What it takes to be a good school board member.
What qualities must a school board member possess? What does the board of education do? The school board:
- Sets the educational tone for the district by passing policies which reflect the immediate and long term needs of the community;
- Must be the eyes and ears for all segments of the community;
- Must set educational policy based upon community input;
- Sets educational policy by deciding how to allocate and spend 80+ million dollars per year;
School board members must be visionary leaders, not followers. School board members must be effective representatives for all the people within the community, not just select groups of choice. Before making decisions, school board members must gather data from many different sources. They must have the skills to look beyond what is presented to them by a single source or by a special interest group. They must be agents of change.
To be an agent of change a Board member must be able and willing to admit that there are problems. A person unwilling to admit that there is a need for change obviously won't be able to make change.
To represent effectively, board members must be willing and able to listen with an open mind to a wide variety of people. A board member who labels others or who makes decisions prior to public input is not open minded and doesn't reflect the interest of the community. Voters need to take a hard look at how board members have acted in the past to determine if they will be effective leaders in the future.
It is important to distinguish between effective leaders and effective managers. Leaders have the ability to identify problems and can provide the vision to solve the problems. Leaders create and explore. They are not afraid to ask questions. Managers follow and implement the leaders' visions. Since managers serve at the pleasure of leaders, managers tend to let everyone know about every completed task, even those accomplished by the group. Some managers try to take credit for the actual vision. True leaders, not just managers, belong on the Board of Education.
Search for true leadership ability among the candidates. Ask which candidates have demonstrated the ability to identify problems and the vision to resolve them. Do the candidate's campaign rhetoric and promises contradict past actions? Does the candidate have the knowledge and skills to solve difficult problems? Does the candidate have the courage to take a stand on hard issues?
Jane Bauer has demonstrated her ability to ask tough questions and to search for the truth. She fought to save school sites and has listened to all segments of the community. Jane Bauer shares the community vision of restored excellence in the Tustin schools. She wants to continue the teaching of strong basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics. She wants to bring innovative, but proven and tested programs, to the district. She would like to explore creative solutions to current problems such as magnet schools, fundamental schools, science schools and achiever's programs. She believes in safe, neighborhood schools. She is ready, willing, and able to serve our community as visionary a leader. She promises to continue to be an agent of change.
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