Ever wondered about the driving forces shaping the education your children receive? Join us as Sherri Story, the fervent chairman and executive director of the School Board Member Alliance of Virginia, takes us behind the curtain of school board operations. Our riveting conversation navigates the terrain of student safety, academic success, and the underestimated power wielded by school boards. As we follow Sherri's transition from classroom teacher to a trailblazer in conservative education advocacy, we uncover the pressing need for diverse training among school board members, particularly in the aftermath of COVID-19's impact on our education systems.
School board members are the unsung heroes in the quest for high-quality public schooling, yet they often enter the battlefield without the full armor of knowledge regarding their roles. We address the headwinds of resistance they face from superintendents and legal challenges, and how the School Board Member Alliance is championing the cause for enhanced oversight and accountability within Virginia's schools.
For those impassioned to make a difference in education, this episode is a treasure trove of insights. We equip potential school board candidates with the tools and mindset needed to embark on this significant journey. For our audience beyond Virginia's borders, we pave the way to connect with organizations sharing the same fervor for academic excellence and teacher empowerment. Amidst our exploration of education advocacy, we also reveal how to subtly champion conservative principles through merchandise that resonates with common-sense values in education, fostering a community of support in the process.
Links:
mysbma.org
Email Sherri: sstory@mysbma.org
Visit The Conservative Classroom Bookstore!
TCC is THE podcast for conservative teachers, parents, and patriots who believe in free speech, traditional values, and education without indoctrination.
The views and opinions expressed by me are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any employer, school, or school district I have worked with in the past or present.
Thanks for listening to The Conservative Classroom.
Teaching the truth. Preserving our values.
Click here to become a monthly subscriber.
Click here to sponsor an episode or make a one-time donation.
Visit us at www.TheConservativeClassroom.com
Check out our merch store here!
Follow us on Twitter @ConservClassPod
Like our Facebook page The Conservative Classroom
Or Email us at TheConservativeClassroom@gmail.com
Music by audionautix.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mr. Webb (00:00):
Have you ever considered the impact of school
board decisions on studentsafety and academic success?
What are some of the uniquechallenges that school boards
face today and what is a schoolboard member alliance?
Welcome to The ConservativeClassroom, where we're teaching
(00:23):
the truth and preserving ourvalues.
I'm your host, Mr.
Webb, and I'm glad you're here.
This podcast is a haven forconservative educators, parents
and patriots like you, whobelieve in the importance of
free speech, traditional valuesand education without
indoctrination.
(00:43):
Each week, we dive into issuesthat are plaguing our education
system and keeping you up atnight.
In each episode, we offercommon sense ideas to improve
education in our classrooms andcommunities.
You may feel like you're thelast conservative educator or
parent, but I want you to knowthat you are not alone.
(01:05):
By the way, if you like whatyou hear today, please share
this podcast with a like-mindededucator, parent or patriot.
Together, we can teach thetruth and preserve our values.
In today's episode, we welcomea former educator and school
board member who started aconservative school board
(01:25):
association or school boardmember alliance.
Now let's get started.
I'm excited to welcome aspecial guest to the
conservative classroom SherriStory.
Sherri is chairman andexecutive director of the School
Board Member Alliance ofVirginia.
She is herself a former schoolboard member and advocate for
(01:48):
excellence in education.
Sherry, thank you for joiningus.
Sherri Story (01:52):
Thank you so much, Joey.
I really appreciate this timeand ability to communicate with
all your podcast listeners.
Mr. Webb (02:00):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Ted Lamb, a mutual friend ofours, suggested that I have you
on the podcast, so anyone thatTed suggests is okay in my book.
Sherri Story (02:14):
Oh, that's great.
Well, ted and I are goodfriends and I really appreciate
him connecting us.
Mr. Webb (02:20):
Sherry, can you tell us a little about yourself, your
background?
What led you to starting theSchool Board Member Alliance?
Sherri Story (02:29):
Yes, I was a public school teacher for 20
years, or about 22 actually.
My first 10 years were inWisconsin and then took time off
, did some raising children andfamily, did some raising
children and family, and thencame back and spent another 12
years in Suffolk, virginia, as abiology teacher.
(02:59):
And then I decided to.
I was frustrated with the lackof funding to classrooms and I
decided the only way I might beable to figure this out was to
run for school board, and that'sactually what got me started.
And then there were otherthings that I was very curious
about as well in terms of theoperation of the public school
system and the relationship ofthe board the school board to
(03:21):
leadership.
So I ran for school board and Iwon my borough seat and I
served four years, and at thattime it only made me more hungry
to keep digging into this oddrelationship really that had
developed in the 21st centurythat I did not see in the 20th
(03:43):
century.
When I started teaching, I feltI felt things had really changed
, and so at the end of the fouryears I knew I wasn't going to
run again, and I was asked bythe Family Foundation actually,
who I had a relationship withdoing some lobby work, lobbying
work for them.
They approached me and said wethink that there needs to be an
(04:08):
alternative choice, analternative or a choice for
school board members to receivetraining, and there's only one
in the state of Virginia, whichis the Virginia School Board
Association.
And so they asked me, after myfour years, did I think that
would be a good idea, ratherthan having a monopoly of just
(04:30):
one source for training?
And I said absolutely.
I was a very good attenderwhile I was on the school board.
I attended all the VSBAtraining.
I could gold medal winner, and Ifound that there were just a
lot of gaps and some things,frankly, I disagreed with.
I thought that's really notwhat the law says, and so I felt
(04:55):
that this was a greatopportunity.
I thought, if it's to be, youknow, there will be others that
will rally around and think thisis a good idea.
And so they helped me organizethis in December of 2022.
And we launched in January of2023 in Richmond at the Capitol,
with a board of directors of 10.
(05:17):
And we started our journey ofthe School Board Member Alliance
, our journey of the School.
Mr. Webb (05:22):
Board Member Alliance.
So that's been going as of thisrecording a little over a year
going on a year and a half.
Sherri Story (05:31):
How's it going Year and a half now?
Yeah, yes, so we've been.
Our first year we hadapproximately 41 full-time
members.
We invite candidates to joinand so that they can start to
get a flavor of what's requiredof them as school board members
(05:52):
and they can join at a differenttier while they're candidates
and then if they win their seat,then of course they can become
full members.
And so we had about 41 ourfirst year.
We did some successful podcastsof training and some webinars
and then we had our first likeannual conference.
(06:14):
We called it our Empower Ed Sysymposium and it was a day long
training and we thought we wouldbe very excited if about 35.
So we booked a room for about40 to 42 and 57 people came.
Mr. Webb (06:33):
We were very crowded.
Sherri Story (06:35):
But that was pretty exciting as well.
We were.
We filled that room.
So this year we're lookingforward to again the first
weekend of December to have oursecond annual conference, and
we're up to 70 members, so we'vealmost doubled our membership
for this year, so there wasobviously a need for that.
(07:00):
I believe there was, andevidently other board members do
as well.
I think they were seeing theholes some holes that existed I
believe there was, and evidentlyother board members do as well.
I think they were seeing theholes some holes that existed
(07:22):
and just some traditional kindof things that the Virginia
School Board AllianceAssociation has been in
existence for 118 years and Ithink that they have some sort
of now norms of what they say toboard members that may not
necessarily, you know, match hownew school board members coming
on board in this timeframe andafter COVID see their leadership
role as school board members.
So I believe that there is aneed for people to have a choice
(07:49):
.
Now.
We are an alliance that is forschool board members only and
they may individually join, butthe Virginia School Board
Association, it's an associationof the entire board.
School Board Association, it'sa association of the entire
(08:10):
board.
So if the majority, like when Iwas on the school board, six out
of the seven I wasn'tinterested in joining the
Virginia School BoardAssociation, but my membership
was paid for no matter what,because six of the seven wanted
to belong and as a result, I wasforced to belong, I guess you
might say, and I felt that alsodidn't really match what I felt
(08:31):
was, you know, in America welike choices, right?
We like choices of where to eatand where to, and there really
wasn't a choice in the state ofwhere to get school board
training.
