BOARD MEMBERS &

a public conversation
By Fred Baldwin

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Tag Cloud Whell school board members talk aboullhc imporl,IlICC or fCi;ula r pu b-
lic communication. it's telllptin~ \0 recall Mink TW[lin's line aboullhe
Policy Technologv weather - that c\'Cryunc talks lIboul it bulllo OllC does iHlylhing about
Twitter it. That q uip does n"t appJ}' 10 Paul Fisher aud Jim Bul\. Both arc school
School Board BI,gging Govern .." bou rd bl~gers . and their blogs foc us on issues facing their boards.

Taxes Acll
Careers
Etonomics Schnol laws
Community

Su"",
If. for VilriOUS holiday and contractual
reasons, the school year IUns long. do
YOll prefer an eatly start Ilate August) or
a late June ending for Ihe school year?

o I prefer an earty sllIlt ~ate August) Fred Baldwin works ona post lor his ~ 09. School EkJarrJ TrarlSpaf(J(l(;y
o I prerer a late June ef!ding "Ou r llK'Ctings are n ot wcll-atlen d~'(I. Silid Fisher. delted to the North -
o I have no preference western l..chigh school boaru in 2007. 1 wnnt<."tIto oj)Cn up octter lines of
communications wilb community Slakcbol,krs.~ Bun. who ,,"as appoink-.J in
cast my vote 2009 to fill u vucuncy on the l..'hcltcnham Tow nship sdlool boa rd. feft a spc-
duf responsi bility to introduce himself to con st ituents who hal'C not }'Ct secn

JUNE 2010 - !'SIIlo ... 'I .. tl" 29


his name on" ba ll o!. "1 wanll..:110 aL lea SI eonl'''Y some of Lhe
id ells th'" got me through Ihe inter vieW process. - he Mir!.
Thl'n.:s no question that bom"tlmembcr h loggi ng n m
be iI lFoduablecommu n icillio n tool. one that requin:s on ly <I
modest mnou nt of tL'Ch SiJ\' IT. It also raises questio ns. What
arc the gro un d rules? How will other bolird membcn; relict ?
And. "s " n As i;, n Ilr(werb ",,,rns, wililhe n" ill hal sl ieb 0 111
get h .. mmered? ~'ishcr a nd Butt hill"C ",restled with these is-
Sill'S. So hm'l' I. since I'm "Iso a school boa rd bloggcr.
Unless you rl'"d on ly the sports ""gl's ,md PSIlA k-gisl,,-
til'e bulletins. you a lready knoll' that blogs (short for -web
logs- ) arc personal Web P.1g<.'S published as online journals
wi th new f'Ol'ts "d,kd ,,~often as the blogger wi shes. Somc
blogs arc sclf-indull<em rambles about t he bloggcrs' daily
li ves . Olhers arc sclf-ri ghll'ous rants on JXllitiwl iSSUl'<;. SLiIl
ot hers ;IrC inl'ilJu"ble SQurcesof ex rert opini on in licldswherc
c;t; pert iSC is hard to acquire.
I~ec" use blogs nrc inherently recsonal. th e foc us Hnd
style of a ny !;i\"l:n blO!; m"C up to th e blo~r. The th n.:e blO!;s
mcntionL-d hcre arc similar in lIliln}' rcspccts. but ea ch re-
[k c ts the lliffen.: nl go als of t heir Ihree own ers.
risher's b[og is ""Pride und Promisc" ut hllp:lfprideu n-
dpromisc.com. Its focus is o n decisions facing the Nor th-
western Le high school boanl. Ilowe,er. Fisher doem't hL'Si-
late to dig inlo cotnp[c ~ i s.~ " ~ that are la'1(c1)' ol1l ~idc loc~1
con trol. A clellreXa mplc is the ren~ion cris is. I'" ish ers board
....e nt o n th e n.-cord ea rly Wilh a position si lllilnr to Lhnl now
e ndol"Sl.-d by PSBA. "nd Fisherdid ... masterful iobof explai n-
ing t he llllp<,ct of PSEItS on future bud geLs.
!lull's name for h is b[og is " model of simplicily: -/ il11
Buu's Blug" at www. jilll-butt.CO lll. Bu tt COmme nts on Is-
sues. but said so fa r hc's chose n "to foc us o n whm I learn
as a new ~J<l rd member and how the process of b..:coming a
good bom"{1 member emil'l'S." Heexp<.."C LS lhm tochange "s he
acqu irl'S ho,ml cxperiencc. "You can'L a~"Sunw. Ill" emlliOIlS.
""Ihal wlwi }UlI reml " few I1Ion l hs a go is whaL r I hi nk now.-
By ContrllSt. my blog ""Sc hool &",rd Trllnsp~rency" lit
http://schoo[boardLransparency.org is iss ue-ur ic nl<.xl. I ar-
gue for opening up Ihe IlrOCl'<;S of board-u ni on co nLract ne-
gotiations to p ublic scrutiny by promptly publishing the for-
mnl con t ract olfers 01 rl'Cord presenled by ooanl and ullion
negotia tors. [\"C reporl ..~1 o n boanl negoLi;'lio n~ across Ih e
statc. but mention my own board's actil'itics only when
BOARO MEMBERS &
~,
G
'1here's no question that boarrl
t h.:."}' i nl'O[ I'C lran s-
pilrency - for e x-
amp [e. o ur poli cy
member blogging can be a valu-
u n handl ing Opcn able communication tool, one that
Rt"Cords re-
1.il1\'
q uests. Like most
requires onlv a modest amount of
blo):s. Ih is one in - tech savvy."
cludes links to rc-
[at ed si Les like the Nationa[ Ce nter for Ed ucat ion a[ St;llist ics
a nd "The PcnnsylVllll ia Project. " which fculUTl..-s Wikip<..' d i,,-
like art icles on school tinan cc issues.
Fisher. Bu tt ami I each g;n"C our bomd co[Jeagul'<; ml -
l'a nt"C not icc of our plans to blog. We ",,~ ured them I\"C
\\"ou[d r~pcct t h c confid enti il lity of infonmnion Hppropri -
me lor eXl'CuLil'c sess ions. We also promis(:d to make clear
ttHlt we wou[d be ~reilking for ou rse lves ,IOd nOt for o ur re-
spect il"C boards. None of liS has enoolln ter~-d n egativc feed-
ba ck from fellow boanlmem bcrs Of<liSlr ict administrators.
IL no doubt helps Ihat we hap pen to share fI commitme nt 10
c ivil. low-key di,llogue llOd that we tr y hllrd to distin guish
.:Iendy be LI,.,,,, n faCI and opinion .
Fisher tracks his daily online tru Ric. When he publistwd
u [eller b}' the district superintendent reportin g on boilrd-
un ion Lontra L t nl"jlotiaL ions. re",ler ""hilS"" on his b[og sJlikL~[
10 1lI0re Ihnn (,o () - I 0 t ill1c~ his m"CTn gc rm e. (The k ll er hnd
already a ppeared on t hc district's wcbsite. but Fishcr's blug
mmlc il moreH c.:.....'Ssib[e. ) When the [oc,,[ news[li'rer rcpor tl,1
iI IKmrd di scllssion of the potential [imlnci,,[ impact of ren -
sion oblig;lL ions. iI conllnl'lll pos t melll iunL..:1 Fisha's bJOj;
"nalysis. One anonymou s reader. maybe unhappy WiL h Lhe
boord's ~ition durin g con tract negotifllioM t hen in prug-
rc:~;s. opined t hat blogging by a sc hool boll nlmem bcr is inap'
propriaLe - In cffL"C1 arguing Iha LC[L"CIL":! "mela[ s should nOI
usc the rmernct to COllllllun ica te lI'ilh their const iluen\S.
School board bloggers arc mon.: likely to lace ind ilTcr-
e nce Ih" n lIak. !lloggi n g " bOIlI publi c edu cal ion is milch
like cI"Crything llbout school board sen 'ice. HOlol"CI'cr hll rd
you Iry to intcn:s t t he public in the issues school boards
dca l with. Ihe puh[ie show~ almOSl no intcrL'<;t - except nuw
and then. when it shows a lot ofi!.
How hard is braggin g? Fisher is iI Lech-savI'y market-
ing pt"of~sion,,1 ,llId Rull is an engi nL"Cr. fIoLh or Ihem Im-
derstand the tec hni cal tools of onl ine com munication and
JUNE 20'0 I'S!II O" tl .. tl" 31
 BOARO MEMBERS &
~,

