THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603250043
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
For Kristen Amundson the low point came at church one Sunday.
As the Fairfax County School Board member stood in the line for communion, she was waylaid by a parent arguing the merits of keeping swimming and diving as varsity sports. The topic had been a controversial one in the state's largest school district, but the moment wasn't ripe for conversation.
``I'm trying to approach the throne of grace here,'' Amundson recalls telling the woman. ``This is not the time to talk to me about swim and dive!''
Called late at night, pursued through the mall, required to attend endless meetings, workshops, training sessions and events, this is life on the school board.
Eighty people have filed to run for school boards in four South Hampton Roads cities in May, but except for the incumbents, most probably have little idea of what they are opening themselves up to.
``You cannot overestimate the amount of time it takes,'' said Cass Cannon of the Virginia School Boards Association. ``Going to the grocery store can become a political act depending on whom you run into.''
And, in their response to a painfully critical report by a special grand jury, the majority of the outgoing Virginia Beach School Board offered a more pointed warning:
``All aspiring future school board members should take heed. They should be warned that they are now expected to be hardened skeptics skilled at financial analysis and adept at cross-examining evasive witnesses. They should be warned that they assume their essentially volunteer duties at great risk. That risk includes harsh second-guessing by a secret tribunal, criminal prosecution and public humiliation through attacks on their personal integrity.''
In 1992, Virginia became the last state in the nation to permit elected school boards. That switch has elevated the profile of the position and likely encouraged people who would otherwise not have pursued the post to run for a seat at the board's table.
What they are learning is what veteran board members already knew - that, while the job offers tremendous rewards and opportunities to make a difference, it is also a time hog, a strain on the family and a magnet for controversy. And through all of this, board members must take on the monumental task of shaping a city's children into its leaders.
``I think we all experience the sense of frustration in the magnitude of the job. . . . Is the effort we're making making a difference?'' said Norfolk School Board member Robert F. Williams. ``It's like looking at an ocean and you have a thimble to dip with. Well, even a thimbleful is a thimbleful.''
Board members locally and throughout the state say that 20 to 30 hours of board-related work a week is not unusual. And if an issue is particularly work-intensive or controversial - budget season or a topic related to family life education, for instance - those hours can go even longer.
``If you have something controversial, your phone rings off the hook,'' said Lee Hernquist, a former board member in Suffolk.
Along with regular board meetings and the homework that goes with them, most boards also have several committees on which two or three board members serve. Board members have regular student disciplinary hearings and may represent the district on a variety of panels, committees or advisory groups outside the school system.
And then there are the extra events.
``There's the Teacher of the Year dinner, the retiree dinner, the continuing contract status dinner, there's a PTA dinner at the beginning of the year, the PTA dinner at the end of the year,'' said Williams, who jokes he had to move his School Board files from his home to his office because his wife said ``there wasn't room for both of us.''
Board members are frequently invited to attend events at the schools - a high point of their duties, several said. But that still takes them away from work and family.
Evelyn Hyman, a former Portsmouth School Board member, said she sometimes took unpaid leave from her job as a teacher in Norfolk to attend to board business.
``If you are committed to giving the best that you can for all the boys and girls of the city, it takes a lot of time,'' said Hyman.
Localities can pay board members a stipend. Those in Norfolk and some other areas collect nothing, while payments in some Northern Virginia districts run to $8,000 per year. They also receive some training in the different aspects of the job and are required to take periodic classes once on the board, but no amount of instruction is adequate preparation for the job's impact on their lives, and the lives of their families and friends.
Jacqueline Danzberger, director of governance programs at the Institute for Educational Leadership and a former school board member in Connecticut, said the job would be a shock to anyone.
``These people have no idea what the role is or what they're getting into,'' she said. ``Even those who have gotten to a lot of board meetings, served on committees, have really been involved, are simply overwhelmed.''
Delceno Miles, who is the unopposed candidate for the Blackwater borough seat on the Beach board, said she has concerns about the demands of the job, but she's willing to take it on.
``I think right now the priority is to turn this situation around with the budget and return the focus to children again,'' she said. ``So I'm willing to make that commitment of time.''
For Hyman, the commitment went beyond time.
``You don't have real privacy nor do you have the identity you had before boardsmanship. That's tough,'' she said. ``Once you become a member of the school board, people have a different perception of you.''
John Fahey, who was an outspoken member of the Virginia Beach board for nine years, recalls meetings that began early in the afternoon and went late into the night. And then there were the calls, which his wife would take in his absence. And the people who just showed up on his doorstep.
``Many times it was cold in the winter. We would talk to them, bring them in if we could. Reassure them,'' he said.
``(Being on the board) does mean that the family has to sacrifice a lot,'' Fahey said. ``You have to have a strong spouse. You need the support and someone who can handle the calls and calm people down.''
For the school-age children of board members, mom's or dad's role on the board will affect them - from time missed with a parent, to being treated differently by students or even school staff members.
Amundson recalled the son of one Fairfax County board member who took to wearing a T-shirt that read ``Yes, my mother knows the roof leaks.''
Patricia Wright, a board member for the Waynesboro City School District, said her 7-year-old son grows particularly weary of her duties during busy periods and asks her when she's going to quit.
``If I did not enjoy it, I'd probably become very resentful,'' she said. ``You do have to set priorities because it can get out of control.''
And for those who run with a single objective in mind - fixing that roof, that textbook or that budget - veteran board members have a warning. While there is plenty of room for special training and abilities, the job also needs people who can switch easily from issues related to curriculum to finance to discipline. And no board member accomplishes anything alone.
``You've got to keep the students in focus,'' Hernquist said. ``You can't go in there with your own agenda. You've got to have a majority of votes for what you want to do.''
Clearly, something about the job attracts and holds some people, and it's probably not the harsher aspects of the job. Several board members said it was the chance to help, to give back, to make a difference in a young person's life. And they say it has taught them to value what others have to say.
``People who come to school board meetings, with a few exceptions, are doing it because they genuinely care about kids,'' said Amundson, who now chairs the Fairfax County board. ``Even if their position is dramatically opposed to your own, you have to respect them for their interest and their effort.''
Lula B. Holland, a former Suffolk board member, said she sometimes runs into students who thank her for something she said or did during her tenure that helped them.
Looking at those young people, ``You can say, `I believe I contributed to that,' '' Holland said. ``The difference you can contribute to someone's life makes all the difference in the world.''
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS VIRGINIA by CNB