So I know that there's thestate associations across
America.
Most of them allowsuperintendents to attend and
(08:52):
join and attorneys to attend andjoin, and we felt that there
should be a time for just schoolboard members to be trained in
their role, because their roleis unique and the law and the
Constitution of both states andthe US Constitution speaks to
the right of school boards tolead and to govern the local
(09:18):
school districts and so that alleducation is local.
And I felt that part wasmissing in, you know, the
training I had received overfour years, and so we wanted to
just focus on federal law,constitutional law, but mostly
(09:38):
Virginia law.
What were the mandates, whatwere the directives to the local
school board as to how theyshould govern?
And that's what really hasdriven us now in terms of our
training and how we you know howwe train and guide and advise
school board members in theirleadership role.
Mr. Webb (10:00):
You mentioned earlier that you noticed gaps and things
that you didn't agree with.
What were the gaps in training?
Sherri Story (10:10):
Well, I believe that the gaps were in laying out
.
So our training is organizedaround the law.
So we have in Virginia we haveeight standards of quality that
are the meat of what driveseducation in Virginia.
We have eight standards ofquality that are the meat of
what drives education inVirginia, the standards of
(10:30):
quality.
And in those seven standardsthe eighth is a compliance
component, but the sevenstandards the local school board
has mentioned over 102 times ofwhat they are to be doing, what
they are to be either directlydoing or overseeing that it's
being done.
Now, while I attended the VSBA,I never heard the standards of
(10:53):
quality referred to at all, andthat is while you know.
While I was there I can onlyspeak for my attendance at
everything but I never heardthem speak about the standards
of quality, like what were inthem and what should we be doing
.
Another session I never had theopportunity to attend I'd never
(11:13):
saw it offered was we have alaw that is specifically says
the 10 powers and duties ofschool boards.
I had never read that, I neverknew about it, and so those were
the gaps and I said you know, Ithink governance would be
better, student achievementteachers happier, if school
boards understood their, firstof all, their power, which is
(11:39):
they are the governing agent andno one else.
Everyone else is under them.
In Virginia, they are theemployer of the entire district.
They are responsible foreverything about the school
system, and so I don't feel thatthat's a well-known fact from
(12:00):
law, and I believe that if theschool board understood that
they were to take the lead andthen they were to, you know,
really hire good administrators,managers and leaders under them
, they still must oversee whatis happening and oversee that
(12:20):
these parts of the law that endup being assigned.
I'll give you an example thatthey're actually being done, and
I think that it has become andthis is nationwide that pretty
much the superintendent runs thedistrict and and it's become a
problem because that's not howthe setup is the superintendent
(12:44):
is is not the final authority inthe district really on anything
, it's the school board, andthat the roles have been
confused.
And so we believe that schoolboards can make their own
decision.
Once we present and we read thelaw to them and say here's what
(13:08):
you're responsible for, haveyou done it?
And school board members arequite surprised.
They're like we had no idea,we've never heard of this.
So that's what we're bringingto the table, and I believe that
governance will start to happenin a much more accountable and
transparent way if school boardstake the mandates from their
(13:29):
state laws seriously and act asif they believe they have that
role right and actually governwith that kind of oversight.
Mr. Webb (13:42):
The seven standards of quality and the 10 powers and
duties of school board membersor school boards.
That seems like a pretty broad,big gap.
That seems like something veryimportant that school board
members should know, and you'resaying that the association
didn't teach that.
Sherri Story (14:03):
Well, not that I ever.
I never had that trainingdirectly that I knew what those
laws said.
Not in my experience.
And I feel that you know.
We had directors, school boardmembers who former school board
members, current ones are on ourboard and they agree they had
(14:25):
gone to training many years andhad never heard those.
Now they're in some of theirdocuments.
I have found the powers andduties in a few of their
documents 10, the powers andduties in a few of their
documents.
But you know, when you go totraining I think this should be
the first thing that you get agood understanding in.
(14:45):
Mainly, what we were driven tohear is that school boards have
three basic functions.
Is that school boards havethree basic functions To hire
the superintendent, to evaluatethe superintendent and to pass
his budget and then, if you're agood school board member, you
(15:10):
support everything he does afterthat.
So that to me led to a lot ofjust rubber stamping anything
that was brought to the table.
Mr. Webb (15:17):
That's what it sounds like.
It sounds like that's what theytold you your job was, in a way
.
Sherri Story (15:23):
That's right.
That's right and that is what Idisagreed with.
Of course, there were a lot ofaccusations that I didn't trust
the superintendent.
It's not a lot of accusationsthat I didn't trust the
superintendent.
It's not a matter of trust.
It's people elect school boardmembers to understand what they
are being asked by leadership attimes to pass, including the
(15:48):
budget.
You should understand thebudget, maybe not entirely your
first year.
It's a daunting taskunderstanding school budgets,
especially ones that get intothe billions of dollars, but
there are just many things thatshould not be rubber stamped.
And that's not the only duties.
(16:09):
The duties of a school board gofar beyond hiring the
superintendent, doing hisevaluation and then passing his
budget.
I mean there are many morethings going on in our school
districts.
We have superintendents whoabsolutely don't want to let any
school board members inside theschools and we have to fight
(16:32):
constantly to get access to theschools when the law provides
for access to the school Powerduty number two says that any
school board the school boardhas the ability to enter and to
oversee anything that's going onin the school, absolutely.
And yet, because that's neverbeen actually spoken of and
(16:53):
trained, they still fight.
We have a district right nowthat is absolutely fighting to
keep school board members out ofthe schools.
Now how crazy does that sound?
Well, it sounds like a red flagis what that sounds like.
Yeah right, and unfortunately, alot of times they get the power
(17:13):
and the help of school boardattorneys.
That has been another issuethat has come up in our journey
here pretty quickly, and so wehave our own attorneys on
standby on retainer, and oftenwe have asked them to write
(17:34):
quite a few opinions based onthe laws to try to counteract
some of the advice that schoolboards seem to be getting when
it comes to their powers andduties.
There has been this norm of onevoice only guiding school board
(18:02):
members into a corner that saysyou only have these three
duties and if you do anythingelse outside of that, you're not
being a good school boardmember, literally.
And school board members whobelong with us, they're being
threatened, they are beingstalked.
A lot of crazy stuff is goingon, called bullying and called
(18:27):
all sorts of names, and you know, just because they're starting
to ask questions, they'restarting to exercise their
powers and duties and duties ofoversight.
If a superintendent says, yes,we are complying with standard
six, then every school boardmember should ask just for some
(18:50):
evidence of that.
We totally believe you andwe're so glad to hear you are
doing it.
Believe you and we're so gladto hear you are doing it and
please provide evidence to us sothat when our chair has to sign
off every year that all ofthese standards have been
complied with, we can do thatwith a smile on our face, with
(19:10):
confidence and insurance andgreat integrity that all these
things have been done.
And that is receiving extremebacklash, that we are the phrase
that many if there's any schoolboard members out there
listening, they might hearphrases like you are interfering
(19:31):
with the day-to-day operationsof the superintendent if you ask
questions or ask for evidencethat something's being done, and
yet that's the very mandate ofthe law.
Mr. Webb (19:44):
I'm looking at the SBMA website right now.
Can you tell me a little aboutthe mission, the mission
statement?
Sherri Story (19:52):
Yeah, our mission.
We want governance to be open,to be transparent, so that the
public can see that schooldistricts are doing the best
they can to educate studentswith the highest quality of
education possible.
And you know, that is somethingthat we're struggling with in
(20:14):
the United States right now, andsome states more than others.
We believe that good governancehappens when it's collaborative
with parents.
We very much disagree thatparents are terrorists or
parents are evil in some way.
We believe that cooperationwith parents is good.
(20:35):
We believe that we want thepublic schools to be the
absolute best they can be,because the public schools will,
you know, most likely for mytime frame of life, be where the
most students are enrolled.
Yet we do believe in choice forparents.
Yet we do believe in choice forparents.
(20:56):
We believe that choice is agood thing.
It's not a threat to publicschools, but it will enhance
public schools.