lhese things are notfor the laint-hearted. You have to spend

some time. But anyone can do a basic inlormational blog
that expresses their opinion and provides an opportunity
lor public comment."

their blO$(.~ sh(JI.I tlw!. For csm nplc. ~' ishcr makcs neatil'c lISC of
-
eye-catching graphics. including You'lilbc dillS.llull n:gula rly in- ~,d Baldwin
cludes it short issuL'-OricnlL-d user pol! question ~ for cxmnplc. ~[f ca~is~ Alea school director
the school yellr hlls to run long. do you prefer a laIC August start or blog School BoardTrarlSparercy
www,schoolboarmraosparel'lCy.()(Q
iIlaIc June ending for the school y..:arr
I nct:dcd tL~hnical hell' 10 sct up my blog. ami ii's stil l k-ss so-
ph isticaled [h"o the uther 1"'0 IllCn tiorll,1 here. Nc\'Crthcl<.:ss. t he
basics of blogging aTC simple. Bull summed ilUP like this: "These
thinllS arc not for the faint-hearted. You hm'C to s~nd some time.
But anyone ciln do a basic infoOllaliolln[ bJog that expresses their
opinlun imd provi,ks ,In opportunit y for public comment. In "
liule less th;m il ll hour [of setup 1imej, ~'ou c<ln h'lI'e somdhing
meaningful.l'he f,mey felll un.'S arc a little more work."
The hardesl part of blogging isn 'l technical. II's finding lime
t o m<.Jke regular po>;lS - weekly, Iwice a wL,.,k or sOllielimes SCI'eml
days In a row, As all board Illembers know. the Issues ....'C deal Wllh
Hrccomplex. ,md it's not ellsj' to bo il thcl11 down in readable lI'a~, Cheltellham TowlIShip school dllec;l()(
Discipli ne helps. After <I I'ery shur t time, you 'll find Ih,l\ H few eXlm blog . Jim Bun's Blog
hou r s cHeh In;ek is enough for rcgu IHr pnst~, ,md t hal's allowing for www,jimbunrom
facl-dlL'Ck in g and rewriting ml'k \I'<lrd or ill-\empcrL'(lli r sl drafts,
Fisher lind [lut! arc delerm inL'(IIO conl inue Iheir blogs, Although
I\'C had to PUI mine on hold fr olll time 10 time, I revh'C It whenel'er
~ible, It's easier Ih,m writing a letter to Ihe L'(lilor of your local

paper and you sl3y in fuJi conlrol of your message, Whether your
blogging prOdUCL'S uppl"usc. yaw ns or an occasiomd T11splJ.cr ry. it
will comribute to \l'hm[lutt culls u "public cUIll'er S<ltion." '!1

N()(thweslem lehigh school direcll)l'

blog Pride and Promise
www.pr~rtq)romise.rom

JUNE 2010 - I'SIII O ... II .. tl" 33