One of the greatest problems facing public school systems nationwide is the lack of transparency with which important public decisions are made and valuable public resources are distributed.  Although in principle, the local school board should carefully oversee the activities of career administrators, members of these boards are usually volunteers with modest business experience and insufficient time to oversee all of the details of an organization that often spends over $100 million dollars per year.  In addition, the dwindling importance of the print media in most communities removes another important "check" on the actions of the small group of unelected administrators who make the key day to day decisions in their districts.

As a result, grassroots community organizations have arisen in many communities (click here for links to some good examples) to provide a means for the public to gain, share and store information that would otherwise be nearly invisible.  In the fall of 2009, the COPE steering committee decided that the lack of transparency in the Iowa City and Coralville Community School District  was sufficiently serious that COPE should organize a group of volunteers to provide an additional "watchdog" function for the community.

The issues currently under scrutiny by these District Watch volunteers are divided into three somewhat overlapping categories: Health and Safety, Transparency, and District Finances.