(Memphis) Thousands of school board members from across the country are in San Diego this weekend all hoping to learn how to make their district better.
Some of the current seventeen Shelby board members are there, but only three of them will be on next year’s unified board. One of them is Kevin woods.
“I think with us being there we will be able to bring back some information about what`s best for the district and share some best practices,” said Woods.
Unified schools open in just a few months and they still don`t have a permanent leader.
Though the superintendent search committee that has been hired to find a new leader for schools is at the conference Woods says he has no plans to talk to them because he says they`ve been hired to do a job and he`s going to let them do it.
But in the meantime he says he`s focused on people here locally who he believes can do the job, at least.
“I think Dorsey Hopson is doing a great job, and quite frankly I`m just focusing on what the best practices are to bring back to the district,” said Woods.
Woods and the other school board members are in San Diego on the school system`s dime.
Board Member Martavious Jones says MCS sets aside five grand a year per board member for travel like this.
We’re still waiting to hear back from Shelby County Schools about how much the trip is costing.
Woods says he is trying to be mindful of the budget crunch the district is in.
“I could have chosen to leave yesterday, but I wanted to limit my time here for the cost of the district,” said Woods.
Unified board member David Pickler is also being sworn in as the National School Board Association President, so Woods says they wanted to support him as well.
