View: Letter to the Royal Oak Board of Education
(View by Shawn Lewis-Lakin, Superintendent, Royal Oak Schools, Jan. 12, 2015)
Community-governed public education has been called the backbone of American democracy. Indeed, it is one of the very foundations on which our democratic society stands. The publicly elected members of our Royal Oak Board of Education provide critically important community governance for our schools.
The job of the School Board is to establish a vision for the education program of our community, design a structure to achieve that vision, ensure schools are accountable to the community and strongly advocate for continuous improvement in student learning. The job of a School Board 
member is not an easy one; the hours are long and the thanks few and far between.
The time spent in board meetings represents just a small fraction of the many hours that the members of the board spend serving our community as volunteers. Beyond monthly School Board meetings, board members attend committee meetings, they read and attend workshops to stay current on the challenges and opportunities facing schools, they are deeply involved in community activities and they spend many hours at extracurricular events.
Those whom we have elected to serve as members of the Royal Oak Board of Education have a variety of backgrounds. This diverse collection of our neighbors share one goal: helping all students excel as learners so that they can succeed in life.
The month of January marks the annual observance of School Board Recognition Month. I invite you to take time this month to express your appreciation to the volunteer members of the Royal Oak Schools Board of Education:
Gary Briggs
Deborah Anderson
Jeff Brinker
Marty Cardamone
Carrie Beerer
Lisa Bradford
Allison Sykes
To each of our Board Members, I say “thank you!”
Sincerely,
Shawn Lewis-Lakin, Superintendent
Royal Oak Schools
For more on Royal Oak Schools see http://www.royaloakschools.org.
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