New Medford School Board members Michelle Atkinson and Michael Williams (right) discuss what students need to succeed with Medford Superintendent Bret Champion on Friday at the OSBA Summer Board Preconference in Salem. Atkinson and Williams said the preconference and conference served up deep conversations and important learning. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Seth von Borstel had to wake up at 3:15 a.m. Friday, Aug. 11, to get to the OSBA Summer Board preconference on time from Moro. He said it was worth it.
Like a lot of attendees at the Salem event, the Sherman County School Board member is new to the role and doesn’t know a lot about the nuts and bolts of being a school board member. He said he came to learn from the experts.
“This is the cheapest way to make sure my first year is not out of control,” von Borstel said.
OSBA moved its annual Summer Board Conference this year from Bend to the Salem Convention Center. More than 300 people registered for the weekend events, the best attended Summer Board Conference in at least a decade, according to Steve Kelley, OSBA Board Development director. Roughly two-thirds of attendees went to the preconference, another attendance record.
The preconference crowd earned the OSBA Leadership Institute bronze board member certificate for attending the day’s sessions. OSBA awards different levels of certificates for completing courses on subjects such as ethics, labor relations and school finance.
The conference, on Saturday and Sunday, offered school board members a range of workshop opportunities, from building board culture and relationships with superintendents to the technical aspects of ethics and public meetings.
Steve Hammerson and Andrea Miner, newly elected Roseburg School Board members, were soaking it up.
“When you first jump in the water, you want to be prepared,” Hammerson said.
Hammerson said the discussions and sessions gave him a glimpse of school board situations he couldn’t possibly have foreseen. Miner was particularly interested in public meeting laws.
“To be more effective, I need to know the playing field and how to play the game,” Miner said.
Roseburg Superintendent Jared Cordon attended as well. He said the OSBA training helps “make sure technical things don’t slow us down.”
The conference also offered a chance to network. School board members could get to know their colleagues better as well as meet school board members, board secretaries and superintendents from around the state. Throughout the weekend, animated discussions sprang up during workshops, in the hallways between sessions and over meals and snacks.
Keynote speaker John Hodge, president and co-founder of Urban Learning and Leadership Center, fueled some of those conversations. The organization is focused on student achievement and reduction of the achievement gap.
Hodge shared the power of one caring adult to change the trajectory of a child’s life. He said poverty need not be a barrier to success if a child meets the right adult.
OSBA’s priority is helping school board members be more effective for students, which extends to supporting people who work with school boards.
Lauree Nelzen became the Molalla River School Board secretary in January. She attended the conference with some of her board members to learn more about public meetings, executive sessions and policy implementation.
“I worked in a district long enough to know I only knew half of what a board secretary does,” she said.
The sessions had plenty for veteran board members too, according to Susan Wagner, who has been a Vernonia School Board member for 10 years. She said she always brings a lot of ideas back to share with her board and superintendent.
At least half of Oregon’s 197 school districts were represented, with about a fifth of Oregon’s superintendents signed up. Some of the superintendents were new to their roles too.
Salem-Keizer Superintendent Andrea Castañeda, who started last month, said the conference was a golden opportunity to strengthen bonds for the challenging work ahead.
“The gift of this time is a chance to build relationships,” she said. – Jake Arnold, OSBA
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