And yet we are a school boardalliance for public schools.
School board members, many of ushave taught in public schools,
so we're not anti-public schools, but we do believe in school
(21:17):
choice.
We believe in merit basededucation.
We believe that to give gradesbased on everyone being
equitable and trying to receivethe same grades is not helping
anybody.
Rather, equal opportunity,equitable opportunity we're all
(21:40):
about that, but we would like tosee merit-based learning.
As a teacher, I felt thatstudents had to be given every
opportunity to earn a grade andtheir grade reflected their
effort, their work, theirability.
And many students had to put inextra time and extra work to
(22:04):
earn, you know, a grade, maybeof someone else next door, but
if they were willing to do it,they always ended up benefiting
from it.
So those are some of the youknow qualities of education and
how we see it being met out.
(22:24):
We support that kind ofgovernance.
We do not.
We believe there are many, many, many good quality materials
out there, but we certainlydon't.
We don't support, we don'talign with pornography,
pornographic materials.
That belongs in a differentarea and not in the school
(22:46):
system.
And so those are the kind ofvalues that we have.
Some people say, oh, you're justright-wing conservatives.
Well, conservative doesn't haveto be a bad word and it doesn't
have to be a partisan word.
If our value systems have thatlabel, that's fine.
But these are just things ofphilosophy, of education that we
(23:09):
think are good qualities and welove that Virginia has gone
back to in their literacyprogram, the science of reading.
We love that Virginia has goneback to in their literacy
program the science of reading.
We support that 100%.
We think that will help bringso many more students back into
reading and grade level and wehope that you know all students
can be met because we believeall students can be taught to
(23:30):
read and given the chance andthe support and we're all for it
in any way that we can helpthese kids.
Mr. Webb (23:40):
There are, you know, liberals and conservatives.
There's, there are extremes oneach end of the spectrum and
what it sounds like to me.
Just like you said, you guysare trying to stick to the law
and trying to talk, talk aboutsome of these standards and some
of the things that theassociation should be teaching.
(24:00):
So it's not really thatconservative to want to teach
the things that the boardmembers should be learning
anyway, Right, and the thingsthat you mentioned with the
students.
There's nothing there to methat's a red flag, that, oh,
this is a right wingconservative group.
(24:21):
I mean, it doesn't sound likethat at all.
Sherri Story (24:25):
Well, I don't think we are.
I think we have led manytrainings and people have come
to check us out and really rightnow our trainings are really
focused on the law, are reallyfocused on the law.
We are trying to teach and makeaware, make school boards aware
of what's in the law and whattheir responsibility is, because
(24:47):
they're asked to sign off on itannually.
And, for instance, one of thethings that says you will have
updated policies Every fiveyears.
All policies are to be updated.
So if you do that on arotational basis, you know every
five years, every year, you'retaking something that was, you
(25:08):
know, five or six years ago.
You're making sure that itstill applies.
You're making sure that youhaven't passed a policy that
conflicts with it.
You know you can get on arotational basis, but we have
school districts that havepolicies that haven't been
updated since 1998, since 2002.
And many things have changedsince then.
Many laws have been passed thatthose policies might in effect
(25:31):
be against new, current laws andthey haven't been updated.
And yet every year they aresigning off the superintendents
and the school and the chair.
I don't think they even realize, but it's published on our
Virginia Department of Educationsite they sign off that they
(25:52):
have completely complied withevery mandate in the standard of
quality.
Well, you know, just a quick,easy check shows that they
haven't complied and I don'tknow why.
But I'm not into blame, I'm notinto you know, that's not our
purpose.
Our purpose is to, if you makepeople aware and I think our
(26:16):
standards of quality in Virginiaare excellent If you make
people and I think our standardsof quality in Virginia are
excellent if you make peopleschool boards, aware of what
they should be looking at andwhat they should be doing based
on the law, I think it doesn'tmatter where you stand
politically, you want to followthe law and these things are
good for kids.
I mean these standards ofquality are excellent.
I mean these standards ofquality are excellent.
(26:46):
I think that if school boardscould govern by being compliant
with these 7-8 standards, I meanthat alone could help schools
and student achievement go up,and we're also very focused on
student achievement and we'realso very focused on student
(27:14):
achievement.
It has to be the primary, likesort of the featured moment.
You know, how are we doing inthis area of student achievement
?
How did the kids do on themidterm?
We have a reading diagnostictest that's given in Virginia
three times a year.
Student achievement, studentachievement, student achievement
and then, yeah, you'll findthat on the agenda of most
school boards.
(27:35):
Unfortunately, studentachievement is never even
mentioned, never checked upon,until one time at the very end
of the year, superintendentgives a PowerPoint and so that
focus is out of whack.
Now, this is my personalopinion when I said that, but I
think my board would agree withme that we're starting to lead
(27:57):
training on how do you puttogether an agenda that focuses
on student achievement so thatyou're observing the good things
that are happening and youdon't let kids get way behind,
and you hear from your greatleaders in the school what
they're doing to catch thesekids up midterm you know
mid-year, not waiting to thevery end.
(28:20):
You know, is the curriculumworking?
We have over five or sixdifferent laws that tell school
boards they're to be overseeingcurriculum.
Is it working or isn't it?
And you know that again we'reaccused of, you know there's
accusations of we're interferingwith the day-to-day operations
of the school board.
(28:41):
We don't have to show you ourcurriculums.
Well, of course you do, andfortunately it's in our law that
you do, and you know everystate has similar laws.
I am not up to date on you knowevery other state, but I think
there are similar laws in everystate that if school board
members looked, they would findgreat support there for just
(29:05):
doing a better job as a schoolboard member.
They are the overseeing body.
All education is local andschool board members you know
they're very, very important.
Mr. Webb (29:18):
They're very, very important and while I'm thinking
of it, because I don't know alot about school boards and what
goes on behind the scenes sothere's training when you're
first elected and I'm guessingthere's some sort of ongoing
professional development.
Sherri Story (29:33):
Yes, that's one of our standards of learning.
Yes, that's one of ourstandards of learning.
Number five school boards areto annually be trained with high
quality training.
And then the law lists fiveminimum areas Now there's
actually six because they justpassed a new law so they have to
(30:01):
be trained and get annualtraining in six areas and six
topics and those should be kepton record.
So if anyone checked and says,have you completed your annual
training and in these areas youknow, school boards or school
clerks should be able to say,yes, here's the record, here's.
You know, if you go to aconference, you need to keep
track of the topics you're doingand make sure that annually you
have those covered.
And the law says it's theminimum.
(30:24):
So right now, there was anarticle in the paper in the
Richmond Times this morning.
As a matter of fact, it turnedout that in our capital, in
Richmond, public Schools theirschools are struggling and there
was an MOU, a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, last year given
(30:44):
to the district.
In that Memorandum ofUnderstanding there was some
mandated training for theirschool board members and as of
that was given in 2022, and asof that was given in 2022 and as
of March 2023, the school boardhas not complied, and so I'm
(31:10):
not sure why the resistance totraining.
Looked at the topics andunderstood their role, they
would see the necessity forupdated training all the time to
know how to evaluate curriculum.
In our law it says school boardis to evaluate curriculum and
instruction.
(31:30):
Well, you know, not everyperson coming on a school board
is from the background ofeducation, so they need training
.
How do I evaluate ourcurriculum and our instruction
going on?
But you know, that's veryforeign to someone who has never
read that law.
In fact, they will all theymight.
If you don't tell them it's inthe law, though, and you just
(31:53):
speak it, they will almost tellyou that you're not telling the
truth.
But I am telling the truth andit is in there.
So then I think they would seethe need for training when they
realized the great role andresponsibility they have to
oversee the education of ourchildren in each local level.
Mr. Webb (32:14):
So for any, let's say, school board members in
Virginia that are just nowfinding out about your
organization, maybe they missedthe initial training.
Can they get their professionaldevelopment training from SBMA,
and do you guys offer onlinetraining as well?
Sherri Story (32:35):
Yeah, we offer webinar training.
We have a wonderful newsletterthat goes out.
Anyone listening can become afriend of SBMA.
