NSD has 23 separate committees and task forces composed of teachers, parents and students. Each committee focuses on a different topic, ranging from the district-wide phone policy to school start times to racial justice. While the district’s seeking of community feedback on a wide range of important issues is noble, the committees could be restructured or reformed to better represent the NSD community at large.
The primary issue is that the committees lack transparency in their discussions and conclusions. The information on the district’s website about the committees’ final decisions is often inconsistent, outdated and incomplete. Some of these committees stopped meeting nearly a decade ago yet are still missing information regarding their final decision and whether their proposed change was enacted. This is especially problematic since these committees discuss and ostensibly influence decisions that affect everyone in the district.
For example, there is no readily accessible information on the recommendations made by the Mobile Devices in Schools Task Force, which met from October to December 2024, even though any decision on this topic greatly impacts all students and teachers. It is exceedingly difficult to find out what the Racial and Educational Justice Committee discusses except through talking to members, since there is again no information on the website. On the other hand, the Enrollment Demographics Task Force, which has met for nearly two decades, has well-documented meeting minutes and information readily available on the district’s website. There is no reason all committees shouldn’t have this level of transparency.
Without clear communication to the public, it’s uncertain how much the district’s decisions are based upon committee recommendations. Just like anyone can request public records from the police, schools and other public entities, committee materials should generally be available to the public as well. There are legitimate privacy and safety concerns since some committees discuss sensitive and controversial issues, but in that case the district should explain why exactly certain materials should not be published; they should also take more measures to protect members’ identities rather than allowing members to have full access to each other’s names and email addresses as was the case when I was on the Student Resource Officer Task Force, which advised NSD on whether to place police officers on campus. For committees that discuss sensitive issues, anonymity would help people feel more comfortable speaking out about their opinions. District committees should be accountable to the public, and district decisions should be accountable to the committees.
In addition, there is a high barrier to entry into all of these committees since members must submit lengthy applications, and the criteria for acceptance is unclear. For example, the website on the Racial and Educational Justice Committee doesn’t provide any information about who is involved or how much each demographic is represented even though providing equal representation is central to its purpose. While other committees do list the number of teachers, parents and students from each school, this practice should be consistent through all the committees. It is crucial that the committees are composed of members who represent the district at large so that they can best serve their purpose of informing decisions on behalf of the community.
Furthermore, it’s not clear that the large number of committees is necessary. Why can’t, for example, the Racial and Educational Justice Committee, the Racial and Educational Justice Leadership and the Student Justice Collective be combined? They all share the purpose of promoting cultural diversity and inclusive, equitable environments, an already extremely broad topic to tackle at any level. It would be more effective and efficient to simply have larger committees that can split into sub-committees to discuss specific areas, an approach they already use in many current committees. Background knowledge in some areas is helpful for some committees, but if their purpose is to represent the district community as a whole, having different committees for topics significantly overlapping in scope is simply inefficient.
If the district wants to understand public opinion, it would be faster and more representative to send out public surveys or referendums. Surveys can accurately capture the opinion of the whole community without the bureaucratic waste of application processing. Although survey data only includes people who respond to the survey, resulting in a survey bias, this is usually preferable to a committee where only people who applied and were accepted are included, which is a far higher barrier to entry. Through a survey, the district can, simply by asking more questions, understand how different demographics differ in opinion. Many district committees could likely be replaced just by using surveys in this way.
NSD’s committees and task forces are a great starting point for ensuring students, parents and staff can have their voices heard on important issues in the community. However, their current implementation is often redundant and opaque. Despite being composed of members of the public and intended to advise the district, the committees seem distant from both; it’s unclear how their recommendations influence district policy, if at all. NSD committees must incorporate consistent communication and reduce bureaucratic processes to more effectively reflect the community members they were made to represent.
