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Dear Editor:
Congratulations to our four new school board members. The community is glad you are here.
In the recent election, our four new board members earned 57.4 percent of all the votes cast in the four districts combined. This is no small feat. When the district seats were last up before the voters, the board members who were also on this year’s ballot took home fewer than half the votes in their districts combined, so 57 percent of the vote is significant.
It’s been nearly 40 years since a President was elected with a larger percentage of the popular vote – Ronald Reagan in 1984. In the 52 gubernatorial elections in Indiana going back 200 years, there have only been four candidates to do so.
The message is clear. Voters want a school district focused on serving the educational needs of our students. They do not want a district board or administration focused on social or political agendas, special interests or gaslighting.
In the coming months and years, a continual parade of groups is sure to come before this board – or work behind the scenes in efforts to exert influence. Many of them will be pushing agendas that also benefit them financially in some way, be it construction projects, consulting contracts or whatever. What you will typically not see is the parent. Most parents do not dream of spending their day involved in engaging the education bureaucracy to keep it focused and accountable for making sure limited resources are used to deliver a quality education.
You see, in the education of a child, the school has a specific, but limited, role. Parents are in charge of the education of their kids, and it goes well beyond the classroom. Things taught around the dinner table and in the car. Making observations and hearing their thoughts when out and about. Teaching your children through life experiences. Schools are invited to come alongside parents, focusing on core subjects one needs to master. But somewhere along the line many in the education industry – and yes, it is an industry – have come to believe that these roles are reversed, with the parents supposed to come alongside the school in whatever agenda the school sets.
Obviously, many disagree.
As you settle in as new board members, remember that most of the people you hear from will be seeking something that is of benefit … to THEM. Sure, some things will benefit students as well, but student needs can be used as a pseudo-justification for the reallocation of limited resources in ways that just so happen to further the goals of the adults lobbying you.
The community has witnessed what has been occurring in our district these past several years and they have awoken – and spoken. Every district seat on the board has been filled with a newly elected representative. Every district. Thank you for the sacrifices in time, family, and work that you will be putting in, and have already put in, in an effort to give the members of this community a voice. If you see fewer parents at board meetings in the months ahead, do not take it as a lack of interest – take it as a sign of trust. Where the schools do their part, and parents can focus on the remaining part of our children’s educations, the part that takes place outside of school.
I am sure that there will be those who will try to make you believe that you are outliers representing a minority viewpoint. I can assure you that if you stay true to the platform you ran on, you are not. The voters were clear on that.
Shannon Fields
Fishers One
57% of the vote but how many people voted? And were the voters lied to and did they fall prey to fear mongering? There is plenty of data saying that actual parents – who know what is going on in the schools – are happy with their schools.