From the Classroom to the School Board

• Chantell

Welcome everyone to today’s episode of the K-12 Tech Podcast. I am so excited today to welcome two friends of mine. Danni Tymitz and Adam Phyall. Both of them are either running for or have recently run for and won seats on their local school boards. And I think what a fabulous way for educators to get their voices heard and make a real big impact on teachers and students in a new way. So I first met Danni, through Learn21. That’s where she works, and I’ll let her introduce herself here in just a minute. But we met at EdTech Advocacy Day in Washington, DC. Which is something I’m really passionate about. And of course, Danni being on the school board is passionate about politics as well. And advocacy. Danni, tell us a little bit about yourself.

• Danni

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for letting me have this platform to kind of talk a little bit about what I’m doing. Yes, we met on Advocacy Day and that was what my boss calls my like Walt Disney World trip. Because I was so excited to be there and so happy to like, be out in the capital and walking the streets. It was very, very, very cool to meet with our representatives. I am the Director of Professional Learning for Learn21. I’m also the ISTE chair, co-chair for the Ohio Partnership here in Ohio. And I am a recently elected school board member for the Mason City School District. Our school district has about a little over 10,000 students, and we’re the largest high school in the state. We’re not the largest district, but we are the largest high school because we’re consolidated into one big building. So I’m really happy to be here. Thanks.

• Chantell

Awesome. And I met Adam first virtually. It was Covid, and I didn’t know it, but he could see my Indianapolis Colts pennant in the background. And he is a huge Indianapolis Colts fan. So ever since then, we’ve been best friends because, I mean, United and Colts for the shoe. We are all there. But I’ve been on Adam’s podcast that he co-hosts with Carl Hooker a couple of times. Adam, you want to tell us more about yourself and your background?

• Adam

Yeah, I am a lifelong educator. Former high school science teacher, turned tech director. Now currently work for All4Ed as a Director of Professional Learning and Leadership. It’s been a fun and amazing adventure. You brought up the Covid component, and it’s so cool though, you know, out of the bad that was in Covid, a lot of good came from it. We had so many times that we were able to connect, virtually. I know as a tech person, for years I’ve been advocating for us to use some kind of video conferencing format, you know, because we had so many meetings that could have been an email meetings. But we just brought everybody together to go over a PowerPoint. I was like, you know, I think we were using like WebEx at the time. And I was like, let’s do this thing so we can have these virtual meetings. They’re like, no, nobody will ever do that. But because of all that, you know, I got a chance to meet wonderful people like you and a lot host of other people in this space. So, you know, I want to make sure we’re taking those good experiences along with everything else that came from that Covid experience.

• Chantell

Awesome. Well, as I said, Danni is on her local school board. Adam is running, so one of you is in it. One of you is going through it and hopefully is going to be doing it. And I want to know all of the details from both of you about that whole experience so far. And then what it’s like actually winning that election, Danni. So let’s go back and like talk about what’s your origin story here. How did you come to want to be on your local school board? Was it a moment, a slow build, a little bit of both? What made you decide to run? Danni, I’ll let you go first.

• Danni

Oh, so it was a very slow build. Because I would have never thought early on that I would ever consider running for office. I started my career as a fourth grade teacher. I was, you know, I was in the classroom. That was where I was… That was my happy place. And as I grew into my teaching career and becoming better, you know, kind of more capable in those areas, I ended up leaving the classroom about 15 years ago and joining Learn21. And I’ve been there working with districts across the country for about 15 years now. Seeing what’s going on in all these different districts. And as I, you know, as we progressed through life, as time, as time passes, things happen. And I found myself becoming more connected with my political party here and in my town and finding myself learning about elections and campaigns and all these different pieces and as those two things kind of converged. It was the perfect way for me to start thinking about what’s my next step. And realistically, at my core, I’m just a helper. So when Covid, you know, you guys talked about Covid and when Covid hit, the first thing I did was jump in and start building resources and making sure that people in my community had things for their kiddos. That’s just who I am. So when I started to see my skill set and the things that I had learned and things that I knew about education and knew about campaigning and running and all these different things, it felt like an interesting kind of natural exploration for me to go ahead and try and run for this. And then the thing that, like, solidified at that exact moment was when I started to realize that on our school board at the time, we had a really established board of people that had been on for a considerable amount of time at that point. And zero people had education background and classroom teaching background. So when I started looking at that and realizing that voice was missing, that teacher voice, that educator voice was really missing. I felt like that gave me the push I needed to say, yeah, Danni, this was the right thing. This is the time for you to try this out. So that was my kind of origin story  and what got me over here, so.

