Beckman Offers Advice to New District 99 President

First, I want to congratulate Mike, Keith and Nancy on their election to the board.

Thanks to Nancy and Terry for nominating me to continue as president. I appreciate their confidence in me. I agree with them we needed continuity of leadership at a time of so much turnover on the board.

However, the majority has spoken. Congratulations to Bill White on his election to the presidency.

I want to assure our colleagues that, while the vote for Bill was not unanimous, I am ready to support him. However, I have some advice for Bill—please talk to all of us—engage in a two-way dialogue. I haven't seen that effort in the past year or even the last few weeks. As president of a divided board, you must reach out to bring all of us together. I will do everything I can to assure a smooth transition, but it's definitely a two-way street.

A little advice to our new members—be prepared for a long learning curve—school governance is very complex and fraught with negative consequences if we stray from the School Code and board policy. Ask questions to be sure you understand what and what not to do. In addition, get all the training you can from the (Illinois Association of School Boards)—their seminars and conferences cover everything you will need to know. Take their advice to stay on the balcony of policy and big picture decisions. Let the staff be down on the dance floor in the midst of the details of how things should work. That's why we hire the best. We need to stay out of their way. No micro managing!

In is now time to build the trust which was lacking in the campaign and in the past year. I was saddened when unfair and groundless charges were made against the board by those who did not know the whole story and were consumed with the own narrow agendas. It is my fervent hope that all of us around this table can put all that negativity and those personal issues behind us—I'll look to our new president for leadership—it's a large part of the job, but we all have to make the effort. That's what we were elected to do.

Our mission as a board has not changed with new faces. We must continue to put students first, providing them with the best resources and support which the district can afford. We also owe it to our community and taxpayers to be good stewards of their precious dollars and to show them that, while we may not agree on all issues and may not even like each other, we will work together with mutual respect to reach consensus on the truly important issues confronting us—that once a vote is taken, every board member will support the decision whether or not he or she voted for it. That's the tradition of this board which I feel confident we will continue. I personally pledge to do so.

To do any less would damage the confidence and strong support which our community has for this district and could impair our performance on the huge tasks ahead of us.

Now let's get to work!