Experience

During the DNEA Forum one of the incumbents made a dig at the challengers (and the question choices of the DNEA, but I want to focus on the criticism of the challengers not the complaints about the forum itself). It was essentially that the incumbents had relevant experience and the challengers didn’t. I would encourage you to go listen to the actual words as delivered for the whole two minutes. Then come back to this blog. It’s here https://derbyks.new.swagit.com/videos/355514  at the timestamp 13:30.

               It’s always fair to bring up experience levels – experience is important! So what is my experience? Well as far as direct experience serving on a board of education the answer is the exact same amount that the current incumbents had when they first ran 4 years ago – none. However that doesn’t say much as any candidate running for the first time because Boards of Education are the most basic level of a government by the people – the qualifications are basic (18 years old, registered voter in the district) because the idea is that BoEs are where the community as a whole interfaced with the school district. As I said in the forum, the Board of Education is representative government in its most basic, purest form.

               Setting aside time spent sitting on the board itself, what is my relevant experience? I served 20 years in the US Air Force. I did many jobs, some more applicable than not. One key job I was the Deputy Mission Support Group Commander at McConnell AFB. That meant I was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the day to day functions of the base – police, fire, phone and internet, human resources functions, facilities and vehicles, education, base housing, environmental control, and all contracting activity. Pretty much everything except the flying and fixing of airplanes and the medical clinic. If you think of an AF base as a small city then the Mission Support Group Commander is the Mayor and the Deputy (me) is the city manager. Not a perfect comparison but it gets to the general idea.

               Also, I did a 3-year tour at the Pentagon where I was the Deputy Division Chief of Force Structure Analysis. I basically ran a team of analysts to determine the best way to structure the Air Force, primarily airplanes, munitions and space forces. I happened to be in this role during “sequester” when Congress mandated an across the board cut to the entire government’s topline budget, including the Department of Defense. This meant I had to recommend what cuts to the force were the best to optimize the Air Force’s overall effectiveness during a budget decline. Not easy! But it meant 2 of the 3 years at the Pentagon were in the pressure cooker of managing a deeply constrained budget, trying to squeeze every penny to get the best use. Sounds like pretty relevant experience to me!

               While there are plenty of other experiences I have had that prepare me to be a board member I’ve gone on long enough but I just want to share the Kansas Association of School Boards list of what makes one qualified to be a board member. When it comes to experience it’s not the time in the seat that matters, it’s the attitude of the person and the time they have spent doing the following. Maybe you disagree, but I like to think my experiences have made me quite qualified in those areas, which are:

• Have a broad background of experience and knowledge and a sincere desire to serve the community;

• Be visionary, able to understand the forces of societal change and plan for the future;

• Be tolerant and without prejudice, respecting diverse points of view; 

• Understand education today is complex and simplistic approaches will not meet today’s challenges; 

• Be willing to invest the time and energy required for meetings, phone calls, conversations, visits to schools, professional development seminars and workshops; 

• Be responsive to human needs of individuals and groups; 

• Be willing to be part of a team, supporting group decisions; 

• Listen for real consensus and not confuse a few vocal constituents with a majority feeling;

• Remember the responsibility is to all the children in the state, not solely to those in the local district; and

• Learn and grow as you become more aware of your responsibilities.