This increased commitment can be a blessing and a curse, said Dan White, president of the school board in previous schools in the rescue region. White has sat on the board of directors since the early 1990s and considers last years as the start of a new and heavier era for members of the school board. The districts are overwhelmed by imminent budgeting and endowment challenges, while trying to meet the academic and mental health needs of post-country students.
“There are so many things out of our hands that advice is forced to be reactionary, which makes it difficult to do the regular work of the board of directors,” he said, adding that the personality and partisan conflicts only add to the problem.
Although they often vote against each other, on one point, Rebelein and his colleagues member of the Forest Lake school board, Gail Theisen and Jill Christenson, agree: the school board is more partisan than ever.
“There is no R or D behind your name, but that’s how people see it,” said Christenson. “It may be naive to say when everything is politicized, but it’s not like that.”
Theisen said that she had heard parents who were worried about political debates powered by supporters are an exercise in creating solutions that are looking for problems. This creates a distraction of the real challenges that the district is confronted, she said. Christenson accepted.
“What frustrates me is that we have to come back to what is important-our budget, our hiring and the retention of good teachers, supporting our administration and our staff,” she said. “Instead, we were going to our district with distraction.”