Michael D. Johnson is executive director emeritus of the Illinois Association of School Boards. This is part five of a five-part series.
Editor’s note: In August 2000, Michael D. Johnson became just the fifth full-time executive director in the 98-year history of the Illinois Association of School Boards. He retired from that role in May 2007 and returned in July 2007 as executive director emeritus to focus on the transition to a new executive and to help with fundraising for the Association. He will relinquish that role and end 12 years of service with IASB in June 2012.
This is the fifth of five articles Johnson will write for The Journal, outlining what he and the Association have done and where he believes both are heading. In this issue, Johnson reviews the transition of executive directors and his personal plans.
What does one do for an encore to a career in public education that began in 1973 and is close to ending 39 years later?
I may be older and maybe a bit slower, but I have definite plans. Those include spending more time with family, especially our two grandchildren (and another on the way), and more time on fundraising and scholarship activities for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
But before I go, I would like to review where we’ve been in my 12-year tenure as executive director and executive director emeritus of the Illinois Association of School Boards, and where I think IASB and public education is heading.
As of July 1, the Association will have a new executive director. But the mission will remain the same: excellence in local school governance in support of quality public education. I know that your new executive director — Roger Eddy — will be committed to serving the Association and its members with that mission firmly in place.
Roger and I have spent the past two months helping him to become better acquainted with IASB board of directors, staff, members, partners and other associations. It’s been a good opportunity for Roger to develop new relationships and to re-affirm those that I can pass on to him.
Fortunately, Roger’s own experience as a superintendent and state lawmaker gives him a tremendous advantage; he knows how things get done and who to go to. And he knows the issues, many of which don’t change much over the years.
But there are some challenges on the horizon that the Association and local school boards face that increase the stakes: education reform, teacher and administrator performance evaluation, pension reform, mandatory training, calls for consolidation, and greater financial pressures as the state continues to withdraw from its commitment to adequately support public education.
These challenges will be demanding. There will be hardships and hurdles. Even the most prudent districts and those with the greatest revenue sources will be pressed. IASB will feel the same pressures; yet it will be ready to serve as more districts turn to the Association for more services to help them contend with these issues.
One of the things that makes IASB so successful and its programs so valuable is that we try very hard to anticipate member needs.
The latest example is our new partnership with Performance Matters. This K-12 data management and assessment service is designed to merge leading and lagging indicators as well as student information systems, so that teaching staff and administrators can quickly and accurately analyze student performance data against state standards in order to differentiate instruction and meet student learning needs.
New education reform measures will impose more accountability requirements on school boards and school districts. Do districts know that they need this service or something like it? Maybe not yet. But we will be ready when they do.
Services like this did not exist or were not needed when I became executive director in August 2000. A lot has happened since — from No Child Left Behind to Senate Bill 7. Our training has evolved too, from a regional delivery model to one that emphasizes local, in-district training, working with whole boards and not just on individual board member skills.
One reason we have been able to keep up with these new demands is the makeup of the IASB staff.
Our professional and support staff have a diverse and broad background. We have educators, principals, superintendents, attorneys, board members and practitioners from other fields, who bring their experience and expertise to the table. In fact, IASB staff is viewed as a national leader, and has worked extensively with 32 other state associations and the National School Boards Association on many projects and initiatives.
The size of the Association staff has nearly doubled in the past 12 years, and I am very proud of the people and programs we have put into place. I also hope that my role as an entrepreneur has helped to make the Association financially fit to develop and deliver the services our members want and need. Without money, good ideas just remain dreams. I’ve always liked to dream big.
I’ve reached the point where I’ve become the unofficial historian for our state school management associations. By preserving that perspective, I believe it has helped to keep the Association relevant in public policy debate. We’ve always strived to balance the political rhetoric with practical hindsight and reliable facts in order to influence outcomes with minimal negative impact on local school districts.
There are many people I should thank for the freedom I enjoyed to do the things I was able to do through the Association: the IASB board of directors and its leadership, my deputy executive director (Mike Bartlett) and administrative assistant (Carla Bolt), our administrative team and our staff.
And most importantly, I need to thank my family. I missed events and people whenever I was away, but I appreciate that the board always gave me the option to put family first whenever the occasion required it.
I look forward to my own retirement and the chance to watch IASB from the sidelines. It’s been a great 12 years. I know the Association is heading toward its next century of service — not with mission accomplished, but with mission clearly defined.
Best wishes to IASB, Roger and to all of you.