(This week’s civic education and engagement column from Danville’s The Republican newspaper.)
Tuesday, May 19 marks the beginning of the filing period for people who have decided to run for a seat on their community’s school board. Between then and noon on Thursday, June 18, anyone who wants to serve on the board for one of the county’s six public school districts will need to file to become a candidate. In addition to submitting information about themselves that confirms their eligibility for school board service, they’ll have to provide a formal petition signed by registered voters who live in the district.
(If you’re giving the slightest thought to becoming one of those candidates, start by paying a visit to the county’s Voter Registration office. The friendly folks there manage the election process and are only too happy to help you with all the details. They were never anything but kind about my endless stupid questions.)
I’ve written that serving on a school board is a terrible job, and I’m serious. But it’s an extremely important role that must be performed. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about politics and ideologies. It’s about supporting the health of the community and the quality of life it offers by delivering the best education possible to the community’s children, so they can become productive, self-supporting citizens. That’s what it really comes down to.
Why are you thinking about a run for school board? I’ve noticed that most people who run – but probably shouldn’t – are motivated by one of these things:
You want to change immoral laws. Please don’t run. Local school boards don’t get to make those decisions. The biggest hot-button issue these days is the rights of transgender students, but that ship has already sailed. The federal district court that oversees Indiana and several other states has already said those students have a legal right to bathrooms and locker rooms, and the current Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. If you’re willing to defy laws as a board member, be aware that the likely millions in damages that will be awarded will come out of your pocket and not the school district’s. After all, you’ve sworn an oath to follow all federal and state laws (and that includes court rulings).
You want to fire that idiot superintendent. Please don’t run. I don’t know what they’ve done to make you want to give up hundreds of hours of free time so you could engage in serious discussions about things like warming ovens and waterless urinals. Blame for everything is directed at superintendents, but most of what they do every single day is carry out state and federal laws. Plus, school districts with stable administrative teams tend to be the highest-performing. Districts that grapple with a series of short-term superintendents and principals will never find long-term success.
You hate the federal government (at least the Deep State corner). Please don’t run. I’ve seen several candidates campaign that they’d force the district to turn away federal funds so they would avoid those sneaky hooks that always accompany them. Yeah, like take federal money and now you have to make schools accessible to people in wheelchairs, right? Well no, that’s wrong, and while there are no hooks with the federal money, there are laws. Like laws that say a school district has to provide additional services to children with a variety of needs and Congress will send you some extra money to offset the cost of these required services. If you don’t like that, blame Congress, not your local school district. (Have I mentioned they’re required to follow the laws?)
You say “back in my day.” Please don’t run. Nothing in our daily lives is similar to what it was in Hendricks County in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. If you think today’s schools don’t measure up to what you had – or feature wasteful modern luxuries like air conditioning – do yourself a favor. Call the superintendent, mention what I’m saying here, and ask for a tour of one or more of the schools. Give yourself at least half a day. Prepare to be amazed in good ways.
The high school athletic program is a mess. Please don’t run. I understand you hold the athletic director and the basketball coach responsible for the team’s winless season (but be fair, because the tallest kid is 5’9” and keeps tripping over their own feet). School boards do not have direct authority over athletic programs, nor should they. They assign complete authority to the superintendent, who delegates it to the high school principal, who in turn delegates it to the athletic director. But if your biggest concern about the future of your community’s school district involves athletics, you probably shouldn’t be overseeing how children are educated.
You want to eliminate the litterboxes. Please don’t run. Nobody wants litterboxes in classrooms, which is why there aren’t any in schools. Never happened. If you want to run because something you saw on Facebook or Instagram makes you furious, understand that it probably wasn’t accurate or true. Much of your social media feed is generated to get you riled up so you keep checking it and zillionaires like Mark Zuckerberg can charge more money for all the ads you see.
If I ask you why you’re thinking of running for school board, I hope I’ll hear some things. Like you’ve been involved in your kids’ schools. Maybe ran the Band Boosters or did one of those other exhausting and thankless “volunteer” roles. When you hear about artificial intelligence, your immediate thoughts turn to how it will change the way children learn. You’ve paid attention to your kids’ schoolwork for years, but you’d like to know more about how one grade connects with the next. You don’t gossip, which is important because board members often end up discussing some pretty unpleasant things about people in the community. And most of all, you’re smart enough to recognize you’re never the smartest person in the room. That’s why you listen far more than you speak. Check those boxes and yeah, I’d probably vote for you.