We offer a level of friendshipand you can get our newsletter,
which is, you know, just basedon the lots of laws for you and
conflict of interest and allsorts of good stuff and how that
(32:58):
applies to school boards, andyou can then go.
You know, that's something thatteachers too can be aware of.
Is is my school board, you know, following the law and maybe I
wonder if we have somethingcomparable in our law so you can
join as a friend.
Now we offer training all yearround.
We just had two regionaltrainings.
We're going to have some moretraining during the summer.
(33:19):
They can come to.
Then they're going to have asymposium.
We offer training online.
One of the things is currentevents School board members are
to be trained in and we just hada great training on human
trafficking out of our schoolsand a parent whose daughter was
(33:40):
trafficked out of a high schoolhere in Virginia and now we're
going to offer a model policy.
What kind of policies andpractices could schools put in
place to keep kids from beingtrafficked out of high schools?
And so we hope to offer thatmodel policy.
We're helping, we're helping,we offer a service for making
sure that there are measurablesin school board strategic plan
(34:02):
so that you can actually tell ifyou're improving or not, and
it's very focused on studentachievement.
So we it's not a one time anddone, we offer constant training
and they can join at any timeand hop on the.
You know, hop on, learn how togovern lawfully and legally.
(34:23):
You know we all take an oath tothe Commonwealth of Virginia
here that we will follow thelaws of Virginia and I hope that
we are, you know.
I hope we are the alliance, Ihope we are a vehicle that can
help bring school boards tobecome active participants and
overseers of what's going on inour school districts and I
(34:45):
believe ultimately that is goingto really help students and
student learning.
Mr. Webb (34:52):
And to switch gears a little bit for anyone listening,
say a parent who's thinkingabout, they've heard our
conversation and they think youknow what, maybe I should look
into running for school board.
What?
What advice would you have?
Would you recommend it?
Do you think we need goodcommon sense school board
(35:15):
members?
Common sense?
Sherri Story (35:16):
school board members.
Absolutely, absolutely.
We need common sense.
I mean, I think you know that'swhat should drive common sense
kind of decision making, andthese days I suppose everyone
has a different subjectiveversion of that.
(35:36):
But I do think parents shouldbe involved and especially to
come on to school boards andhopefully they.
These days it takes time.
There is a certain amount oftime required, unless you're
going to be someone that I'llget on.
You know I don't have to domuch.
I can just sort of whateverbrings to the table, stamp it.
But if you really want to havea fun time of digging in and
(36:00):
seeing of what a great amount ofeffort could make a huge
difference, but it is an effort.
It is an effort to I guess youhave to have a passion.
I want to make schools better,not only for my children but
everybody, and we can do betterand we are huge advocates for
(36:22):
teachers.
Teacher burnout.
We just led a preliminarystrategic plan conference with a
board looking to maybe use someof our services and they had a
survey that was taken.
They didn't even realize thatthe burnout rate of the teachers
(36:43):
who took the survey it was 100%, 100%.
Have to become advocates fortaking things off teachers'
plates and overseeing thatthings are happening more
efficiently and doing what theycan to support teachers.
(37:04):
They have to be the friends ofteachers and they have to have
an ear, to be wanting to sitdown with their teaching staff
and hear from them directly.
How can we help you?
And too often again, there arebarriers.
Too often there areadministrators that don't want
(37:24):
school board members to talkdirectly to their employees, and
we believe that's wrong.
We want to have school boardsthat listen to teachers directly
, to meet with them directly, tohear from them and then to
govern and implement whatchanges are needed to support
teachers.
We need our teachersdesperately.
(37:46):
We need good teachers in publicschools and we need to retain
those good teachers we have.
That's why I think parentsshould get on, because they know
public schools are filled withgood teachers but they're losing
them and you know parents canmake a difference by running for
the school board and thenreally digging in and working.
Mr. Webb (38:06):
Now I'm going to ask you a very tough question what's
the one thing you want thelistener to remember, if they
don't remember anything elseabout this episode?
Sherri Story (38:17):
I want them to pay attention to what school boards
are doing and especially whatthey're not doing.
I want them to know that schoolboards have an oversight over
every part of the district.
And if their school boardmeetings are not focused on
student achievement and they'refocused on all sorts of other
things If they're beingentertained by the choirs and
(38:40):
this and that you know, and allthese kids are being brought in
to sing, but when is the schoolboard talking about student
achievement all year long?
School board is not focused onmonitoring student achievement,
then it's not going to improveit.
(39:07):
Just it can't improve withoutthe school board being focused
and paying attention to all kids, even those gap kids.
Everyone deserves to have agood education in the public
schools.
So pay attention to what yourschool board is focused on in
meetings and what they'remonitoring, and I think that
that will help school boards doa better job.
Mr. Webb (39:28):
That is some great information.
And if someone's not inVirginia, how can they find out
if there is an alternative suchas you guys created with the
SBMA in their state?
Sherri Story (39:46):
Yeah, well, if you come to our website, it is my
M-Y S-B-M-A School Board MemberAlliance, mysbm a.
org, and you can email us thereand we will let you know.
Dot org, and you can email usthere and we will let you know.
We are in contact with a lot ofother organizations that are
now starting up and we will letyou know and we will give you a
(40:06):
contact information in yourstate.
So just email us from the site,contact us, and we'll gladly
refer you.
We do that.
You know a lot for people oncethey find us and we can refer to
where there is something likeus starting up in their state.
Mr. Webb (40:23):
And I will make sure and put a link to mysbma.
org in the show notes to make iteasy for folks that are
listening.
They can just go straight tothe show notes.
Click the link, Although mysbma.
org is pretty easy to remember.
Sherri Story (40:38):
It is.
It sort of has a sort of nicering to it, doesn't it?
Mr. Webb (40:44):
I'll try to put the link to the email in there as
well, and, as we wrap things up,one of the questions I was
going to ask is for you to sharethe website address.
I think we've done that acouple of times already, but can
you share how they can find outmore information about SBMA,
maybe how they can connect withyou on social media?
Sherri Story (41:08):
Yes, we do have a Facebook site, just SBMA of
Virginia, and so Facebook isthere and you can connect with
us there.
The email is sstory atmysbmaorg and I'd gladly
communicate with anybody of howto connect and support us.
(41:32):
And, you know, just by gettingour newsletter it can give ideas
Not every state has a startupand it might lead to something.
Mr. Webb (41:42):
All right, sounds great.
I'll put links to everything inthe show notes and thank you so
much for joining us today,sherry.
It's been a pleasure having youon the conservative classroom
and I know our listeners willappreciate your insights on the
school board and the workings ofthe school board and the
alternative to learning that youguys have created.
Sherri Story (42:06):
Great, and if there's any school board topic
you'd like to have me back totalk about specifically that
maybe your constituents end upyou know are your listeners.
Sorry, I'm used to talkingabout constituents your
listeners would like, just letme know and I'd gladly come back
and share any information I canon specific.
(42:27):
You know the behind-the-scenesstuff.
I love to talk on the Freedomof Information Act and how
parents can connect with theirschool districts by using FOIA
or their sunshine law, so maybewe can have that discussion
sometime.
Mr. Webb (42:43):
That sounds good.
Thanks, so much Okay.
Sherri Story (42:46):
Thank you.
Mr. Webb (42:48):
That's it for today's episode of The Conservative
Classroom.
Thank you for tuning in.
I hope you enjoyed it andlearned something.
If you liked what you heard,please don't forget to subscribe
and leave us a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
Most importantly, share thispodcast with a like-minded
educator, parent or patriot.
(43:09):
You can also connect with us onsocial media and share your
thoughts on today's topic.
Give feedback on the podcast.
On today's topic.
Give feedback on the podcast orsuggest a topic by sending me
an email atTheConservativeClassroom@ gmail.
com.
We'd love to hear from you.
If you feel that educationwithout indoctrination and
(43:30):
teaching the truth is importantto preserve traditional values,
then support my efforts to keepthe conservative classroom
running.
I'm a full-time teacher and dadand part-time podcaster.