• Chantell

Excellent. That’s… You know, I think a lot of us in education can relate to that. We’re a helper. That is who we are at the core. So not unusual. Adam, how about you? What’s your origin story?

• Adam

Well, you know, I always thought at some point I would run for school board. In my mind, it was like one of these things. Oh, when I get old and retire. So either I’m old right now. Because I haven’t retired yet, but… But it’s one of those things where with my current employment, where I’m not working in my, the district that I live in now… But my kids, I have a child in elementary school, middle school and high school, and I, you know, I see their experiences, and I want to make sure that I can advocate for what’s best for all students. And it’s interesting because I’ve always been in one of those service roles, whatever it’s been. I currently serve on the board of directors for ISTE, ASCD as well. So I always had this mentality of like, we’re the ones that we’re waiting for. It’s easy to complain about, well, they need to do this. They, they, they…  You know, I want to be the they, you know. I need to be the one that’s up there. Because if I… Is complaining on the sidelines about the system, and changes and structures that need to happen, that’s not helping anything. So, you know, taking the opportunity to be a part of it, bringing my experience. Similar with my board here, it’s… Currently there’s no educator on the board, no former educators on the board. And as of this current year, no board member currently has a student in the system. Now, there may be some people who have some grandkids or nieces or nephews or something of that nature, but none of them are current parents on the board. The lady who is not seeking reelection, her daughter’s graduated. So she kind of said, okay, I’ve been on here for 16 years. My kids are leaving the district. It’s time for someone else to come in and lead the way. So the fact that I’m a parent first, community member, and also an educator, I think I’m able to bring a new perspective and lens to the board. And actually someone who sat at the cabinet level also, I think brings a different level of experience as well. Being able to know that… I know there were times where there were questions I wish the board would have asked me when I would be presenting an item, and they didn’t ask me, and I know I couldn’t volunteer that information because my superintendent would have strangled me. So she was like, stick to the script. So, you know, being able to ask the right questions, I think, is very important. As anyone who sits on a board seat.

• Chantell

Absolutely. And I think that is something very true about, you know, being a parent and having that like real experience of having a student in the system at the same time. And I look at our local school board and most of them, I think all of them do not have a currently a child in our system. I think that makes a difference on your perspective. Yeah. Awesome. So here’s a maybe a hypothetical question. Both of you have backgrounds in EdTech. You’re still working in EdTech now. Do you think that that shaped why you ran? Or did it just give you some extra skills? Maybe a competitive edge once you’ve already decided?

• Danni

I mean, I can start I… I don’t know. It did not shape why I ran. It didn’t really have a whole lot to do with it other than it wasn’t the EdTech piece so much. It was more the leadership piece that I had gained through my work on an EdTech agency. So it wasn’t necessarily the EdTech. However, the EdTech piece gave me lots of skills that are helpful, like website design and video recording and all the actual technical skill that got me a lot of campaign collateral that I was able to then utilize. And what was interesting is I find it to be so niche to have an EdTech person, because there’s only so many of us, even though we’re all pretty interconnected in our areas. So when I have conversations with people there, they have lots of questions about technology, specifically in our district and being able to intelligently answer those questions. And now sitting in that seat, you know, I went into the board the first month or two thinking, I’m just going to sit back. I’m going to listen. I’m going to just soak it in and figure out where I sit on this board. And one of the first things that came across our desk was our director of technology was stepping down, and we had to hire a new director of technology. So we ended up splitting that position. And then like immediately following that was our SIS transition, and we were transitioning from eSchoolPlus to Powerschool. And it was like oh gosh, these all sit in my wheelhouse. Hold on. So I had to like jump start a little bit, from where I was sitting to bring some of that expertise right in early on, even though my hope was that I would sit back. So this is something that comes up in boards all the time, and I’m just kind of living it now.

• Chantell

What do you think, Adam? Do you think it shaped your why?

