Board Intentions? It's About Issues, Not Personal Agendas

Since I’m running with somewhat late notice as a write in candidate, I didn’t get the chance to partake in the public forum that the Johnston Education Association (JEA) hosted a couple weeks back. Since I feel it’s important that all voters see all opinions, I thought I would take the next few days to answer some of the questions that the JEA asked to the 3 ballot nominees.

JEA Question #4 – It is our expectation that school board member’s intentions be based on isues, not personal agendas. Given that statement, what type of working relationship should board members have with each other and how does this relationship affect the Board’s abilty to operate effectively?

My Response:
This is great, because this falls in line with one of my top 3 goals. I want to be a catalyst for effective and efficient teamwork by the board. Effective teamwork involves a number of things, but most importantly it involves active listening, open and effective debate, and consensus. Everyone is going to have different opinions and views on different policies, curriculum, what have you. We all have different personalities and a different set of values. We won’t agree on everything, but it’s the board’s duty to debate everything and come to a consensus on what they feel will better our school district.

The goal of the board should be to embrace the issues presented and be willing to openly debate those issues, knowing to stay away from personal attacks. True teams can do this. They can have an intense debate, come to a decision, and walk out of the board room as friends or colleagues, knowing that their decision is going to better our school district.

The working relationship of the board members should be built on respect: respect for each other, respect for the students, staff, and parents, respect for the community, and respect for the issues. Human nature is that of selfishness. We are designed to be somewhat selfish by nature and therefore some people will come with personal agendas. With that said, though, a board built on respect realizes this and works hard to keep it out of the agenda. Pushing personal agendas does not show respect for the rest of the team. The school board is voted on by the community members, and therefore needs to respect the ideas of the community members by listening and acting on the issues at hand and not getting caught up in personal agendas. This “true teamwork” approach will make an effective board.