A Little Background

I said I would do this blog, and I promptly fell off the earth. It's not for a lack of stuff to talk about; quite the contrary, I dream about posts, even, I have so much I want to say! Still, I haven't given my best effort to making time to sit down at my desk to write. Here, today, I promise to do better.

And with that, let me get started.

A little background: My local school board is among the few in Alabama that is elected (as opposed to appointed). My specific district had a long-standing incumbent who was great. Well liked, highly regarded, and had her act together. I voted for her. So, while I have long thought I wanted to run for school board, running against her would have been foolish. Fast forward to about six weeks ago, and she has announced her retirement. Local ordinance provides that when a board member can't complete his or her term, the school board is to publicize the position and accept applications from the public. I applied.

It turns out that EIGHT of us applied, which was unprecedented. To help make their decision, and to keep the process as transparent as possible, the school board called a public meeting at which each of the eight candidates would speak. We were each given two minutes to talk, and then the board members asked us questions. (I should say that we were all taken to another room and brought in one at a time, so we could only hear ourselves and the people who spoke after us. It was a pretty fair way to handle things.)

I don't have terribly deep roots in my town -- as with many small towns, there are lots of folks who go back generations. But I have begun to know people, and let me say this: we LOVE our little town. So I attended the meeting not knowing at all what to expect, but realizing that to many people with deep roots, I was probably a wildcard unknown.

I think I handled the interview pretty well. There were a few questions where, looking back, I may have missed the point the interviewers were trying to make, but nonetheless I think I answered everything well. I don't regret anything I said, but in some cases I wish I had said more. I felt good about how I did.

When the interview process was over, the board voted. It took a few rounds to establish a new board member. I did not get even a single vote, but I was not the only one who garnered no votes. I was proud of what I had said, and glad I gave it a shot. Well, when the meeting was over, quite a few complete strangers sought me out to talk with me. They appreciated what I had to say, they were impressed with what I had to say, they regretted that the board hadn't given me a chance. I left the meeting and headed home to my family feeling quite on top of the world. No, I didn't get the board position, but perhaps I had started the ball rolling to get my name out there, and perhaps, to make a difference.

Over the next few posts I am going to address the questions the board asked me, and share my answers with you. I hope they'll give a good insight into how I feel about public education, and what I think we need to do -- and can often do easily -- to right our course here in this country.