The Value of Citizen Participation

Kathleen Knight Abowitz is a mother of two children enrolled in her local public schools, a former school teacher, a volunteer leader of citizens in her community who discuss statewide policy issues impacting their school system, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University, and an author.  In her book, Publics for Public Schools:  Legitimacy, Democracy, and Leadership, she discusses the value of citizen participation.  She writes that “citizens participation provides much-needed political legitimacy for public schools.  In addition, citizen participation helps support a more holistic and effective approach to education, because parents, schools, and civic associations cannot educate children well by operating alone or at odds with one another.”