The public schools belong to the people. The people govern the
schools under rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution
and statutes of the State of Illinois. The people exercise their
proprietorship through the elective process. They elect state
and federal representatives who establish -- through the legislature
and the Congress -- the framework of law within which the school
operates. And the People elect a School Board to represent them
and to determine local educational plans and policy and to establish
publicly-endorsed educational goals and objectives. The Highland
Community Unit School District Number 5 School Board functions
as an agency of the public within this framework.
The Board is mindful that the people are the ultimate governors
of public education and that the Board is directly accountable
to the people through the elective process. But the Board also
believes that accountability is a shared responsibility involving
students, administrators, teachers and other employees, the Superintendent
of Schools, and the people themselves as well as the School Board.
The Board therefore asserts these beliefs and expectations.
- Students should be directed at home and at the school in such
a manner that they will learn to hold themselves accountable
for their own lives, actions, and decisions as maturing members
of a democratic society.
- Teachers should hold students accountable for achieving (within
the limits of each student's abilities) the objectives of each
learning experience.
- The Superintendent should hold all district employees accountable
for working with diligent effort and with intelligence and imagination
in achieving the objectives directly related to their stated
job responsibilities.
- The School Board should appoint the most capable person available
to hold the position of District Superintendent of Schools and
should hold him accountable for providing creative professional
leadership and counsel in all aspects of the school district
program.
- The School Board should also hold itself accountable for carrying
out its mandated duties, and to make policy which leads to identification
of goals and objectives and the resources necessary for their
achievement.
The public should hold itself accountable for maintaining a vigorous
interest in, concern for, and constructive criticism of the schools;
for electing the most able men and women available to represent
them on the School Board and in the State Legislature and U.S.
Congress; and for providing the resources necessary for the School
Board and District staff to accomplish the publicly-endorsed goals
and objectives of the school district.
