Contemplating a Run ...

by April Lidinsky

Along with over 100 people on Tuesday night, I attended the Chamber of Commerce’s “Community Coalition for School Boards – Candidate Workshop,” held in the Student Activity Center at IU South Bend because of the enormous (pre-registration required) turn-out.

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It was exciting to see who showed up – beyond 4 school board members (only one of whom voted to keep Superintendent Zimmerman). The diversity was heartening to me, really – on a visual scan, it seemed to be folks from a wide range of backgrounds. (The presenters were all white, and almost entirely male – just a reminder of the existing power structure in town. It’s interesting to consider what it would mean for our school board to reflect the rich diversity of South Bend.)

We had thick packets, free refreshments, and a full evening’s program of speakers, whose mission was to help all of us figure out what makes a “great – not a good, but a great” school board member. One speaker, Dr. Stuart Yager, who has experience as a superintendent in more than one state, argued for “a tolerance for ambiguity” – as well as being a person with vision, and being willing to listen. His key point, though, was that “Great school board members Love To Learn.” They are life-long learners who embody excitement about education, and who model it. What a great test for any of us, really, as we think about all the ways we model for children (our own, our nieces and nephews, or the neighbor kids) an excitement about engaging with the world, and stretching ourselves.

There was plenty of nuts-and-bolts advice, too, about how much time it takes to be a school board member (short answer: it’s seasonal, but it can be anywhere from 8 hours a week to much more), what resources it takes (Dr. Bill Hojnacki, former SBSC board member, recommended having friends who are willing to financially support your bid!), and what to read (John Carver and Miriam Mahew Carver’s Reinventing Your Board and the state and national School Board Association websites).

Really, what I came away with was that we have to embody what we hope for our children – and to make good on our beliefs that education is the foundation of democracy.

I hope many folks in that room are up for the challenge. For myself, I need another year or two of attending school board meetings, talking with people about their hopes for the public school system (especially friends who have chosen not to put their kids in the public schools), and test myself to see if I have the “tolerance for ambiguity” and strength it takes to make difficult decisions for the greater good … potentially at the expense of others. In other words, it takes leadership.

I’ll echo Don: “Can we do it?”

We can’t afford not to.