I invest a lot of hours and myown hard-earned money each week
to bring you quality content,but I need your help.
Check out the links in the shownotes and on the website to
(43:56):
support the podcast withone-time or recurring monthly
donations.
Every little bit helps.
To support the podcast withone-time or recurring monthly
donations, every little bithelps.
You can also visit our merchstore to get your own clothing,
coffee mugs, stickers, backpacks, book bags and more with The
Conservative Classroom logo orone of our many other
conservative slogans, such asage-appropriate does not equal
(44:17):
banning books.
Defund the teachers unions.
Keep politics out of theclassroom and more.
If you want to support commonsense in education without
pushing your politics, check outour products with the red
schoolhouse logo on it.
We know it's hard to be openlyconservative in some school
districts, but your silent showof support may help you find
(44:39):
other conservatives in yourcommunity and it lets you know
that you're doing the rightthing Until next time.
This is, Mr.
Webb, reminding you that youare not alone.
See you next time on TheConservative Classroom.
Teaching the truth.
Preserving our values.
Have you ever considered the impact of school
board decisions on studentsafety and academic success?
What are some of the uniquechallenges that school boards
face today and what is a schoolboard member alliance?
Welcome to The ConservativeClassroom, where we're teaching
(00:23):
the truth and preserving ourvalues.
I'm your host, Mr.
Webb, and I'm glad you're here.
This podcast is a haven forconservative educators, parents
and patriots like you, whobelieve in the importance of
free speech, traditional valuesand education without
indoctrination.
(00:43):
Each week, we dive into issuesthat are plaguing our education
system and keeping you up atnight.
In each episode, we offercommon sense ideas to improve
education in our classrooms andcommunities.
You may feel like you're thelast conservative educator or
parent, but I want you to knowthat you are not alone.
(01:05):
By the way, if you like whatyou hear today, please share
this podcast with a like-mindededucator, parent or patriot.
Together, we can teach thetruth and preserve our values.
In today's episode, we welcomea former educator and school
board member who started aconservative school board
(01:25):
association or school boardmember alliance.
Now let's get started.
I'm excited to welcome aspecial guest to the
conservative classroom SherriStory.
Sherri is chairman andexecutive director of the School
Board Member Alliance ofVirginia.
She is herself a former schoolboard member and advocate for
(01:48):
excellence in education.
Sherry, thank you for joiningus.
Sherri Story (01:52):
Thank you so much, Joey.
I really appreciate this timeand ability to communicate with
all your podcast listeners.
Mr. Webb (02:00):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Ted Lamb, a mutual friend ofours, suggested that I have you
on the podcast, so anyone thatTed suggests is okay in my book.
Sherri Story (02:14):
Oh, that's great.
Well, ted and I are goodfriends and I really appreciate
him connecting us.
Mr. Webb (02:20):
Sherry, can you tell us a little about yourself, your
background?
What led you to starting theSchool Board Member Alliance?
Sherri Story (02:29):
Yes, I was a public school teacher for 20
years, or about 22 actually.
My first 10 years were inWisconsin and then took time off
, did some raising children andfamily, did some raising
children and family, and thencame back and spent another 12
years in Suffolk, virginia, as abiology teacher.
(02:59):
And then I decided to.
I was frustrated with the lackof funding to classrooms and I
decided the only way I might beable to figure this out was to
run for school board, and that'sactually what got me started.
And then there were otherthings that I was very curious
about as well in terms of theoperation of the public school
system and the relationship ofthe board the school board to
(03:21):
leadership.
So I ran for school board and Iwon my borough seat and I
served four years, and at thattime it only made me more hungry
to keep digging into this oddrelationship really that had
developed in the 21st centurythat I did not see in the 20th
(03:43):
century.
When I started teaching, I feltI felt things had really changed
, and so at the end of the fouryears I knew I wasn't going to
run again, and I was asked bythe Family Foundation actually,
who I had a relationship withdoing some lobby work, lobbying
work for them.
They approached me and said wethink that there needs to be an
(04:08):
alternative choice, analternative or a choice for
school board members to receivetraining, and there's only one
in the state of Virginia, whichis the Virginia School Board
Association.
And so they asked me, after myfour years, did I think that
would be a good idea, ratherthan having a monopoly of just
(04:30):
one source for training?
And I said absolutely.
I was a very good attenderwhile I was on the school board.
I attended all the VSBAtraining.
I could gold medal winner, and Ifound that there were just a
lot of gaps and some things,frankly, I disagreed with.
I thought that's really notwhat the law says, and so I felt
(04:55):
that this was a greatopportunity.
I thought, if it's to be, youknow, there will be others that
will rally around and think thisis a good idea.
And so they helped me organizethis in December of 2022.
And we launched in January of2023 in Richmond at the Capitol,
with a board of directors of 10.
(05:17):
And we started our journey ofthe School Board Member Alliance
, our journey of the School.
Mr. Webb (05:22):
Board Member Alliance.
So that's been going as of thisrecording a little over a year
going on a year and a half.
Sherri Story (05:31):
How's it going Year and a half now?
Yeah, yes, so we've been.
Our first year we hadapproximately 41 full-time
members.
We invite candidates to joinand so that they can start to
get a flavor of what's requiredof them as school board members
(05:52):
and they can join at a differenttier while they're candidates
and then if they win their seat,then of course they can become
full members.
And so we had about 41 ourfirst year.
We did some successful podcastsof training and some webinars
and then we had our first likeannual conference.
(06:14):
We called it our Empower Ed Sysymposium and it was a day long
training and we thought we wouldbe very excited if about 35.
So we booked a room for about40 to 42 and 57 people came.
Mr. Webb (06:33):
We were very crowded.
Sherri Story (06:35):
But that was pretty exciting as well.
We were.
We filled that room.
So this year we're lookingforward to again the first
weekend of December to have oursecond annual conference, and
we're up to 70 members, so we'vealmost doubled our membership
for this year, so there wasobviously a need for that.
(07:00):
I believe there was, andevidently other board members do
as well.
I think they were seeing theholes some holes that existed I
believe there was, and evidentlyother board members do as well.
I think they were seeing theholes some holes that existed
(07:22):
and just some traditional kindof things that the Virginia
School Board AllianceAssociation has been in
existence for 118 years and Ithink that they have some sort
of now norms of what they say toboard members that may not
necessarily, you know, match hownew school board members coming
on board in this timeframe andafter COVID see their leadership
role as school board members.
So I believe that there is aneed for people to have a choice
(07:49):
.
Now.
We are an alliance that is forschool board members only and
they may individually join, butthe Virginia School Board
Association, it's an associationof the entire board.
School Board Association, it'sa association of the entire
(08:10):
board.
So if the majority, like when Iwas on the school board, six out
of the seven I wasn'tinterested in joining the
Virginia School BoardAssociation, but my membership
was paid for no matter what,because six of the seven wanted
to belong and as a result, I wasforced to belong, I guess you
might say, and I felt that alsodidn't really match what I felt
(08:31):
was, you know, in America welike choices, right?
We like choices of where to eatand where to, and there really
wasn't a choice in the state ofwhere to get school board
training.
So I know that there's thestate associations across
America.
Most of them allowsuperintendents to attend and
(08:52):
join and attorneys to attend andjoin, and we felt that there
should be a time for just schoolboard members to be trained in
their role, because their roleis unique and the law and the
Constitution of both states andthe US Constitution speaks to
the right of school boards tolead and to govern the local
(09:18):
school districts and so that alleducation is local.
And I felt that part wasmissing in, you know, the
training I had received overfour years, and so we wanted to
just focus on federal law,constitutional law, but mostly
(09:38):
Virginia law.
What were the mandates, whatwere the directives to the local
school board as to how theyshould govern?
And that's what really hasdriven us now in terms of our
training and how we you know howwe train and guide and advise
school board members in theirleadership role.
Mr. Webb (10:00):
You mentioned earlier that you noticed gaps and things
that you didn't agree with.
What were the gaps in training?
Sherri Story (10:10):
Well, I believe that the gaps were in laying out
.
So our training is organizedaround the law.
