2010 Washington State School Directors Association Annual Meeting
November 18 – 20, 2010
Spokane Washington
A Summary
By
Kathy White
I was the only member of the Kennewick School Board to attend this event. Dave Bond, KSD Superintendent also attended. Our neighboring districts, Richland and Pasco, each had four members and the superintendent in attendance. The purpose of this meeting is professional development for School Board Directors. People are elected to the school board from all walks of life. To help provide information about current and upcoming trends in education in Washington and nationally, WSSDA provides several opportunities for preparing school board members for decisions they will be making in policy to govern the school district. This meeting is the longest and offers the most diverse presentations. There also are two WSSDA regional presentations which take place during an evening in the nine regions of the state.
The theme for this meeting was Power Up! The opening keynote speaker was Dr. Joe Martin, award winning speaker, author, professor and retention expert. His topic was Motivate to Educate. In this era of data gathering, Dr. Martin spoke of how to motivate students to want to learn. He never mentioned a test score. Story sharing was his method; “you tell me your story and I’ll tell you mine” is how he engages students, or workers, to strive to do their best for a common good. The presentation was most engaging. An attendee stated “It’s good to see the third ‘r, relationship’ back in education.”
Every session I attended provided good information for me to put to use. The one that was the most outstanding is From Beginning to “Ends”: South Kitsap’s Journey to Policy Governance. The school board members committed to improve their governance of the school district and set up a study schedule to get it right. Twice a month there were regular business meetings. Once a month they met in a study session workshops, examining the research about successful board practices. It took a year of study and cooperation to enact policy governance in the district. I was impressed by the dedication and professionalism of all five board members who made the presentation.
Also of interest to me were Social Media: Is it the New Way to Connect with the Community? and Standard 3: Creating District-wide Conditions for Student and Staff Success. As a new “Facebook” member, I need all the information I can get about how to use this new media. The discussion was full of personal mishaps and successes while using Facebook and others. Conclusion: teachers should not ‘friend’ students but set up a ‘wiki’ classroom to communicate. ( to do: I need to find out what a wiki classroom is and how to set it up.) The discussion of Standard 3 of WSSDA’s professional code for school directors was lead by two graduates of “Leadership WSSDA” They presented data on best practices for instructional success and meaningful continuing education for teachers. All of this was accompanied by the audience sharing experiences.
I was so impressed by the last presentation, I spoke to the presenters about joining Leadership WSSDA which I have now done.
Great job, Kathy. This is the kind of thing I want my School Board representatives doing. The majority on the Kennewick Board is so out of touch with professionalism they wouldn’t recognize it in a lineup of one option.
Kathy’s leadership and professionalism have been evident from the beginning of her term. She immediately pointed out that public meetings open with the Pledge of Allegiance and asserted that KSD should adopt that practice. President Adams instituted the practice at that time.
Kathy has been faithful reporting information to the board from her participation in local, regional, state, and national meetings. The fact that she is retired does not excuse the rest of the board – myself included – from participation in professional development and advocacy. As Kathy has pointed out, participation should be as a board, not as individuals.
I share Kathy’s view that as board members we should all be held to the State School Director Association standards of learning, leadership, and advocacy. Kathy’s bid for KSD board presidency was blocked last year in a three-two vote. My bid for legislative representative was also blocked in a three-two vote. I hope the new year brings a philosophical shift to the KSD board of directors. Kathy has demonstrated commitment, energy and leadership capacity. I hope to see her take the gavel as board president in 2011.
2011 offers KSD citizens the opportunity to elect three board members. I urge voters to ask questions of the candidates. Find out what board members do and what they stand for. Listen carefully and hold us accountable. Our kids and our community need responsible leadership from each school director.
Wendy London
Kennewick School Director
Position #5
After Kathy White and Wendy London were elected to the KSD board in November of 2007 they requested board member training for themselves and the sitting board members. Dawn Adams, Lynn Fielding and Dan Mildon declined to participate. After Heather Kintzley replaced Mildon on the board in 2009, White and London renewed their request for professional board training. Again their request was rejected.
It appears that Fielding is content to micro-manage the school district (see posting dated November 3, 2010) with support of cohorts Adams and Kintzley. Professional training would interfere with his personal mission by infusing knowledge of the real purpose of school boards to represent the community and set policy, leaving details to the dedicated administrators and teachers employed to do what they are trained to do.
Regardless of the Tri-City Herald endorsement of Kintzley for the board during the election in 2009, in which the TCH editorial board expressed confidence that Kintzley could think and act independently of her aunt, Adams, my observation is that Adams and Kintzley are united with Fielding on any issue of consequence.
Other observers have noted this board needs help to learn how to properly conduct district business. Fielding has rebuffed London’s offer to join in conflict mediation (see School Board Reports posted October 7 and November 2, 2010).
Apparently Fielding, Adams and Kintzley think they already know all they need to know to best serve our community’s interests.
I commend Dave Bond and Kathy White for moving ahead with training through WSSDA.
Thanks for attending this very important meeting and training, Kathy. You were a leader at Desert Hills Middle School and continue to be one on the school board. I appreciate your desire to improve your knowledge of CORRECT school board behavior/action. Keep up the great work!