The season of pomp and circumstance is upon us again. We duly celebrate the achievements of the students of Bainbridge Island School District, we recognize the dedicated efforts of the district’s faculty and staff, and we express our gratitude for community members’ myriad hours of volunteer service in and generous financial support of schools. In my view, we owe special thanks, particularly this year, to the members of the district’s Board of Directors. In this column, I leverage my perspective as a recent arrival to the island, as a former board member in another state, and as an expert on educational administration to highlight three reasons why special thanks are indicated.
First, directors assume responsibility to oversee the inputs, production processes and outputs of a school district. My use of clinical, economic terms is intentional, for it highlights the wrenching change of perspective that directors typically undergo once in office. Their prior experiences with schools as parents or volunteers afford them little purchase on the complexities of state funding schemes, overlapping bureaucratic regimes, and the full scope of educational challenges facing public schools. In short, directors have to learn a ton in order to fulfill their oversight role.
Second, the time and energy invested in conquering the learning curve naturally heightens one’s sense of efficacy and, often, directors must resist the temptation to meddle in the day-to-day management of the district. It is seldom easy to balance the oversight responsibility with the need to trust the district’s administration to perform its job.
In particular, directors must be simultaneously cautious and confident in the superintendent, the chief executive of the enterprise. This tension was put into high relief last fall when the board of directors was asked to approve the district’s most significant collective bargaining agreement. Although Superintendent Crawford offered only verbal assurance that the agreement was affordable, the directors voted to approve it. At the following meeting, the extent to which the agreement exacerbated the district’s deficit spending was revealed, and I saw one director’s jaw literally drop. The word “blind-sided” was used, with good reason, but the directors’ confidence in the superintendent was not so shaken that they could not rally a budget planning committee to square away the district’s finances, as we should see when the tentative budget is unveiled at the next board meeting.
Third, by setting policy and overseeing its implementation, directors cannot expect to make everyone happy. They risk alienating friends and neighbors, and they may find themselves answering tough questions at the grocery store, on the ferry, in the dentist’s waiting room. Directors face emotional speakers and organized advocacy, but there are always tradeoffs to make. These tradeoffs are more apparent and painful in a climate of falling enrollment and escalating costs.
I have pointed out that service on the Bainbridge Island School District Board requires an appetite for learning and risk. The rewards of such service are primarily intrinsic, but I suggest that community members offer their explicit thanks in two ways. Insist on abundant, high-quality journalism around the many facets of the district, especially financial management. Second, attend the board’s meetings and insist on continuous improvement of meeting processes and the quality of materials prepared and presented by district staff to inform directors as they perform their important service.
Raegen Miller, a former teacher, union president and school board member, holds a doctorate from Harvard University in Education, Planning and Social Policy. As a current National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, he conducts research on teacher quality. His wife, Simone Sangster, formerly served BISD as assistant superintendent for finance and operations.
