[StBernard] Please Comment on Bill Requiring School Board Members to Substitute Teach

[Westley Annis]

HB 403, which the legislature is presently considering, requires School
Board members to serve as substitute teachers for 3 days per academic year.
I filed the bill because I thought it would be a good exercise for School
Board members to be exposed to the classroom and students that they are
regulating as substitute teachers so that they may better understand the
issues and challenges facing teachers and administrators.
 
As you might imagine, the bill has stirred up a bit of controversy and there
has been a newspaper poll and radio call in discussion on this issue.  An
argument against the bill which I can best relate to is that most School
Board members are not trained teachers and any benefit that might be
obtained by exposing members to real time classroom situations would be
outweighed by the loss of precious instruction time for the students.
However, the School Board members would not be replacing the full time
teacher, but would actually be standing in for the substitute.  Still the
regular substitutes are trained and have experience teaching.
 
I am interested in your thoughts on this bill.  Do you think this hands- on
experience is valuable for School Board members?  Do you think it would hurt
students to have School Board members "substitute" for the substitute for 3
days per year?  How about 1 day per year? 
 
Thanks.  I look forward to hearing from you and will keep you posted.
 
Tim

http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/members.asp?ID=89