Editor,
Why is it that I can contact any elected official here in Zionsville, except for the School Board Trustees? I just received the Zionsville Chamber of Commerce Membership Directory in the mail and on pages 6 and 7 of the directory, contact information is provided for all of the Town Council members and many town positions. However, with regard to the School Board, names only are listed.
ZCS educates roughly 6,000 children and has an annual budget of over $70 million. Of that total, approximately $35 million comes directly from our property taxes. The five School Board members are responsible for overseeing this important and integral part of our community, and have been entrusted by the people of Zionsville via the voting process. As elected officials, each serving 4-year terms, I believe they should be accessible to the very people who put them into office.
Page 7 of the Membership Directory also lists the contact information for the School itself, including the Superintendent’s name, phone number and website. However, this should not be a substitute for reaching the School Board members. For sensitive and confidential reasons, parents, teachers, taxpayers and other citizens should not have to be filtered through the Superintendent’s office before reaching the independent School Board members.
The Zionsville Chamber of Commerce is not the only one to omit this important information. The ZCS website itself is lacking in this same regard. Again, only the names of the School Board Trustees are listed on the website: http://www.zcs.k12.in.us/index.php?q=node/34
I believe the citizens of Zionsville should have a way to contact their elected School Board members. My suggestion is that phone numbers and e-mail addresses be established and provided for each School Board member so that they can be contacted directly, and assurance provided that correspondences will be handled confidentially.
I would have sent this request directly to the School Board members, but I didn’t know how to reach them………..
Sue Gentile 46077