Sometime this evening, after spending last night drafting the clerk�s report for the annual meeting and this evening talking to parents upset at the resignation of our coordinator of special education, I realized that I am ready to be off the school board. Maybe it�s just that Day graduates eighth grade next week and her restlessness to be done is infecting me. Maybe it�s Paul�s death. Maybe it is just the prospect of spending lots and lots of time this month hiring an interim principal. Whatever it is, I�m ready to move on. Too bad that my term is not up until next April.

When I first joined the school board, I actually thought it usually was fun. I liked being in the know and considering what was best for the schools I loved. But in recent years, the fun has gone. When I first joined, administrators were former teachers and they stayed for years. Now, they come, they get experience, they go. The door to the principal�s office should be a revolving door.

The money has gone too. I just read that the outline of next year�s federal budget cuts education significantly. We do not get much federal money but every little bit helps. The state funding is drying up too and we are capped and cannot make up that lost revenue. Parents want more and the community seems to demand it too. While it is true that money alone will not make a school district great, constantly diminishing monies in a time of rising costs doesn�t do much for any school district.

Some districts pull together when the going gets rough. Our district has been pulling apart for some time. Meetings are angrier. People are less civil. People assume bad motives. The sense of community I once felt is fading with the constant churning.

I am burned out and I think this year I will be talked to death. Our new president cannot run a brief meeting and believes in constant meetings. If it is not one thing, it is another. She is threatening to have a bunch of committees as well as regular meetings as though more talk will change anything.

I�m tired and I feel myself pulling away even though I signed up for this. No, I will not run again. I just hope I can fake it through the year.

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