Another School Board Blogger -- Great Idea for Madison!

When I chatted with her at Prairie Village three months ago, Tammy Jo Zingmark made it sound like it would take an act of Congress to get the Madison Central School Board to start a blog.

Blogging Watertown school board member Fred Deutsch shows that school-board blogging is really quite simple and instructive. This morning he points to another school board blogger, Dr. James Woods, chairman of the Parkrose Board of Education in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Woods even encourages teachers to leave comments, anonymously if they wish. How's that for engaging your workers as well as your community?

It turns out the Parkrose district has a vacany on its board. Dr. Woods provides an excellent job description... as he tries to talk people out of applying. Among the anti-perks: the job offers negative pay: it is apparently illegal for board members to take compensation, and they expend a great deal of time preparing for meetings.

So Dr. Woods blogs (and Twitters, and Facebooks, and talks to people) because as a public official, he recognizes the importance of engaging with his community.

Tammy Jo—start that blog!