"Blogs for board members?"

Today in the Metro section of the Capital Times (and online here) a little blurb on the school board suggests "Blogs for board members?":

The board may soon go online to provide video and audio downloads, as well as "Really Simple Syndication," or RSS, feeds via the Internet. There may even be an occasional blog entry from a board member. Discussion remains in the preliminary stages. [...]

For students looking for a thesis project or other research experience, this is just the kind of development that our group is now positioned to follow and analyze through the next year.

For more background, see this article in the Capital Times the day after the referendum...

Web blog growing force in school policy

By Lee Sensenbrenner
May 25, 2005

When it came time to watch the returns for Tuesday's referendums, two of Madison's seven School Board members went to the home of noted blogger Jim Zellmer, whose site and organization are seen as a growing force in local school politics and policy.
Kristian Knutsen, the former editor of the weekly Wisconsinite, who now publishes a Web site devoted to local issues, pointed at Zellmer's group as instrumental in the referendums' outcomes.

"With the April election of Lawrie Kobza, and today's defeat of two out of the three referenda, it is clear that there is an emerging property taxpayers' revolt in the city, one that is typified by many contributors to School Information System," Knutsen wrote today on his Web site.

Kobza and Ruth Robarts were at Zellmer's home Tuesday night. They are two of three board members who so far have been frequent contributors to Zellmer's blog, as have several parents who are actively involved in education.

Zellmer said he started his organization after he attended a candidates' forum two years ago when Robarts was up for re-election. He came home and said the TV coverage of the event wholly consisted of noting that a forum among School Board members had happened that night.

The news media here pays too little attention to schools, he said, so he began putting together a blog and posting candidate interviews, campaign finance reports and links to media coverage on his Web site. He often has selected material to criticize the district and he eventually came to support Kobza's campaign against an incumbent backed by Madison Teachers Inc.

Unsuccessful School Board candidate Larry Winkler and several others have been meeting informally about once a month at Zellmer's house to talk about school issues and to pay closer attention to what goes on in the district.

Zellmer did not offer any comments on Tuesday's outcomes.

"My only goal is to increase awareness of K-12 issues," he said.