I have to admit that I struggled to read this book. I didn’t struggle because the material was boring or the author’s writing style was hard to grasp. I struggled for two reasons: 1.) The relationships between the people and the agencies discussed is complicated, to say the least; and 2.) The topic of the book- School Vouchers- made me so angry I could have chucked the book across the room, except I was reading on an iPad and that would have been expensive.

I really should have read this book before I read ‘The Essential School Board Book’ by Nancy Walser. This book by Davis Campbell and Michael Fullan does an excellent job of explaining not only the job of the school board, but the responsibility of being a school board member as well as the working relationship between the school board and the superintendent. So much so that my copy now has purple highlighting on quite a few pages, with notes in the margins for future references.

When I asked my mentor what types of books they suggested I add to my reading list in order to prepare for this role, they suggested I include some books on governance, so I found a few (12, to be exact… 😊).

My family likes to tease me endlessly because one of the first things I do when I take on a new job or project is look for a book, because I want to learn as much as possible before I begin. Very often, I end up with a list of books that I do end up reading in relation to the job or project. So, when I set out to run for the school board, this was one of the first things I did, and The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch is one of the first books I found.