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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2003

Climbing the learning curve
Rookie schooled on board service

by David A. Watson

David A. Watson is a member of the Pearland (Texas) ISD Board. This article is reprinted with permission from the June 2002 edition of Texas Lone Star magazine, published by the Texas Association of School Boards. Copyright TASB 2002, all rights reserved.

Since I was a ninth-grader at tiny Neoga, Illinois, High School, when I appealed directly to the school board on an issue that affected me personally, I have held on to the notion of someday serving as a member of a local school board. That dream became reality this past year as I took the leap and was elected to the Pearland ISD Board.

Like most newly hatched politicians, I had big plans to change the world - or at least my children's school district - and the sooner the better. Ironically, the experience has, if anything, changed me much more than the other way around.

Commitment crash course

My first hint that my perceptions about what I might accomplish were inaccurate, however well-studied I considered them to be, came when I spent a tiring 10-hour day being oriented to the job by our district's superintendent.

As she was relatively new to her position and I was her first "orientee" (a.k.a. guinea pig), she wanted to be thorough. In retrospect, two full eight-hour days might not have been unreasonable, given the scope of what she felt I needed to know.

I began the day by driving a school bus (even without the screaming kids, it's a big chore), spoke with all assistant superintendents and department heads (turns out there are many), did lunch duty in one of our junior high cafeterias before I could have lunch, and finished with an extensive tour of our numerous ongoing construction projects. We're a rapidly growing district - more about that later.

My crash course in the extensive time commitment of school board service continued shortly thereafter, as I spent an entire spring Saturday in a workshop that didn't recess for lunch.

Obviously I developed some real food issues early on in my tenure.

First taste of 'feedback'

My introduction to the well-worn maxim that "you can't please all the people all the time" came the very evening I was sworn in as a new member.

Within 10 minutes of realizing my long-time goal of serving on a school board, I cast a vote that has followed me to this day. For some time prior to my joining the board, the possibility of a simplified and more stringent dress code for students had been discussed among the school board and superintendent (both current and previous).

While not always a front-burner issue during the preceding two years, the subject had been debated at length, both publicly and privately.

During the candidate forums leading up to the election, I had unambiguously and emphatically voiced my support for such a move, and when the time came I proudly cast what I naively thought would be a very popular vote in favor of a new dress code.

The backlash was quick and sharp. It did not matter that a large, mostly silent majority of the district's patrons supported our action. I now understand only too well that even the smallest opposition group, if organized, vocal and media-savvy, can make life miserable. For the first time in my life, I came to dread calls from the media. I cringed every time I opened the local paper to the Op/Ed section for fear of what might have been written about my board colleagues or me.

Good with the bad

There are times in life when sticking to one's principles and not taking the easy way out are critically important; this was, I believe, one such instance. Though calm has for the most part returned to the district, I am still confronted regularly in public to respond to "one quick question."

School opened last fall without the mass protests against the dress code we had been warned to expect. Shortly thereafter, the board called a bond election - yet another new, and not altogether warm and fuzzy experience for me. The bond was to finance

the building of three new schools to accommodate the phenomenal growth in our district. It passed by an almost 2-to-1 margin, but not without a concerted effort on the part of the dress code opponents to defeat the issue.

During the current school year, we have also successfully completed a rezoning of attendance areas within the district and weathered an incident where non-students came onto one of our campuses and fired shots (into the air, thankfully).

By the way, these individuals were students in a neighboring district lacking standardized dress; they were easy to spot and apprehend.

There were good times, too: the opening of a state-of-the-art agriculture education facility and new district stadium. With that, I have to mention a 13-1 run by our varsity football team, as well.

A job worth doing

Perhaps my biggest revelation this first year has been simply the size and scope of what goes on in a district of even the relatively moderate size of Pearland ISD - approximately 11,000 students.

It became apparent to me very early in my term that there was no place for parochialism in my approach to board service. I love the campuses my own children have attended, but every child in the district deserves equal consideration, not just mine. All of our 12 campuses need attention, not just the five where my kids have gone.

My payoff for persevering comes in small doses, like just the other day when a neighbor approached me at a community function to say it had meant a great deal to her family that the board had shown the fortitude to stick with its decision to implement a dress code in the face of such withering attacks.

I have also been heartened by the amazing support of my wife and children. Last summer, I reached a low point when I thought perhaps I should simply walk away. After all, I reasoned, I hadn't bargained for the kinds of dehumanizing written and verbal assaults that were being flung at my family and me.

In my weakest moment, when I informed them of what I might wish to do, my two older children chided me for even thinking such thoughts. It was then that I knew beyond doubt that the job was worth doing, since it was clear my children understood just how important it is to cling tightly to one's principles - especially since neither of them was especially keen on the dress code when they first heard about it.

Leaving the comfort zone

For a person who always thought he wanted to be a school board member, and who considered himself pretty much wise in the ways of the world, I can now freely admit that there was a whole lot I did not - and still don't - know about both schools and life.

If you value serenity and a steady, unchanging routine, and if you desire to live in peace and harmony at all times, then I'm not certain I can recommend a school board term to you.

If, on the other hand, your goals include public service, role modeling for your children, and generally leaving your comfort zone to learn and facilitate learning for others, then I can highly recommend this challenge. I know I'm loving it.