NSBA President: The next step: Collaboration with all stakeholders

By George H. McShan

04/13/04 -- The 64th annual conference of NSBA in Orlando, Fla., was one of the most balanced and substantive in the history of public education.

As president of NSBA, I am humbled, grateful, and encouraged by the positive support that school board members and educators throughout the nation showed at the Delegate Assembly and at the Fourth General Session, when I delivered my message and vision for 2004-05.

As I reflect on the challenges and opportunities that shape the future of public education, I am reminded that in America one can fulfill his or her lofty dreams, no matter the background, the socioeconomic status, the personal creed, or the color of one's skin.

That is the promise of the U.S. Constitution, and it was the promise of the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education a half-century ago.

I wrote about my experiences growing up in the segregated South in an article published by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

I remember asking my parents why we had to go to different schools and use hand-me-down textbooks. They told me the important thing was to get the best education possible and do the best I could in whatever I did.

More than 10 years after the Brown ruling, I graduated from the all-black Washington High School in Elgin, Texas.

It seems somehow fitting that in this year, the 50th anniversary of Brown, I will be one of the leaders to help fulfill the promise of Brown.

During the past year, Immediate Past President Carol C. Brown focused on community engagement. It is clear to me that the next logical step for success in sharing the future of public education in America is collaboration.

From engagement to collaboration

Collaboration will be the focus of my presidency. I am convinced that the shaping of America's future through our public education system will require collaborative initiatives more broad and comprehensive in scope than anything we have attempted in the past.

This year's annual conference was a snapshot of what to expect in the future under my leadership. It was good to have, among the keynote speakers, first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of Education Rod Paige representing the public sector.

Author Jim Collins from the business sector added immeasurable value to the conference as did political writer and analyst Juan Williams of National Public Radio.

During the coming year, NSBA will continue to work collaboratively with the White House and the U.S. Department of Education. We will strengthen existing partnerships and create new ones with parents, teachers, administrators, legislators, and business and community leaders.

In the private sector, we plan to work collaboratively with Collins, who wrote the bestsellers Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't. Establishing a collaborative relationship with Collins will serve as a blueprint for data-gathering research models that work effectively in the public and private sectors.

NSBA will use the newly created Center for Public Education as a research nerve center and decision-making resource for policymakers and elected officials.

This will be a high-profile, high-stakes initiative, as the future of America is dependent on how well we educate and prepare our students to compete in the global economy.

Working for the greater good

In order for public education to be valued and invested in by the public, it is critical for all stakeholders to embrace and support the greater good. Don't you agree that there is no greater good than the investment in America's most precious and priceless resource -- our children?

True collaboration creates mutual ownership of the problem, as well as the solution. It is our challenge to reach every child.

The education community must do a better job of accommodating students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those with special needs.

But it is just as important to reach the middle-class students -- those who are just getting by -- and the high-achieving students who could reach as far as you would let them, if only there were something to reach for.

We must ensure that, indeed, no child is left behind. They all must be challenged, excited, and instilled with the burning desire to be lifelong learners.

It is my goal to encourage fruitful collaboration among our Federation Members and NSBA's five national regions. We will engage in a grassroots network of local school board members, and we will look at best practices in each region and hold them up as models to emulate. Our strength as an association is in local school board members and state association leaders.

Individually and collectively, it is in our power to bring members of the greater community to the table to assist in formulating a vision for the successful education of every child in every classroom, every school, every district, and every state.

Throughout my life I have dealt with challenges, including fulfilling the promise of Brown v. Board of Education, and have sought opportunities for collaboration. I have striven to form bonds of trust and goodwill that transcend the barriers that so often cause us to fail.

That is the task before us now: to strive to forge those coalitions of trust, to collaborate for the greater good, and to create partnerships and alliances that are systemic and sustained.

Let's make it our business to see that ordinary citizens, including those who do not have children enrolled in our public schools, and members of the business community value and support public education for the sake of this great democracy.