Talk:Morris School District

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People. Use of titles[edit]

It seems to me that appointees, per se, shouldn't go into a school or government article. If the secretary is an elected member of the school board, that position might be there, but I get the impression that is not the case.

Also, we've been omitting titles for most people except when the article was about them. Titles seem pov in most other cases. "He's a doctor therefore he knows what he is talking about." It seems pompous unless he is running for office or the article is about him. It also brings up the point of people with multiple titles. What if he is a LCol in the reserves? My point is that if the incumbent can't persuade people on his own merits and own name, he shouldn't have the job he holds! I think that PhD is usually the minimum requirement for Superintendent nationwide.

Note that politicians rarely use their titles. Gingrich was never "Dr." for example.

A model article for school boards is given at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Schools#Structure: Dallas Independent School District. The supe alone is listed without a title.Student7 (talk) 11:46, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)#Names. The subsection is "academic titles." Student7 (talk) 11:54, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I disagree that the use of the title of "Dr." is intended to be POV. I disagree that it is not relevant: Few politicians (perhaps other than Henry Kissinger) use the title, but in all branches of academia, it is far more prevalent. In most school districts, pay scales are a direct function of advanced degrees received. I know of no district that requires any particular degree for its superintendent. Nor can I imagine why an individual's military service would be relevant here, though an excellent argument would be made for including that information for the commandant of a private military academy. Despite that I won't argue about the three letters. In New Jersey, there are three roles (often combined into two people) who are responsible for operating a school: The Chief School Administrator (most often with the title of "Superintendent"), Board Secretary and Business Administrator (often combined to one person). The Board of Education, elected or otherwise, plays no role in the operation of the school system. I am willing to consider excluding other positions, but these three key positions should be listed for all school districts. Alansohn (talk) 12:01, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I won't argue about the positions included. I would think the school board should be there in any case.
The guideline (Manual of Style) is pretty specific about the use of titles with names though. Shall we go for a third opinion? Student7 (talk) 13:12, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]