Throughout 23 years as a school board member, I was involved in bringing about a long list of things that improved and enhanced our district’s efforts to educate young people and support the overall economic health and common-sense development of our community. I’m proud of much of what we accomplished as a board and the legacies it will create for generations of children and their families.
But I’m proudest of a program Sabrina Kapp and I started several years ago called Allies in Education. At the time, Sabrina was Plainfield’s communications director, and she’d take great notes as I rattled off half-baked ideas, then bring me results far beyond what I’d imagined.
Allies is what’s called a patron education program. Patrons are the people in the community served by the district – students, parents, taxpayers, business owners, and more. We established the program to give our patrons a deeper understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in an Indiana school district. Like what it takes to feed more than 5,000 students every day. What a school bus costs and how many miles it racks up before it gets traded in. Exactly where all the money comes from and how it’s used. What’s done when a new student shows up speaking only Yoruba or Nahuatl.
We knew people had many questions, so we’d put them in a room with the people who had the answers. Administrators and classroom educators dispelled common myths or responded to voiced concerns by helping participants see things in a different light. Most class sessions extended well past the scheduled time because the questions kept coming and we wanted to make sure everyone learned what they wanted to know.
One group I hoped Allies would draw was our vocal critics, and I personally encouraged several to sign up for the program. Why? Most parents or community members who were angry about something weren’t working with all the facts. Once people better understand why things are done the way they are, their frustration lessens or disappears. Every time I see someone who was once a detractor posting supportive (and accurate) messages on social media, I know it worked.
In 2023, current board member Danielle Bell and communications director Brooke Orner transformed the Allies concept, turning it into a single-day whirlwind that includes observations in classrooms at different grade levels. Classes fill quickly, but what’s even more gratifying is that other local government bodies have launched similar patron education programs, and school districts in other parts of Indiana are using Allies as a model for their own community education efforts. In addition, most recent candidates for Plainfield’s school board have been through the class, so they had a better sense of what they were in for.
How different would our communities be if more voters, parents, and taxpayers were truly well-informed? If the impact our small group of participants has had on addressing myths and building support is any indication, I’m pretty sure we’d see greater confidence in our local governments and greater pride in the places we live, work, play, and pray.