It’s a thankless job, so thank them

2 comments March 19th, 2009

You can’t win if you’re a member of a school board. No matter what you do, you’re probably going to displease someone. The job requires long hours, dedication and a thick skin. School board members are scrutinized as much, if not more, than any elected position and they do it without compensation. I’m sure you could name a dozen or so elected positions that require less effort and get more pay than a school board member.

And I’m sure many of you could name the seven members of the Rockford School Board before you could name seven aldermen.

Nancy Kalchbrenner and Mike Williams decided not to run for re-election this year. You may not have agreed with what they did in the years they were on the Rockford board, but you should appreciate the effort they and the other members of the board have put in.

Harmon Mitchell, who was appointed to the school board in 2007, said at the Chamber of Commerce candidates’ forum that being on the board was the most time consuming thing he had ever been involved in. He went on to say he didn’t know how anyone with a wife and kids could devote the time needed to do the job.

Many family folks have, which is even more reason to thank a school board member for the work they’ve done.