School Board Service: A Personal Journey from Infancy to Veteran Status
By Phil Pritzker
At the beginning of your school board service, whether through election or appointment, there is an incredibly steep learning curve since everything is new. It is normal that when you first begin on your journey, you are mainly concerned and naturally focused on how your own children are being treated and that they are afforded every opportunity available to them to succeed. Your personal village of friends and neighbors are so supportive and rightly proud of you and believe you will make sure that their children similarly receive the same treatment as your children.
There is an entire new alphabet of information with which to become familiar. There is ISBE, OMA, Title 1 and Title 9, and then there are IASB, IASA, IASBO, IPA, NSBA, COSSBA and so on and so on. Indeed there is an entire new language of information to acquire. And quickly you wonder if you will ever be able to capture and retain all the new jargon. And eventually, you will.
During the first four to eight years, you are slowly but most assuredly acquiring the knowledge and vital experience you need through the various professional development opportunities. At the same time you also begin to network and compare experiences on issues with other board members. You join your own board colleagues going to seminars and workshops and get inspired by the variety of speakers and other leaders who express their appreciation for your decision to be of service to the students in your community.
A true highlight of your board service is being able to award your own child with their certificate at their eighth-grade promotion from middle school or their diploma from their high school graduation. This is time for photo ops with family resulting in a well-deserved tear in your eye, if not your child’s eye: they will probably squirm while you hug them in front of the entire assembly. It is a time that underscores, in a very human way, your decision to be of service as a school board member.
Following the heart-warming satisfaction of participating in promotion/graduation ceremonies with the delightful experience of embarrassing your child, the question soon comes as to whether or not it is time to now step aside after your second or third term on the board? Or is it the thought that without your own child in the district, are you feeling a more open and unencumbered ability to truly be objective in all the decisions coming forward? With the knowledge gained from both in-district governance workshops and outside of district seminars and other learning opportunities, do you feel like you can contribute a more thorough and positive stewardship for the district?
Looking ahead and knowing that the district will be facing some tough situations and more complex issues which may be still ahead, more questions begin to emerge for you. Issues like potential boundary changes for your neighborhood schools, changing junior high to a middle school conceptual approach, adding onto buildings for space issues or actually building a new school, going for a tax rate referendum, and selecting a new superintendent to guide the district. Do you now feel a strong gravitational pull to continue your service to help provide a more experienced and valuable contribution to add to these upcoming challenges?
As you decide to continue your service as a very seasoned veteran, are you still feeling relevant for your colleagues and the district? Aside from providing institutional knowledge on the variety of topics along with a definite “big picture” perspective, you also relish the opportunity to mentor the younger members on your board. Are you feeling the pull to continue to provide the special culture and character of the district which you have played a vital role in establishing?
For my journey and in looking back on 36-years of local service, I have found it amazing:
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That time has passed so quickly, going from the newest to the longest-serving member in our District;
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Relishing the number of eager students that have learned and matured during my tenure, and the absolute thrill of shaking the nervous and sweaty hands at promotion ceremonies;
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The incredible talent from the professional teaching, support, and administrative staffs that I have had the absolute privilege and pleasure of working with and getting to know;
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The seemingly insurmountable issues that through respective collaboration with colleagues and staff were addressed in a positive manner;
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The opportunity to learn from over two dozen similar-minded volunteers during my tenure who were all eager to serve the students in our district; and,
The incredible privilege to have been able to also serve the almost 6,000 school board member volunteers from the 849 districts across the state for a decade on the IASB Board of Directors and the opportunity to serve a two-year term as president of IASB and help to underscore the need for local control of public education governance.
In my final reflections on my personal journey, I have just two pieces of advice to offer for board members to consider. The first is to take advantage of all that IASB has to offer for your own personal growth in service and for that of your district. The second is to be open to networking with those members from small or large districts from anywhere in the state of Illinois — we are all dealing with such similar issues and you never know where a golden nugget of information and inspiration may be found.
For me, it has been an incredible 36 years, and I wish school board members old and new from across the state the very best of journeys. <