Political Influence and Governance:  Introducing Board Members to Metro South Adult Basic Education

The Opportunity:  In November of 2013, four new school board members were elected in Bloomington.  Three were new to the role and one had previously served for an extended period of time (Jim Sorum).  Jim reached out to Metro South's Director, asking if he could bring the new board members to see Metro South.  This was an excellent opportunity for us to share our programs with the Board.

My Role:  Our Director was unable to attend and I was asked to conduct the first tour.  We had very little notice of the visit--at 7:30 AM I was asked to host, with the tour beginning at 9:30 AM.  I contacted a handful of teachers to let them know that we would be visiting their classrooms.  I particularly wanted to share our Chromebook pilot program social studies classroom and one of our ESL classrooms to the new board members.

Jim Sorum and Tom Bennett spent over an hour with me, visiting classrooms, hearing about our different programs, and learning about the students we serve.  Both were quite impressed with our programs.  A highlight for both of them was seeing our Chromebook classroom.  It was the first time they had observed what a Next Technologies for Learning classroom looked like in practice.  They were impressed with our progress and the enthusiasm of the students.

Jim was so pleased with the tour that he arranged for each school board member to come visit us.  Jim actually attended most of the tours, which we did individually with the board members.  I led most of the tours over the next month, joining our Director on two of them.

What I Learned:  Sharing the good work that happens in our programs is a part of leadership.  Creating opportunities for board members to learn about and experience our programs in person is more effective than presentations at board meetings.  It's a chance to help board members to better understand the often-unnoticed population that adult basic education serves.

I believe the relationships and knowledge of our CE programs helps board members when they must make policy decisions about community ed.  It leads to both better questions and better answers, along with better outcomes for our students.

There is also an outreach and marketing component to our board members being familiar with our programs.  When they interact with their constituents, board members are better positioned to answer questions, assist residents, and raise awareness of our programs in the community.

Lastly, the short-notice nature of the first tour reinforced a belief I already held.  A program should have marketing materials at the ready and leadership should always be ready to speak about their programs.  We were able to provide each school board member with a photo book highlighting our school and students, a Metro South Profile sheet with statistics about our school and our academic success, and a collection of "swag" including pens, Post-It notes, and other items bearing our name and logos.

This type of preparedness came in handy during the summer of 2016, when Bloomington City Council member Jon Oleson dropped by unannounced and wondered what it was that we do!

Board members attending the Metro South ABE graduation ceremony.  June 12th, 2014.