According to our most recent employee census, we have 134 people employed by the district. This includes teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, coaches; anyone who earns a paycheck from the school district. Now to clarify not all of these are full time employees. Many of our coaches are part-time employees who have a passion for a certain sport or activity. At the same time this census doesn't include the folks who mow the grass, maintain clear sidewalks in the winter, or show up in the middle of the night when the boiler alarm goes off. Nonetheless, if you add it all up it is a pretty impressive number of people who are employed in some fashion by the school district.
It takes a lot of people to make sure this pirate ship is properly trimmed and navigating a true course! But the number of employees alluded to in the paragraph preceding does not tell the whole story! The fact is, if we had to rely only on our employees we would often come up well short of completing our mission. Perhaps our pirate ship would run aground!
That's why we rely on the strength and volume of volunteers to help us out. Many of our volunteer opportunities are visible, active and provide our community with a great deal of satisfaction for their service. Some of these groups include our music boosters, athletic boosters, and the parent teacher organization. The work they do in our schools is incredibly important and frankly without them a lot of projects wouldn't be completed, or in some cases wouldn't even be contemplated. These groups often will develop a vision, a plan to bring that vision to reality, and then are able to execute their plan.
We also have special events where a group of volunteers is necessary to ensure the event goes off without a hitch. The one that comes to mind for me is our track meets. Hudson is known for the fact that we put on a well run and efficient track meet. While this success starts with the meet manager and our professional staff, the execution is all in the number and quality of volunteers. The number of volunteers needed to execute a meet is somewhere north of 60 people! I often cringe when I hear hat one of our track teams returns home from a track meet [somewhere] and it is after 11:00 p.m. on a school night. Ironically enough, I did hear a bit of feedback this year that some of our track meets seemed to go too fast!
All of these different groups of volunteers and individuals who always answer the phone when we call for help are so important to the work we do. The sum total of our employees, students, volunteers, and parents really are what make this the Hudson Community School District. However, there is one group of people who are equally important that are typically not viewed as volunteers. I am talking about your school board. I think school board members are not usually looked at as volunteers because they are democratically elected. Or perhaps the work they do, although done in the public eye just kind of happens and isn't given much thought. Or the work they do is sometimes viewed as unpopular.
The fact is, a duly elected member of a school board is the only democratically elected office in the State of Iowa that comes with no pay. By definition that would make them volunteers. From the point of view of a casual observer, service on the school board probably doesn't appear to be very glamorous. Truthfully it is not. I liken the work of the school board to an iceberg. What you see on the surface is deceiving and fails to capture the breadth, scope, or IMPACT of this important work.
Indeed the work of your school board is done in the public. But to assume a board members work only consists of the hour and a half to two hours spent at a meeting once a month is only viewing the tip of the iceberg. I am uncertain how much time it takes to prepare for a meeting, but to give you an idea of what that looks like, our next board meeting is what I would consider to be routine. The packet of material board members must be prepared to discuss includes 46 exhibits. Many of those exhibits are multiple pages. And the decisions of the board--well those are far reaching and can have implications that are felt years, even decades beyond their current term of service. Consider for example the work being done in Phase III of the elementary renovation project. The beneficiaries of this renovation very well could be felt by our current students' children: or your grandchildren. This work would not have happened without the thoughtful deliberation, planning, and action of the board.
While the school board relies on the advice and counsel of professional staff hired to manage the school district on behalf of the community, the overall responsibility of governing the school corporation rests solely with them. This entails overseeing the fiduciary duties that come with an annual budget in excess of $13 million. At times their work requires the deliberation and execution of difficult and unpopular decisions. Employee discipline and dismissal. Staff reduction. Delaying a hiring decision. These decisions made all the more painful because of the impact they have on their next door neighbor, friend, or even family member. Yes, your volunteer school board does their work in the public eye and from time to time they do hear from the public. Particularly when the decision made is in conflict with the wishes of constituents.
When a board member concludes their service to the district, I invite them to reflect on their service and consider what decisions they have made over their tenure they are most proud of. More times than not, they comment on the fact they were just happy to serve their community. They didn't choose this work for the paycheck, the accolades, or the phone calls from unhappy constituents. They did so because they wanted to contribute to their community and to their school. They want your children, their children, and our children to have an outstanding education here in the Hudson Community School District.
May is school board recognition month. When you see your school board members in the community, please thank them for their service.
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