By Kate Robak
Executive News Editor
At the Ed Council meeting on March 4, Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale disbanded the body on account of its inefficiency in decision making, which has led to teachers speaking out against his decision.
According to Dale, the council’s inefficiency, in part, was due to its hostile environment during discussion. However, many Ed Council members refute this claim.
“I came to the conclusion that the committee had become dysfunctional to goal-oriented progress for the school,” Dale said. “I had a lot of frustration with how we made decisions. We would get to a point where it was time to decide, and the whole process would break down. My goal at Mira Costa is to help us figure out how we can make decisions better.”
At the March 5 Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s Board of Trustees meeting, English Department chairs Pam Jenning and Alan Zeoli, along with history Department chair Bill Fauver, voiced their rejection of the disbandment of Ed Council to the Board.
“This decision threatens to fatally derail the morale of our faculty and undermine the gains we have made as a staff,” Fauver said at the Board meeting. “It threatens to silence the experts of curriculum.”
According to Dale, the creation of Ed Council in 1991 was meant to provide input to the principal’s decision making. Over time, the Ed Council gained more authority and, currently, each Department votes on proposals for approval.
To replace Ed Council, Dale’s suggesting two new committees, the Instructional Leadership Team and the Faculty Advisory Board. According to Dale, the nature of the Instructional Leadership Team will be decided on by the teachers through collaboration. The Faculty Advisory Board will be made up of any staff members who want to voice any of their concerns.
“If there is a widespread dissatisfaction among veteran teachers with the way this has been handled, then no teacher wants to legitimize that decision or validate it by participating in these new committees,” Zeoli said.
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