04/13/04 -- George H. McShan, a school board member from Harlingen, Texas, assumed the presidency of NSBA for the 2004-05 term at NSBA's Annual Conference.
During NSBA's Delegate Assembly March 29, former NSBA Secretary-Treasurer Joan E. Schmidt, of the Fairfield, Mont., school district, was elected to the position of president-elect.
The delegates elected NSBA board member E. Jane Gallucci to the position of secretary-treasurer. She is a member of the Pinellas County school board in Clearwater, Fla.
McShan, who had been president-elect of NSBA, is a former president of the Texas Association of School Boards.
He has served numerous leadership positions on the Harlingen school board since 1988, including four terms as president. He has also served on the board of directors and as president of the Harlingen Boys and Girls Club.
McShan will be traveling across the country during his term, talking with school board members about the importance of collaboration -- working closely with elected officials, the community, and business leaders to ensure that school districts have the resources to provide a world-class education for all children.
"Effective leadership occurs not in a vacuum but in collaboration with those you hope to lead and with those who will share your leadership responsibilities," McShan says. "The shaping of America's future through our public education system will require collaborative initiatives more comprehensive than anything we have attempted in the past."
McShan holds a bachelor's degree from Prairie View A&M University and a master's degree from the University of Texas-Pan American. Before his retirement, he worked at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen for 30 years, including 19 years as dean of the college.
The Delegate Assembly also elected Carlos E. Nieto to the NSBA Board of Directors as a representative of the Southern Region. He is a member of the Presidio (Texas) Independent School District.
Earlier during the conference, the National Caucus of Black School Board Members elected William E. Cofield Sr., a member of the Franklin County, Ky., school board as president, and the National Caucus of Hispanic School Board Members elected Joe Guillen, of the Espanola, N.M., school district, as chair.
Both Cofield and Guillen serve on the NSBA board.
The new chair of the Council of School Attorneys, Anthony "Tony" G. Scariano, serves as an ex officio non-voting director. He is the managing partner in the Scariano, Himes, and Petrarca law firm in Chicago.
Another new ex officio non-voting director is James B. Crow, the executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards and the new chair of the Federation Member Executive Directors' Liaison Committee.
NSBA's Delegate Assembly approved 17 resolutions on a range of issues at its opening session on March 26.
The delegates approved a resolution on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that stresses NSBA's belief that the law's intent is laudable but calls for changes to the act and to Department of Education regulations in several key areas.
The measure recommends the law be changed to permit "any state to obtain waivers from the accountability requirements of NCLB if that state can demonstrate by reasonable criteria that its accountability requirements meet or exceed the intent of the requirements established by NCLB."
The resolution also calls for proper funding, alternative assessments, alternative methodologies for determining adequate yearly progress, and other changes.
In other actions taken by the Delegate Assembly:
• The delegates call for federal, state, and local policymakers to recognize the importance of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision "in changing public education and race relations in our nation" and to acknowledge the nation's shortcomings in achieving racial equality in educational opportunity.
• Several resolutions touch on funding, urging Congress to make full funding of mandated education programs the top priority in adopting the federal budget and to meet the funding levels authorized by NCLB.
The delegates also called upon Congress to "oppose general budget reductions by formulations that circumvent Congress' responsibility to set funding priorities among government functions."
• NSBA urges Congress to oppose the creation of vouchers, tax credits, and tax subsidies targeted to the tuition or expenses of non-public schools.
• NSBA urges Congress to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, fully fund it, and ensure that it is "not subject to the fluctuating annual appropriations process."
• The delegates call for the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act to be amended to better provide for communication among school officials, law enforcement officials, juvenile justice authorities, and mental health agencies.
• NSBA supports the discretion of local school boards "to provide for the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words 'under God,' in public schools by willing students."