Spouters, Now’s the Time to File That Petition

Okay, Spouters, this is your big opportunity to shine.
To those who often complain about a board of education now you have the opportunity to grab a petition, get it signed by the sufficient number of people, and file for a place on the April 27 ballot in school board elections.
There is no better place to apply one’s vast storehouse of knowledge about education that we see displayed in Spout Off.
Here is a golden key to seize the educational “bull” by the horns. Kiss that boring life goodbye watching Food Channel shows, and start a campaign to get a no-pay seat on your local board of education.
It certainly helps to have an open mind, but that is not a requirement to seek a seat. What is necessary is possession of an ironclad constitution, and the keen ability to bite one’s tongue at opportune moments.
Once elected, the successful candidate will no longer sit down at the computer keyboard with the same negative brain waves to fire off thoughtless Spout Offs about school boards, teachers, students or anything else education related. The newly sworn candidate-turned-board member will get to attend courses in school budgets, labor negotiations and all manner of paperwork.
If you thought filling out your 1040A Form was a pain, wait until you see what awaits at the board level. But, hey, do not let that dissuade you because you have superior knowledge of what needs to be done to right the numerous ills of Garden State education.
No longer will you read Spout Off in the same uninformed, sarcastic light. In fact, you may even become defensive and scratch you head in wonderment as you read what your former Spouter peers say about you and the job you are trying to do.
I must issue a warning, do not, I repeat, do NOT enter the board races thinking you will vastly change how teachers teach, how students act and react, and what they serve for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria (or whatever they call rooms where pupils chow down their slimmed-down rations of the day).
Be prepared, among all else, once elected as a school board member, to have your telephone rung by unhappy parents. Be strong, it goes with the turf. Never promise anything, because chances are good you will not, single-handedly, be able to deliver on that vow.
Better take a good, hard second look at your appointment calendar, too. School board members don’t just convene monthly, oh no. That is just when they gather to meet the, often irate and passionate, public.
One of the additional things you get to do as a school board member is join a committee. Sorry, if you are like me and loathe all manner of meetings, the better part of your life, it will seem, will be given over to meetings. They are only a few fellow board members, but they take place maybe in the afternoon or the morning. You may consider plans for a new addition, ponder about curriculum (something most Spouters have never done), and become a budget juggler.
Of course, there are staff members and administrators to lend a hand along the way with all this, but I just want you, potential board members, to be aware of what awaits you. Gee, you may be too busy to read Spout Off, much less complain in it.
Many and varied are talents of fellow board members, but do not be surprised to find yourself, after a few years, a committee chair. You will have to sum up the meetings your committee had through the month, and give a verbal report at the monthly board meeting. Don’t be afraid, any Spouter can do it, don’t be scared. Dry mouth goes away after the first few sessions.
I promise you will be changed by your school board service. It is similar to walking through a field of little burrs that stick to pants and socks; you will not emerge from a school board term with the same views as you held when you began.
Armed with an appreciation of what it is like to face angry teachers, bus drivers, principals, parents, students, groundskeepers, janitors and support staff over matters budgetary or educational, it may become ever apparent that it would have been far easier, and much less stressful to remain in that recliner in the living room and dream up nasty Spout Offs about schools and teachers and boards of education whose members “have an agenda.”
You, too, will have an agenda. Yours will be maybe a dozen pages long, and consume an entire evening, 7:30 to 11 or beyond, although most boards call it quits by 11 p.m.
Added to your dossier of a board meeting evening may be lawsuits brief dealing in untold amounts of money being sought from taxpayers over some wrong, real or imagined. You will be admonished not to talk with anyone, specifically the media, about any of those legal battlegrounds.
You may be called to weigh in on an individual education plan for a disabled student that will cost $95,000 a year or more. It will become painfully evident; you and your board peers’ hands are really tied, since there is not much you can do to protest such a plan, expensive though it may be.
Do not let this opportunity pass. Golden chances such as this roll around once a year. This is a prime example of what good people, like you, can do, when they decide to quit complaining in Spout Off, and decide to make a difference in the lives of the next generation.
For a School Board Candidate Kit go to www.njsba.org for information.