Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com
It’s 9:45 p.m. and we’re on item 3 of the agenda, with 12 more to go. Three board members are in a verbal brawl with two parents that would make the World Wrestling Federation blush. So far, it’s more like a colonoscopy without sedation than a school board meeting.
A person willing to serve in the hardest unpaid job is a hero. He/she stepped up when others stepped back.
Iowans elected lots of new school board members last week. I’ve worked with many boards over my 38 years in education, so I’ve experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here are a few suggestions for avoiding the ugly.
SETTING THE TONE
Every job has a learning curve. Frequently Mom reminded me, “You have one mouth, and two ears use them in that proportion.” Learn from each other, and from the school community, by listening and visiting schools.
Board members aren’t managers. Adults can’t be managed. They can be led. Set a leadership tone that expects your administrators to lead, not manage.
A lot of people call a school board a “policy board.” The board determines policy, and the administration implements that policy. But a school board does more than churn out policies. School boards are “leadership boards.”
That means understanding how to disagree in public without being disagreeable. Disagreement can’t be laced with insults. Insults don’t win arguments. Bullying creates division and chaos. You are the role models for how employees of the district should behave when disagreeing. Also, practice sincerely apologizing for mistakes.
Set a listening tone. Listening to only one group isn’t a great idea. If you do that, you see the school through only one lens. You need to see the whole school picture, which requires listening to all voices in the district. For example, if you want to understand what’s happening in the classrooms, visit with teachers. The tendency is to only listen to administration because it’s easiest. Easy isn’t best.
THE COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT
How should you handle complaints? First, parents are not the customers of the school district. If you treat them like customers, they’re always right. They’re not. Parents are partners. Treat them like that.
Ask any person complaining if they’ve talked to the one they are complaining about. That needs to happen first. You may need to let the complainant vent. I’ve found that some people just want to be heard. Once heard, they drop the complaint. School employee complaints should be handled at the building level if possible.
Also, the idea that parents should oversee school curriculum, books, and rules is a recent political scheme to set public schools up as a political wedge issue. If you buy into this, which parents should be in charge? The goal of any public school isn’t to teach what parents want their children to learn. It’s to teach what society needs and what helps students be productive citizens.
DO PUBLIC BUSINESS IN PUBLIC
School boards sometimes want to tackle controversial topics behind closed doors and then come out in public and pretend to discuss what’s already decided. Unless you’re Academy Award winning actors, the public won’t be fooled. Also, don’t arrange the agenda so the controversial topics are the last item, in the hope that the audience will go home. They won’t.
Yes, personnel issues need to be discussed in executive session. But leadership means doing difficult things in public.
BE A LOBBYIST
No matter what your political affiliation, board members need to advocate for increased funding and for other improvements to help public schools survive and thrive.
It’s a fresh start. Congratulations to board members as they lead and protect the public school, a community treasure.