Storm Elected President; Swanson, Nolan VPs

Wes Storm was elected president of the Board of Education of the Rapid City Area Schools tonight, defeating Sheryl Kirkeby by a 4 to 3 vote. Storm’s victory was followed by the elections of Brett Swanson and Suzan Nolan as first and second vice presidents by similarly split votes. 

The new slate of officers may signal a new era in the board’s approach to a wide variety of issues. Storm, Swanson and Nolan have all had extensive experience in education. Storm’s 40-year association with the District has included time spent as a teacher, coach, principal, and athletic director. In addition, he has previously served as school board president and was on the board the last time the district had to hire a new superintendent.

Swanson taught for a number of years in the District before moving on to teach at the university level. His wife, Jackie, a former districtwide teacher of the year, teaches at North Middle School. Dr. Suzan Nolan was a teacher and a counselor and over the course of a 33-year career in the District worked with students of all ages.

Storm, Swanson and Nolan were supported in their run for the officer positions by board member Daphne Richards Cook. Richards Cook attended the meeting by phone from California where her husband Robert is attending a meeting of the National Indian Education Association, an organization he serves as president.

The election of leadership with deep and intimate knowledge of the day-to-day operations of the District suggests that the administration will be challenged much more frequently than it has been in the past. This may prove to be a good thing, leading to better planning and decision-making overall. Board members with natural sympathies and a greater understanding of students and teachers may also help to raise the morale among the staff in  the District.

But there is also the danger that Board members with such deep knowledge will want to get into too much of the day-to-day decision-making that should properly be the responsibility of the administration. If they do, this could heighten tensions between the board and the administration and do no one any good in the long run.

The new alignment on the board also now casts the board members in new roles. The new majority will no longer have to struggle to influence the direction of the District — they have the votes. Instead, they will face the challenge of listening to and honoring the perspectives of the new minority even as they move forward with changes they feel are long overdue.

Similarly, long-time board members Sheryl Kirkeby, Doug Kinniburgh and Leah Lutheran, accustomed to being in the majority and in leadership will find themselves in a new position. Over the last several years they have been supportive of the status quo within the District and deferential to the administration. They now face the challenge that Storm, Swanson and Richards-Cook have faced over the last year — to continue to articulate their points of view at a time when the majority chooses to move in a different direction.

All of these tensions will be played out against the backdrop of the last year of Superintendent Peter Wharton’s service to the District. Knowing all of these board members, it’s clear that they will try to find ways to reach consensus, but there will also be times when they disagree. And it will get uncomfortable at times.

Superintendent Wharton has often remarked that the tragedy of many school districts is that attention becomes too focused on the concerns of the adults in the system and the children get lost in the equation. Lets hope that regardless of the realignment of perspectives on the board, the education of Rapid City’s children remains at the top of everyone’s agenda.