Love Thy School Board
Va. Officials Showered With Thanks, but How Much Is Too Much?

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 13, 2006

If 6-year-old Conor Lafferty had his druthers, he would draw helicopters, the Incredible Hulk or any of his multiple versions of a three-eyed, box-headed man. But late last month, the Woodbridge first-grader was assigned to draw a portrait of someone outside his oeuvre: Grant Lattin, a Prince William County School Board member.

"I didn't know what a school board member was," said Conor, who attends Leesylvania Elementary School. "But I thought it was cool."

If he hadn't been drawing a picture of Lattin, Conor said, he would have been studying math or spelling. But this being February, it is the season for school systems to honor their boards with artwork, gift baskets, flowers and plaques. And just in case systems are unsure of how to appreciate their boards, they are given a kit full of promotional tips: a sample certificate, a sample gubernatorial proclamation, sample articles and letters to the editor.

In Virginia, February is School Board Appreciation Month, which should not be confused with National School Board Recognition Month -- in January. That's a lot of appreciation and recognition, say some parents and school officials in the Washington area, many of whom wonder whether the tradition, despite its quaintness, amounts to an unseemly display of public relations.

"I think National School Board Recognition Month ranks up there with National Chocolate Week," said Sally Ann Baynard, an Alexandria School Board member and adjunct international relations professor at Georgetown University. "You're either honored by what you do or you're not."

And yet, school officials across the country are dutifully heaping appreciation upon their board members, who appreciate the appreciation, even if some of them think it can be gratuitous.

In Prince William, students from several schools were asked to draw pictures to be hung in the School Board meeting room. All month, the public can view the board members' portraits, which can only be classified, generously, as a cross between avant-garde and spooky.

Lucy S. Beauchamp, the board chairman, was given a black streak through her blond hair. Don Richardson appears to have a purple goatee with red spots. Betty D. Covington has no hands.

"I am just delighted by the expressions that we've received from teachers, students and parents," said Lattin, a lawyer who has been on the Prince William board for two years. "At the same time, sometimes when too much is made about what we're doing, you have a feeling that it's over the top."

Emboldened by the belief that school board members are an underpaid and tireless class of public servants, many school systems observe these recognition months with an ardent devotion. Advocates say the board members deserve it. Most are paid little to nothing, and, with an endless schedule of receptions and sporting events, they become masters in the art of schlepping, often on nights or weekends.

Typically without advanced degrees in education, school board members are charged with settling a jurisdiction's most contentious issues.

Invariably, no matter whom they pick as superintendent, which programs they add or cut, or which neighborhood they send to the better school, they deal with abundant criticism that often turns nasty.

Thus, there is a School Board Recognition Month offensive, which, depending on the jurisdiction, can get intense.

In Loudoun County, every year a group of elementary school students serenades board members with a musical performance and gives them gifts that they created. (On Tuesday night, students from Sanders Corner Elementary in Ashburn will have the honors at the board's meeting.) In Fairfax County, Superintendent Jack D. Dale gave a small speech praising board members at a recent meeting, and they were scheduled to receive certificates at a work session planned for today.

Two years ago in Ohio, two superintendents, who had each received kits with ideas on how to fete school board members, sent nearly identical letters to their local newspapers, entreating the public to perform many tasks for their board members, such as inviting them out for coffee and writing them thank you notes.

But in the District and Maryland, recognizing board members is viewed as a low priority. "We give it minimal attention. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing," said Carl W. Smith, executive director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education. "We kind of try to focus on the substantive issues."

It is difficult to pinpoint a time when the country's first school district carved out a time period for recognizing its school board. In Virginia, it began in 1989 with a week of appreciation. Apparently, that wasn't appreciative enough, and it was expanded to a month.

"Nowhere in our civics classes as we grow up does it mention that school boards and school districts are governing entities in governing jurisdictions," said Frank E. Barham, executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association. "We're left out of it."

Around 1993, Barham said, a friend of his in the Clinton administration procured a congratulatory letter to Virginia school board members from the president. In 1995, the National School Boards Association caught on and began sponsoring National School Board Recognition Month, and more states followed suit.

In Prince William, parents praised the School Board for helping improve the system's profile in recent years, particularly amid increasingly tough accountability measures, but some remain a bit puzzled. "It's an elected position. Do we have a congressional recognition month?" asked Conor Lafferty's father, John, a Homeland Security Department employee, who nonetheless thought the assignment was harmless.

Recently at Woodbridge Senior High School, freshmen in Alyce Watson's art class settled into their seats. "Attention. . . . We're doing something really special today. This is something I'm calling a 'pride poster,' " she said.

Watson explained that the drawing assignment of the day was to honor the School Board. She pointed out possible captions: "Without you, we never would have made it this far." "There is no 'I' in the word team. Thanks for being part of ours."

"I don't get exactly what we're doing," Racquel Thomas, 15, said to the teacher. " Who are we thanking?"