If you can't take the heat, don't run for school board
There are easier jobs!
Years ago, while I was still in high school and college, I worked in the Statehouse. I don’t talk about this much, but it was formative in my understanding of how the sausage gets made, and just how tough it is to stake out your spot in the legislative whirlwind.
My boss, a state rep, had previously been a school board member and on my first day gave me some sage advice, he told me that if I ever wanted to one day run for office whatever I do don’t run for school board.
The school board environment is not for the faint of heart, it’s tough and complicated by the fact that you are effectively responsible for people’s children for 8 hours a day. This responsibility isn’t for the faint of heart. Parents, educators, and other school board members all want what’s best for the children, and those priorities often overlap. It’s a thankless job with a whole lot on the line.
Enter 21 year-old Brandon Simmons.
Simmons ran for Columbus City School Board, was endorsed by the county Democratic party, and ultimately ran unopposed.
As so often is the case in Franklin County, the endorsed candidate wins. The Franklin County Democratic Party is a machine, with an unbeatable record, and their endorsement is as good as gold.
Simmons captured that gold, and he has a great story to go along with it to boot. He went to Columbus Public Schools, was an advocate for conditions at his school, and is a political science major in college.
That’s the kicker though, as great of a story as it is he would’ve been much better served continuing to advocate for the needs of the students from outside the board.
To the detriment of him, the board, and the students he has done a horrible job. And part of it is, most likely, because he is just too young.
Imposing age restrictions on offices is bad, and not something I’m in favor of, but they do exist for a reason. Politics is cutthroat, school boards are cutthroat, and being on the board of education of the largest school district in the state is not a good first job.
This isn’t age discrimination, it’s the simple reality that the complexities of the board make it a insurmountable challenge for someone who has never held a “real” job to undertake. We all went through it, the rigors and sharp learning curves of our first jobs, hell I still feel like I’m going through it 5 years later.
The difference is the learning curve for my first job (ever so slightly) impacted my companies ability to make money, the learning curve for this job is the wellbeing of 46,000 students.
It’s a disservice to the students, parents, and teachers that the district is headed, in-part, by a 21-year old who doesn’t understand or grasp the seriousness of his job and the complications that come with it.
For those unaware, Simmons prepared a document proposing a response plan to union backlash over school closings. This plan was blatantly anti-union, contained bizarre racial overtones, and resulted in his censure by the rest of the board.
To this day we don’t actually know if it was prepared with other members, as Simmons claims, or alone as the rest of the board claims. Additionally, according to a recent law-firm oversight report it appears that he deleted and failed to disclose public records.
This is not, by any means, acceptable.
What we do know is that Simmons has refused to resign, and continues to interact poorly with the media. During a board meeting to review the recent law-firm report he repeatedly went over to the media table mid-meeting and asked if the media had received his statement. They had, when it was sent.
This isn’t to say that if he had 5 or 10 years of work experience he’d suddenly be great at his job, or things would have gone differently, but that experience and time in the workforce couldn’t possibly hurt anymore.
This school board is too important to waste weeks of work with meetings over one members behavior. This affects everyone, and once again only hurts the students. If you can’t handle the pressure that being a school board member has the best option is to never run in the first place, the second best option is to resign before you have 3 more years of scrutiny and important work that you’ve proven you can’t do.
It’s past time for Simmons to resign, he has a long career ahead of him and maybe he can even run for school board again. But that time isn’t now, it’s time for people to step up for the students, to shut down the mass school closing plan, and to focus on what is best for the students.
I hope this turns into a good-lesson for over optimistic youth. You, and your voice, matter. You should use your voice and actions to the fullest extent, in fact the country needs you to. That doesn’t at the same time mean you need to actually run for office. It’s ok to gain experience and wait. It’s ok to work for, and advise others, who have climbed that mountain and are ready. Public office shouldn’t be a rush, it should be a service, and we should be looking for and endorsing the absolute best candidates for it.
Well there you have it, the glorious return of this newsletter. For those out-of-the-loop I’ve recently moved to southern California from Chicago. As part of that move, I have a lot more free time, and plan to write this more. If you enjoy please subscribe and send it to your friends. It’s free, a passion project, and I always appreciate knowing that I have loyal readers who care enough to open emails with my opinions.