before you attend a meeting.

School board meetings are open to the public, with the exception of executive sessions dealing with certain sensitive issues such as real estate transactions, personnel issues or student and employee appeals. The agenda for board meetings is set by the board chair and vice-chair, who consider all requests made in writing received at least twelve days prior to the next meeting. The agenda is posted on the meetings and agenda section of the district website on the Monday prior to the Thursday board meeting and a “board packet” of information related to the agenda topics is available for public review in the district office.

Time is set aside near the beginning of each board meeting for community members to speak to the board for three minutes. Public comment is also taken before a decision or discussion item as warranted. We welcome and consider public comment.

In addition to providing a forum for community members to make comments and raise issues to the Board, our meetings are working sessions because they are the only time the five members of the board can legally talk about issues as a group. So the discussion and debate among the five members which you see is always free and open and sometimes untidy. That’s representative democracy.

Letters and e-mail are effective ways to make your views known. Email addresses of school board members are listed on the district web site. Letters should be addressed to the board chair that will see that five board members receive a copy. The mailing address for written correspondence: Bob Hennessey, Board Chair, Vashon School District, PO Box 547, Vashon, WA 98070-0547.

The board is in the midst of one very important decision: A capital facilities plan guided by the strategic plan intended to go before voters in February 2008. Now more than ever, is a critical time for your views to be known. We look forward to hearing from you.

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