Education Week - December 14, 2022 - 16

How to Recruit and Retain School
Board Members of Color
Pay, staffing, and
support are key
ingredients to persuade
people of color to run
for their local school
board, experts say
By Eesha Pendharkar
Three years ago, Jasmin Shaheed-Young
formed an Indianapolis nonprofit called Rise
Indy that was focused on promoting educational
equity. She knew that having a school
board that looked like the community would
be important to her cause, but there was a lot
of confusion in the community around what
school board members' roles in education are.
Her solution was to start a program called the
Circle City Leaders Program, which recruits
women and people of color to run for school
board. Three years and two school board election
cycles later, all seven of the Indianapolis
Public Schools board members were candidates
supported by Rise Indy. Four are people of color,
and four are women.
" The recruiting work to find school board
member candidates that have community ties,
especially folks of color, is so important, " Shaheed-Young
said. " Because we know the majority
of our urban districts have majority folks
of color, so that their interests are prioritized,
it necessitates folks of color actually sitting in
those school board positions. "
As America's student populations diversify,
school board members often don't reflect the
district's student body. Nearly 90 percent of
school board members are white, according
to a 2020 EdWeek Research Center survey
of board members. Recruiting and retaining
school board members of color is a challenge
for many reasons, including little to no pay; a
lack of background, expertise, and assistance
in policymaking; and increasing scrutiny from
parents and community members of equitable
school policies.
" It's probably one of the most thankless jobs
as elected officials go. And then on top of that,
you really don't get service, you don't get paid
for it, " said Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, the deputy
executive director for the National School
Boards Association.
" Oftentimes, I think school board members
find themselves on an island, feeling alone and
feeling sort of isolated from everything else, "
she continued. " But if we could change some of
those things and put things in place that make it
a little easier to serve, then we would see greater
retention. "
Only 38 percent of current board members
are planning to return amid the politicization of
board races and the national pushback against
inclusive lessons and books on race, racism, and
LGBTQ issues, according to a survey by School
Board Partners, a training and recruitment organization
focused on anti-racist school board
members.
That presents an opportunity to recruit and
retain school board members who represent
America's diversifying student population.
School board members of color are more
likely to focus on anti-racism, according to the
School Board Partners survey, which is an important
consideration for them in recruiting
candidates. But when candidates are considering
running, they need support on a few basic
aspects of coordinating a successful campaign,
Shaheed-Young said.
Candidates need guidance and a support
network to run
The first is information about the systemic
challenges in education, and potential solutions
on how to address its failings, she said.
But candidates also need logistical help, including
for fundraising, communications and
"
We know the majority of our urban districts have
majority folks of color. So that their interests are
prioritized, it necessitates folks of color actually
sitting in those school board positions.
JASMIN SHAHEED-YOUNG
Founder of Rise Indy
media strategy, and how to build a platform
based on issues school board candidates care
about. The organization also helps candidates
manage their campaign and rely on their support
network of family, friends, and coworkers.
" When you have this connection of folks and
network of people that are saying 'Yes, you're
ready, we will support you,' ... it allows for folks
of color to truly believe that they have a possibility
to win and see change on the school board, "
Shaheed-Young said. " And then it removes any
part of the imposter syndrome that comes naturally,
I think, when we talk about communities
that have been marginalized. "
16 | EDUCATION WEEK | December 14, 2022 | www.edweek.org
even the district's parent-teacher organization
for school board recruitment is often effective,
according to McCotter-Jacobs from the NSBA.
Legal groups that offer pro bono services related
to education also are a potential source.
" I think there are different groups like that
that we should tap into. And half of those people
are already advocating, " she said. " They know a
lot about what the needs are around education. "
Current school board members recruiting
new ones is also effective, according to McCotter-Jacobs
and Douglass.
McCotter-Jacobs will often meet with people
who want to serve in the community where
Sometimes, people of color and women have
to be asked multiple times to run to overcome
an underestimation of their own abilities, according
to Carrie Douglass, co-founder of
School Board Partners. Both Douglass and
Ethan Ashley, the other co-founder, are school
board members in addition to running an organization
that provides support to other elected
members across the country.
Recruiting from your own community
networks is important
Relying on groups such as the NAACP, advocacy
organizations for LGBTQ students, and
she worked as a school board member for 10
years, to answer questions and persuade the
right people to run. When she was elected,
Douglass's goal was to have 100 meetings with
people of color in the community, and she met
regularly with anyone who expressed interest
in running.
" I think it's really meaningful when the current
elected officials are asking you personally,
and making you feel like you would be welcomed
and supported and respected on the
board, " Douglass said.
Offering pay or staffing will make school
board members much more likely to stay
People of color, younger people, and working
parents often don't have the time or financial
stability to make running for school board a priority,
Douglass said.
Most school board members currently get
paid less than $10,000 a year to serve, which
means most of them can't make it their only job.
Offering to pay school board members a livable
wage or providing them professional assistance
such as staff members dedicated to education
policy research who they can go to for questions
is crucial in making the elected position more
appealing, Douglass and Ashley said.
Some districts across the country are already
doing this. Los Angeles, for example, pays its
school board members $125,000 per year.
" The idea here is that this is a really big, complicated
job. And either board members need to
be paid so that they can do the job full time or at
least part time and be paid for it, " Douglass said.
School board members of color, or of other
historically marginalized identities also need
community-building support, to not feel isolated
and comfortably be themselves, Ashley
said.
" We often need respite, we need support in
ways that aren't just traditional training, but
rather, real support around self-care, [professional]
development, and practices to bring balance
to our lives, " Ashley said. " Because we are
used to carrying the weight of the country's oppression.
And that is difficult and heavy weight. "
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Education Week - December 14, 2022

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