What I Learned from Serving on School Board

 

It's been well over a year since I stepped down from the Philadelphia Board of Education and a month since the governing body for the School District of Philadelphia went back up to its full complement of nine members. Been thinking a lot lately about my experience in this service opportunity of a lifetime, so I figured I record a few thoughts about lessons learned - a baker's dozen, to be exact. If this is of help to anyone, I'm glad; and if not at least it's a way to keep tabs for my own look-back.

1. First is the sheer magnitude of the enterprise. $3.5 billion budget. Almost 300 school buildings. 200,000 students. Almost 20,000 employees. It is overwhelming to try to get your head around this scale, let alone set policy and direction and tone for it. It was a constant exercise in operating at an altitude that most of us are unfamiliar with, the metaphorical steering of a giant battleship. Every day was a learning experience for this reason.

2. Then there was the sheer magnitude of time commitment. Meetings, briefings, events, readings, prep. Thursdays often meant leaving work at noon, attending 10+ hours of private and public gatherings, and then coming home to eat and catch up on two-thirds of a work day. Something I learned about myself early was to not sleep in but stay on my usual morning routine, finding that the routine was more important than the lost sleep. I don't know that I would've guessed that I could've survived this technique, but for a season it was the least worst option.

3. More overwhelming than the time and scale of the responsibility was the emotional burden. 200,000 children is a lot to carry in your heart, and sadly far too many are in impossible situations such that we had far more losses than wins. I strove to lean into the heaviness rather than going numb, but doing so in a way that sought to avoid despair and burnout. It was a fine balance that I often did not get right.

4. Given all of these complexities, you learn to identify and cling to a very short list of "north star" priorities. I'm proud of the evolution of our conversation as a board and the structure of our meetings, to organize around a few "goals and guardrails." You still get pulled in 1,001 different directions, but you can connect each of those things to the same handful of objectives in a way that provides clarity to the matter.

5. One manifestation of the above point is that, in a role like this, you are often faced with the easy and popular answer, versus the harder and correct answer that will enrage people. I wasn't always successful at this so perhaps my heart still trails my head. But at the very least I can say I gained a deeper appreciation for having your motives and identity in the right place so that you can make the tough calls even in the face of severe opposition.

6. On a related note to above, there were rarely clear cut choices. Our situation as a district often presented us with impossible choices. You learn to gather the info, weigh the sides, make the call, and live with the consequences. Half or more of those following you will be upset or worse, and more often than not they will be at least partially justified. You still have to step up.

7. I cherish most from this experience that I got to do with amazing human beings who I was privileged to serve with and learn from. No egos, all about what's best for the children and for the district. What deep and rich life stories my fellow board members brought to this sacred task, what amazing lessons and experiences I gained from them.

8. Being a public official was a new and trying experience for me. Most of us navigate the world as private citizens, choosing whether and how to opt into public roles. That anonymity and agency is particularly grounding for introverts like me. Public officials are the opposite: they navigate the world as in the public eye, and have to figure out how to find opportunities to opt out of the limelight. I respect those who are called into this career; for me it was a burden I could only carry for a season, and while I'm glad for the experience, it is not something I can do ongoing.

9. A handful of former board members were active participants in our orientation process. Their past service and honest advice were invaluable to us, as was their willingness to be present with us as we wobbled around on our training wheels. Their willingness and commitment to "pay it forward" compels me to do the same.

10. On one level, school board meetings are the purest form of civic engagement. What issue is more central to our communities than our schools and our children? And what better way to engage than to allow for in-person, real-time open mic opportunities? And yet, while I and my fellow board members tried to lean into the access we sought to provide to folks who wanted to engage on these critical issues, we were reminded that the people who come out to a meeting are just a small subset of the universe we serve, and that we ourselves were not popularly elected. School board meetings may be the purest form of civic engagement, but elections are the purest form of democracy. Our society requires both, and for me it was a learning process to determine how to encourage civic engagement while understanding that the resulting discourse was not necessarily the whole story, which in turn meant leaning even further into figuring out how to make sure we were hearing from multiple voices and particularly those who are otherwise more marginalized and less available. 

11. Picking up on the previous point, I learned to listen carefully to our student representatives, who were dogged in their outreach to their fellow students across the city. We should take seriously when grown-ups come out to school board gatherings to register their opinions under the hot lights of a public meeting, but there's no substitute for the insights, worries, and needs we gleaned from our student representatives reporting back on heart-to-heart conversations they had with a wide range of fellow students. To elaborate, they were relentless in seeking out a wide range of student perspective, including children who might not otherwise speak up or even feel their voice mattered. On complex issues with a lot of opinions and a lot of emotion, being able to hear - indirectly, through our student reps - this kaleidoscope of perspectives was invaluable. I am forever appreciative of the perspective I gained from these reports and from these student leaders.

12. I also learned our local education reporters are second to none. What an amazing beat, transcending so many key issues in our fair city, and the journalists I met along the way handled it with deftness, integrity, and humor.

13. Lastly, this role confirmed for me my default perspective on public service. When you care about things, and are given the opportunity to make a difference on those things, you don't weigh the pros and cons to your career or think through how feasible it is to personally bear the costs of service, you simply step into the opportunity and do your best. This is best done if you understand public service as a season in your life, during which you will find immeasurable gain even while it imposes unbelievable burdens. That was the case for me, and while I'm glad I'm no longer serving, I'm glad I did serve.