So we have in Virginia we haveeight standards of quality that
are the meat of what driveseducation in Virginia.
We have eight standards ofquality that are the meat of
what drives education inVirginia, the standards of
(10:30):
quality.
And in those seven standardsthe eighth is a compliance
component, but the sevenstandards the local school board
has mentioned over 102 times ofwhat they are to be doing, what
they are to be either directlydoing or overseeing that it's
being done.
Now, while I attended the VSBA,I never heard the standards of
(10:53):
quality referred to at all, andthat is while you know.
While I was there I can onlyspeak for my attendance at
everything but I never heardthem speak about the standards
of quality, like what were inthem and what should we be doing
.
Another session I never had theopportunity to attend I'd never
(11:13):
saw it offered was we have alaw that is specifically says
the 10 powers and duties ofschool boards.
I had never read that, I neverknew about it, and so those were
the gaps and I said you know, Ithink governance would be
better, student achievementteachers happier, if school
boards understood their, firstof all, their power, which is
(11:39):
they are the governing agent andno one else.
Everyone else is under them.
In Virginia, they are theemployer of the entire district.
They are responsible foreverything about the school
system, and so I don't feel thatthat's a well-known fact from
(12:00):
law, and I believe that if theschool board understood that
they were to take the lead andthen they were to, you know,
really hire good administrators,managers and leaders under them
, they still must oversee whatis happening and oversee that
(12:20):
these parts of the law that endup being assigned.
I'll give you an example thatthey're actually being done, and
I think that it has become andthis is nationwide that pretty
much the superintendent runs thedistrict and and it's become a
problem because that's not howthe setup is the superintendent
(12:44):
is is not the final authority inthe district really on anything
, it's the school board, andthat the roles have been
confused.
And so we believe that schoolboards can make their own
decision.
Once we present and we read thelaw to them and say here's what
(13:08):
you're responsible for, haveyou done it?
And school board members arequite surprised.
They're like we had no idea,we've never heard of this.
So that's what we're bringingto the table, and I believe that
governance will start to happenin a much more accountable and
transparent way if school boardstake the mandates from their
(13:29):
state laws seriously and act asif they believe they have that
role right and actually governwith that kind of oversight.
Mr. Webb (13:42):
The seven standards of quality and the 10 powers and
duties of school board membersor school boards.
That seems like a pretty broad,big gap.
That seems like something veryimportant that school board
members should know, and you'resaying that the association
didn't teach that.
Sherri Story (14:03):
Well, not that I ever.
I never had that trainingdirectly that I knew what those
laws said.
Not in my experience.
And I feel that you know.
We had directors, school boardmembers who former school board
members, current ones are on ourboard and they agree they had
(14:25):
gone to training many years andhad never heard those.
Now they're in some of theirdocuments.
I have found the powers andduties in a few of their
documents 10, the powers andduties in a few of their
documents.
But you know, when you go totraining I think this should be
the first thing that you get agood understanding in.
(14:45):
Mainly, what we were driven tohear is that school boards have
three basic functions.
Is that school boards havethree basic functions To hire
the superintendent, to evaluatethe superintendent and to pass
his budget and then, if you're agood school board member, you
(15:10):
support everything he does afterthat.
So that to me led to a lot ofjust rubber stamping anything
that was brought to the table.
Mr. Webb (15:17):
That's what it sounds like.
It sounds like that's what theytold you your job was, in a way
.
Sherri Story (15:23):
That's right.
That's right and that is what Idisagreed with.
Of course, there were a lot ofaccusations that I didn't trust
the superintendent.
It's not a lot of accusationsthat I didn't trust the
superintendent.
It's not a matter of trust.
It's people elect school boardmembers to understand what they
are being asked by leadership attimes to pass, including the
(15:48):
budget.
You should understand thebudget, maybe not entirely your
first year.
It's a daunting taskunderstanding school budgets,
especially ones that get intothe billions of dollars, but
there are just many things thatshould not be rubber stamped.
And that's not the only duties.
(16:09):
The duties of a school board gofar beyond hiring the
superintendent, doing hisevaluation and then passing his
budget.
I mean there are many morethings going on in our school
districts.
We have superintendents whoabsolutely don't want to let any
school board members inside theschools and we have to fight
(16:32):
constantly to get access to theschools when the law provides
for access to the school Powerduty number two says that any
school board the school boardhas the ability to enter and to
oversee anything that's going onin the school, absolutely.
And yet, because that's neverbeen actually spoken of and
(16:53):
trained, they still fight.
We have a district right nowthat is absolutely fighting to
keep school board members out ofthe schools.
Now how crazy does that sound?
Well, it sounds like a red flagis what that sounds like.
Yeah right, and unfortunately, alot of times they get the power
(17:13):
and the help of school boardattorneys.
That has been another issuethat has come up in our journey
here pretty quickly, and so wehave our own attorneys on
standby on retainer, and oftenwe have asked them to write
(17:34):
quite a few opinions based onthe laws to try to counteract
some of the advice that schoolboards seem to be getting when
it comes to their powers andduties.
There has been this norm of onevoice only guiding school board
(18:02):
members into a corner that saysyou only have these three
duties and if you do anythingelse outside of that, you're not
being a good school boardmember, literally.
And school board members whobelong with us, they're being
threatened, they are beingstalked.
A lot of crazy stuff is goingon, called bullying and called
(18:27):
all sorts of names, and you know, just because they're starting
to ask questions, they'restarting to exercise their
powers and duties and duties ofoversight.
If a superintendent says, yes,we are complying with standard
six, then every school boardmember should ask just for some
(18:50):
evidence of that.
We totally believe you andwe're so glad to hear you are
doing it.
Believe you and we're so gladto hear you are doing it and
please provide evidence to us sothat when our chair has to sign
off every year that all ofthese standards have been
complied with, we can do thatwith a smile on our face, with
(19:10):
confidence and insurance andgreat integrity that all these
things have been done.
And that is receiving extremebacklash, that we are the phrase
that many if there's any schoolboard members out there
listening, they might hearphrases like you are interfering
(19:31):
with the day-to-day operationsof the superintendent if you ask
questions or ask for evidencethat something's being done, and
yet that's the very mandate ofthe law.
Mr. Webb (19:44):
I'm looking at the SBMA website right now.
Can you tell me a little aboutthe mission, the mission
statement?
Sherri Story (19:52):
Yeah, our mission.
We want governance to be open,to be transparent, so that the
public can see that schooldistricts are doing the best
they can to educate studentswith the highest quality of
education possible.
And you know, that is somethingthat we're struggling with in
(20:14):
the United States right now, andsome states more than others.
We believe that good governancehappens when it's collaborative
with parents.
We very much disagree thatparents are terrorists or
parents are evil in some way.
We believe that cooperationwith parents is good.
(20:35):
We believe that we want thepublic schools to be the
absolute best they can be,because the public schools will,
you know, most likely for mytime frame of life, be where the
most students are enrolled.
Yet we do believe in choice forparents.
Yet we do believe in choice forparents.
(20:56):
We believe that choice is agood thing.
It's not a threat to publicschools, but it will enhance
public schools.
And yet we are a school boardalliance for public schools.
School board members, many of ushave taught in public schools,
so we're not anti-public schools, but we do believe in school
(21:17):
choice.
We believe in merit basededucation.
We believe that to give gradesbased on everyone being
equitable and trying to receivethe same grades is not helping
anybody.
Rather, equal opportunity,equitable opportunity we're all
(21:40):
about that, but we would like tosee merit-based learning.
As a teacher, I felt thatstudents had to be given every
opportunity to earn a grade andtheir grade reflected their
effort, their work, theirability.
And many students had to put inextra time and extra work to
(22:04):
earn, you know, a grade, maybeof someone else next door, but
if they were willing to do it,they always ended up benefiting
from it.
So those are some of the youknow qualities of education and
how we see it being met out.
(22:24):
We support that kind ofgovernance.
We do not.
We believe there are many, many, many good quality materials
out there, but we certainlydon't.
We don't support, we don'talign with pornography,
pornographic materials.
That belongs in a differentarea and not in the school
(22:46):
system.
