By the time you’re reading this, our school board may or may not have new membership. School board elections are held every two years, but other than a brief moment at the poll, most people spend little time thinking about their elected directors, their roles, their limitations and their leadership.
The reasons for choosing to serve on a local school board are as varied as there are individuals. Some have projects they want to advance such as building a new school or adding support to a sport or activity. Some want to fix a perceived shortcoming, running for the board to change the way something is done or even desiring to take an educator’s job. Some want to change the entire way of doing business and run for a seat by making promises to hold schools more accountable or more similar to privatized industries. Some decide to serve because they believe the alternative candidate would do more harm than good.
Nearly all of these reasons are rooted in a sincere desire to help make our schools better for our students, families, staff, and communities. But what many prospective board members don’t realize is that the source of their power is only realized by collective power. One board member is only one vote, and if the majority vote goes the other way, that decision stands. Contrary to what some believe, the school board does not hire and fire school personnel. They must approve new hires and resignations, but the only person the school board truly hires or fires is the superintendent. Their role is governance of the entire system, ensuring that board policies are accurate and legally sound. They are responsible for governing our system to maintain a viable framework. The superintendent is responsible for managing our system in conjunction with other administrators, directors, instructional and support staff.
Looking at it in this way, it’s easy to see why some board members may become disenchanted with their role. If their primary reason for serving on the board was driven by making a major change, they are sometimes frustrated when they realize the limitations of their ability to do so. Often the “ridiculousness” of school management as perceived by the community is clarified by Iowa Code, budgetary constraints, due process rights and federal program regulations. New board members have an intense learning curve and they often express overwhelmed feelings when faced with the strict guidelines of separate school funding sources, the rights of students with disabilities in education or the importance of accurate and timely evaluations based on state standards.
When the reality of school governance is made clear for board members, some tend to fall into one of two equally harmful ways of thinking: not trusting the superintendent and district administration or trusting them too much. Not trusting the people who have dedicated their careers and lives to this work is a mistake. Distrust creates barriers and ensures that micromanagement will be attempted at every level. If school personnel know they are not trusted, they will not take any risks and will spend the majority of their time documenting or trying to prove their worth. Growth is not possible in this paradigm.
However, blind trust is also a misstep. I’ve seen districts in which board meetings are a hollow formality of approving whatever the superintendent proposes on the agenda. There is little or no discussion prior to or during the meeting and questions are summarily dismissed or met with an attitude of “you’re not an educator, so you probably won’t understand.” This abuse of power opens the door to unchecked authority and the inability for authentic reflection. Board members experiencing this dysfunction feel like pawns being played in a game in which they have little ability to change.
Lastly, being an effective school board board member takes time. As a superintendent, I send weekly updates to the board each week. We have formal meetings every month and sometimes two meetings a month. Each of these meetings requires examining board documents prior to the meeting, and sometimes board members call for further clarification. Board meetings can range between 1-3 hours, and during board work sessions, they can go even longer. Of course this doesn’t account for the phone calls, emails and impromptu meetings they have every week with members of the community who frequently reach out asking if they “have a minute.”
For these and many other reasons, Iowa school districts have struggled in getting candidates to run for open seats. At a mid-September meeting of area superintendents, over half of the open board member positions had no one filing papers to announce their candidacy. The due date for filing paperwork was Sept. 18, and while many of those open seats did indeed receive candidates, about 20% remained without a candidate when superintendents met in October.
Thankfully, the Nodaway Valley and CAM Community School Districts had candidate bids both for open positions and for contested positions. This signals that our communities care deeply about our schools and we have people willing to serve. Whether or not you believe the ideal candidate was elected, I urge you to support our incumbent and newly elected school board members. Let them know what you care about and let them know you want to be a part of the positive change. Most of all, thank them for doing what so few are willing to do.