And so those are the kind ofvalues that we have.
Some people say, oh, you're justright-wing conservatives.
Well, conservative doesn't haveto be a bad word and it doesn't
have to be a partisan word.
If our value systems have thatlabel, that's fine.
But these are just things ofphilosophy, of education that we
(23:09):
think are good qualities and welove that Virginia has gone
back to in their literacyprogram, the science of reading.
We love that Virginia has goneback to in their literacy
program the science of reading.
We support that 100%.
We think that will help bringso many more students back into
reading and grade level and wehope that you know all students
can be met because we believeall students can be taught to
(23:30):
read and given the chance andthe support and we're all for it
in any way that we can helpthese kids.
Mr. Webb (23:40):
There are, you know, liberals and conservatives.
There's, there are extremes oneach end of the spectrum and
what it sounds like to me.
Just like you said, you guysare trying to stick to the law
and trying to talk, talk aboutsome of these standards and some
of the things that theassociation should be teaching.
(24:00):
So it's not really thatconservative to want to teach
the things that the boardmembers should be learning
anyway, Right, and the thingsthat you mentioned with the
students.
There's nothing there to methat's a red flag, that, oh,
this is a right wingconservative group.
(24:21):
I mean, it doesn't sound likethat at all.
Sherri Story (24:25):
Well, I don't think we are.
I think we have led manytrainings and people have come
to check us out and really rightnow our trainings are really
focused on the law, are reallyfocused on the law.
We are trying to teach and makeaware, make school boards aware
of what's in the law and whattheir responsibility is, because
(24:47):
they're asked to sign off on itannually.
And, for instance, one of thethings that says you will have
updated policies Every fiveyears.
All policies are to be updated.
So if you do that on arotational basis, you know every
five years, every year, you'retaking something that was, you
(25:08):
know, five or six years ago.
You're making sure that itstill applies.
You're making sure that youhaven't passed a policy that
conflicts with it.
You know you can get on arotational basis, but we have
school districts that havepolicies that haven't been
updated since 1998, since 2002.
And many things have changedsince then.
Many laws have been passed thatthose policies might in effect
(25:31):
be against new, current laws andthey haven't been updated.
And yet every year they aresigning off the superintendents
and the school and the chair.
I don't think they even realize, but it's published on our
Virginia Department of Educationsite they sign off that they
(25:52):
have completely complied withevery mandate in the standard of
quality.
Well, you know, just a quick,easy check shows that they
haven't complied and I don'tknow why.
But I'm not into blame, I'm notinto you know, that's not our
purpose.
Our purpose is to, if you makepeople aware and I think our
(26:16):
standards of quality in Virginiaare excellent If you make
people and I think our standardsof quality in Virginia are
excellent if you make peopleschool boards, aware of what
they should be looking at andwhat they should be doing based
on the law, I think it doesn'tmatter where you stand
politically, you want to followthe law and these things are
good for kids.
I mean these standards ofquality are excellent.
I mean these standards ofquality are excellent.
(26:46):
I think that if school boardscould govern by being compliant
with these 7-8 standards, I meanthat alone could help schools
and student achievement go up,and we're also very focused on
student achievement and we'realso very focused on student
(27:14):
achievement.
It has to be the primary, likesort of the featured moment.
You know, how are we doing inthis area of student achievement
?
How did the kids do on themidterm?
We have a reading diagnostictest that's given in Virginia
three times a year.
Student achievement, studentachievement, student achievement
and then, yeah, you'll findthat on the agenda of most
school boards.
(27:35):
Unfortunately, studentachievement is never even
mentioned, never checked upon,until one time at the very end
of the year, superintendentgives a PowerPoint and so that
focus is out of whack.
Now, this is my personalopinion when I said that, but I
think my board would agree withme that we're starting to lead
(27:57):
training on how do you puttogether an agenda that focuses
on student achievement so thatyou're observing the good things
that are happening and youdon't let kids get way behind,
and you hear from your greatleaders in the school what
they're doing to catch thesekids up midterm you know
mid-year, not waiting to thevery end.
(28:20):
You know, is the curriculumworking?
We have over five or sixdifferent laws that tell school
boards they're to be overseeingcurriculum.
Is it working or isn't it?
And you know that again we'reaccused of, you know there's
accusations of we're interferingwith the day-to-day operations
of the school board.
(28:41):
We don't have to show you ourcurriculums.
Well, of course you do, andfortunately it's in our law that
you do, and you know everystate has similar laws.
I am not up to date on you knowevery other state, but I think
there are similar laws in everystate that if school board
members looked, they would findgreat support there for just
(29:05):
doing a better job as a schoolboard member.
They are the overseeing body.
All education is local andschool board members you know
they're very, very important.
Mr. Webb (29:18):
They're very, very important and while I'm thinking
of it, because I don't know alot about school boards and what
goes on behind the scenes sothere's training when you're
first elected and I'm guessingthere's some sort of ongoing
professional development.
Sherri Story (29:33):
Yes, that's one of our standards of learning.
Yes, that's one of ourstandards of learning.
Number five school boards areto annually be trained with high
quality training.
And then the law lists fiveminimum areas Now there's
actually six because they justpassed a new law so they have to
(30:01):
be trained and get annualtraining in six areas and six
topics and those should be kepton record.
So if anyone checked and says,have you completed your annual
training and in these areas youknow, school boards or school
clerks should be able to say,yes, here's the record, here's.
You know, if you go to aconference, you need to keep
track of the topics you're doingand make sure that annually you
have those covered.
And the law says it's theminimum.
(30:24):
So right now, there was anarticle in the paper in the
Richmond Times this morning.
As a matter of fact, it turnedout that in our capital, in
Richmond, public Schools theirschools are struggling and there
was an MOU, a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, last year given
(30:44):
to the district.
In that Memorandum ofUnderstanding there was some
mandated training for theirschool board members and as of
that was given in 2022, and asof that was given in 2022 and as
of March 2023, the school boardhas not complied, and so I'm
(31:10):
not sure why the resistance totraining.
Looked at the topics andunderstood their role, they
would see the necessity forupdated training all the time to
know how to evaluate curriculum.
In our law it says school boardis to evaluate curriculum and
instruction.
(31:30):
Well, you know, not everyperson coming on a school board
is from the background ofeducation, so they need training
.
How do I evaluate ourcurriculum and our instruction
going on?
But you know, that's veryforeign to someone who has never
read that law.
In fact, they will all theymight.
If you don't tell them it's inthe law, though, and you just
(31:53):
speak it, they will almost tellyou that you're not telling the
truth.
But I am telling the truth andit is in there.
So then I think they would seethe need for training when they
realized the great role andresponsibility they have to
oversee the education of ourchildren in each local level.
Mr. Webb (32:14):
So for any, let's say, school board members in
Virginia that are just nowfinding out about your
organization, maybe they missedthe initial training.
Can they get their professionaldevelopment training from SBMA,
and do you guys offer onlinetraining as well?
Sherri Story (32:35):
Yeah, we offer webinar training.
We have a wonderful newsletterthat goes out.
Anyone listening can become afriend of SBMA.
We offer a level of friendshipand you can get our newsletter,
which is, you know, just basedon the lots of laws for you and
conflict of interest and allsorts of good stuff and how that
(32:58):
applies to school boards, andyou can then go.
You know, that's something thatteachers too can be aware of.
Is is my school board, you know, following the law and maybe I
wonder if we have somethingcomparable in our law so you can
join as a friend.
Now we offer training all yearround.
We just had two regionaltrainings.
We're going to have some moretraining during the summer.
(33:19):
They can come to.
Then they're going to have asymposium.
We offer training online.
One of the things is currentevents School board members are
to be trained in and we just hada great training on human
trafficking out of our schoolsand a parent whose daughter was
(33:40):
trafficked out of a high schoolhere in Virginia and now we're
going to offer a model policy.
What kind of policies andpractices could schools put in
place to keep kids from beingtrafficked out of high schools?
And so we hope to offer thatmodel policy.
We're helping, we're helping,we offer a service for making
sure that there are measurablesin school board strategic plan
(34:02):
so that you can actually tell ifyou're improving or not, and
it's very focused on studentachievement.
So we it's not a one time anddone, we offer constant training
and they can join at any timeand hop on the.
You know, hop on, learn how togovern lawfully and legally.
(34:23):
You know we all take an oath tothe Commonwealth of Virginia
here that we will follow thelaws of Virginia and I hope that
we are, you know.
I hope we are the alliance, Ihope we are a vehicle that can
help bring school boards tobecome active participants and
overseers of what's going on inour school districts and I
(34:45):
believe ultimately that is goingto really help students and
student learning.
Mr. Webb (34:52):
And to switch gears a little bit for anyone listening,
say a parent who's thinkingabout, they've heard our
conversation and they think youknow what, maybe I should look
into running for school board.
What?
What advice would you have?
Would you recommend it?
Do you think we need goodcommon sense school board
(35:15):
members?
Common sense?
Sherri Story (35:16):
school board members.
Absolutely, absolutely.
We need common sense.
I mean, I think you know that'swhat should drive common sense
kind of decision making, andthese days I suppose everyone
has a different subjectiveversion of that.
(35:36):
But I do think parents shouldbe involved and especially to
come on to school boards andhopefully they.
These days it takes time.
There is a certain amount oftime required, unless you're
going to be someone that I'llget on.
You know I don't have to domuch.
I can just sort of whateverbrings to the table, stamp it.
But if you really want to havea fun time of digging in and
(36:00):
seeing of what a great amount ofeffort could make a huge
difference, but it is an effort.
It is an effort to I guess youhave to have a passion.
I want to make schools better,not only for my children but
everybody, and we can do betterand we are huge advocates for
(36:22):
teachers.
Teacher burnout.
We just led a preliminarystrategic plan conference with a
board looking to maybe use someof our services and they had a
survey that was taken.
They didn't even realize thatthe burnout rate of the teachers
(36:43):
who took the survey it was 100%, 100%.
Have to become advocates fortaking things off teachers'
plates and overseeing thatthings are happening more
efficiently and doing what theycan to support teachers.
(37:04):
They have to be the friends ofteachers and they have to have
an ear, to be wanting to sitdown with their teaching staff
and hear from them directly.
How can we help you?
And too often again, there arebarriers.
Too often there areadministrators that don't want
(37:24):
school board members to talkdirectly to their employees, and
we believe that's wrong.
We want to have school boardsthat listen to teachers directly
, to meet with them directly, tohear from them and then to
govern and implement whatchanges are needed to support
teachers.
We need our teachersdesperately.
(37:46):
We need good teachers in publicschools and we need to retain
those good teachers we have.
That's why I think parentsshould get on, because they know
public schools are filled withgood teachers but they're losing
them and you know parents canmake a difference by running for
the school board and thenreally digging in and working.
Mr. Webb (38:06):
Now I'm going to ask you a very tough question what's
the one thing you want thelistener to remember, if they
don't remember anything elseabout this episode?
Sherri Story (38:17):
I want them to pay attention to what school boards
are doing and especially whatthey're not doing.
I want them to know that schoolboards have an oversight over
every part of the district.
And if their school boardmeetings are not focused on
student achievement and they'refocused on all sorts of other
things If they're beingentertained by the choirs and
(38:40):
this and that you know, and allthese kids are being brought in
to sing, but when is the schoolboard talking about student
achievement all year long?
School board is not focused onmonitoring student achievement,
then it's not going to improveit.
(39:07):
Just it can't improve withoutthe school board being focused
and paying attention to all kids, even those gap kids.
Everyone deserves to have agood education in the public
schools.
So pay attention to what yourschool board is focused on in
meetings and what they'remonitoring, and I think that
that will help school boards doa better job.
Mr. Webb (39:28):
That is some great information.
And if someone's not inVirginia, how can they find out
if there is an alternative suchas you guys created with the
SBMA in their state?
Sherri Story (39:46):
Yeah, well, if you come to our website, it is my
M-Y S-B-M-A School Board MemberAlliance, mysbm a.
org, and you can email us thereand we will let you know.
Dot org, and you can email usthere and we will let you know.
We are in contact with a lot ofother organizations that are
now starting up and we will letyou know and we will give you a
(40:06):
contact information in yourstate.
So just email us from the site,contact us, and we'll gladly
refer you.
We do that.
You know a lot for people oncethey find us and we can refer to
where there is something likeus starting up in their state.
Mr. Webb (40:23):
And I will make sure and put a link to mysbma.
org in the show notes to make iteasy for folks that are
listening.
They can just go straight tothe show notes.
Click the link, Although mysbma.
org is pretty easy to remember.
Sherri Story (40:38):
It is.
It sort of has a sort of nicering to it, doesn't it?
Mr. Webb (40:44):
I'll try to put the link to the email in there as
well, and, as we wrap things up,one of the questions I was
going to ask is for you to sharethe website address.
I think we've done that acouple of times already, but can
you share how they can find outmore information about SBMA,
maybe how they can connect withyou on social media?
Sherri Story (41:08):
Yes, we do have a Facebook site, just SBMA of
Virginia, and so Facebook isthere and you can connect with
us there.
The email is sstory atmysbmaorg and I'd gladly
communicate with anybody of howto connect and support us.
(41:32):
And, you know, just by gettingour newsletter it can give ideas
Not every state has a startupand it might lead to something.
Mr. Webb (41:42):
All right, sounds great.
I'll put links to everything inthe show notes and thank you so
much for joining us today,sherry.
It's been a pleasure having youon the conservative classroom
and I know our listeners willappreciate your insights on the
school board and the workings ofthe school board and the
alternative to learning that youguys have created.
Sherri Story (42:06):
Great, and if there's any school board topic
you'd like to have me back totalk about specifically that
maybe your constituents end upyou know are your listeners.
Sorry, I'm used to talkingabout constituents your
listeners would like, just letme know and I'd gladly come back
and share any information I canon specific.
(42:27):
You know the behind-the-scenesstuff.
I love to talk on the Freedomof Information Act and how
parents can connect with theirschool districts by using FOIA
or their sunshine law, so maybewe can have that discussion
sometime.
Mr. Webb (42:43):
That sounds good.
Thanks, so much Okay.
Sherri Story (42:46):
Thank you.
Mr. Webb (42:48):
That's it for today's episode of The Conservative
Classroom.
Thank you for tuning in.
I hope you enjoyed it andlearned something.
If you liked what you heard,please don't forget to subscribe
and leave us a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
Most importantly, share thispodcast with a like-minded
educator, parent or patriot.
(43:09):
You can also connect with us onsocial media and share your
thoughts on today's topic.
Give feedback on the podcast.
On today's topic.
Give feedback on the podcast orsuggest a topic by sending me
an email atTheConservativeClassroom@ gmail.
com.
We'd love to hear from you.
If you feel that educationwithout indoctrination and
(43:30):
teaching the truth is importantto preserve traditional values,
then support my efforts to keepthe conservative classroom
running.
I'm a full-time teacher and dadand part-time podcaster.
I invest a lot of hours and myown hard-earned money each week
to bring you quality content,but I need your help.
Check out the links in the shownotes and on the website to
(43:56):
support the podcast withone-time or recurring monthly
donations.
Every little bit helps.
To support the podcast withone-time or recurring monthly
donations, every little bithelps.
You can also visit our merchstore to get your own clothing,
coffee mugs, stickers, backpacks, book bags and more with The
Conservative Classroom logo orone of our many other
conservative slogans, such asage-appropriate does not equal
(44:17):
banning books.
Defund the teachers unions.
Keep politics out of theclassroom and more.
If you want to support commonsense in education without
pushing your politics, check outour products with the red
schoolhouse logo on it.
We know it's hard to be openlyconservative in some school
districts, but your silent showof support may help you find
(44:39):
other conservatives in yourcommunity and it lets you know
that you're doing the rightthing Until next time.
This is, Mr.
Webb, reminding you that youare not alone.
See you next time on TheConservative Classroom.
Teaching the truth.
Preserving our values.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.