• Adam

I wouldn’t shape the why. I would say… And keep in mind, I’m still running so, everything that I could say could be null and void if I don’t win election. But, I will say this. Especially… The AI has made it so much easier for me to go through this process. And say what you will about the political system. It is very complicated. It’s so many things that you don’t know. You know, people are like, you got to get a campaign manager. You have to do this. You have to do that. All these various things. But honestly, to be able to utilize something like Claude to go in there and ask some questions. To pull some data from the state site. To help with timelines and to get some clarification about you know, the processes, what is… what’s the actual amount of money I should think about raising. You know, like some of these things that you may not know. I think having the ability to know I can do that with AI. I mean I literally build out my campaign finance dashboard with an agent, you know, and I’m just uploading and doing those things. So simplifying some of that grunt work I think, has made my election like process for me feel a little bit lighter of a lift. And just talking to other people who may have had aspirations to run for something and saying they… The lack of knowledge is the thing that stopped them from doing that. And I think that’s sometimes where we end up with people who would be really great in certain positions, but not doing it. Because one, they like the finances, the just file the paperwork. But then, you know, that process of what do you have to do, you know, what is the expectations, being able to ask the right questions. Because a lot of people are shy. I don’t know who to ask, but sometimes, even though AI is not 100% accurate it can give you enough information where you’re like, okay, now I know who to ask. Or now I feel a little bit more enlightened in this process. So I wouldn’t say you know, it didn’t… It wasn’t my North Star. But you know, having this tech background for me made me feel a little more comfortable taking on a little more of the workload of running a campaign and doing some things without feeling like I was going to overextend myself and take away from my day job or my family time. As far as some of the prep work, and getting ready to kind of do these things. So that’s one thing for the listeners out there, you know, utilize the tools and resources that are out there, because, you know, you set your own limitations. So definitely, you know, if you want to run for office or you want to be on a seat or sit on a board, you know, definitely use your… Use your time, use your resources and take that opportunity.

• Danni

I’m glad you mentioned AI because I’ve run twice now and I know I didn’t kind of mention that in my origin story, but I ran the first time and lost by 41 votes. It was a heartbreaker. But in that first run in ‘23, I did not have AI. I wasn’t using AI. And things that I thought were overwhelming and intimidating to me in ‘23 became much lighter lifts in ‘25 when I ran because of AI. So one example is videos. I was very… It just made me nervous to figure out what to say and get my script together and everything. I knew my talking points, but I just needed some assistance. And in ‘25 when I had AI, I could give it all my talking points, say make me a one minute script. I would build my slides. I would put my face in front of the screen and I would use Screencastify. So I was using ChatGPT at the time and I was using Screencastify with a teleprompter. And I’m building these… These videos in one minute segments that I now had access to because it took away some of the intimidation factor. So yeah, use those tools because it is really a benefit, to everyone really, because my platform got out there and people knew more about me. 

• Adam

And, you know, it’s so funny you mention that because, I’ve done a couple of Q & A’s and… I did like a whole, like, brain dump, like everything that I thought about these certain topics. And then I literally, like, asked AI to be a critic, and I gave it… I fed it some demographics of my district that I’m in. And I said, okay, look for anything that I’ve said that could be offensive. You know, like, because sometimes you say things and you, you’re not you’re not a trained politician or whatever it may be, or you say something like, oh, that’s actually like an outdated term. Don’t use that. Use this. Like, and it just caught things that I normally wouldn’t have caught and it may have been something that no one else would have been mindful of. But it was that thing. And I’m like, okay, you know what? I need to make sure I adjust this. It was like hey, Adam, you want to make sure you circle back to your three points. You didn’t do that enough. Okay. Let me make sure I go back to those things. So having that tool to assist in that process. I didn’t tell it what to write for me or what to say, but it gave me some feedback that otherwise I’d be crowdsourcing from random people asking my wife or my neighbor, like, hey, what do you think about this? And you’re like, you know, leave me alone Adam. You know? So, but, you know, I think it’s kind of cool to have that resource out there, to kind of, you know, if you’re not well groomed in this space to get a little additional assistance.

• Chantell

So true. And I think, what are the statistics? Something like less than 1% of the global population has actually used AI. So if you’re comfortable using AI and using digital tools, of course that’s going to give you a little bit of an edge. Playing devil’s advocate, making the… concise scripts for all of those ideas that are in your head. Because as educators, most of us can be a little wordy. I know we come with the words. So, super helpful. That’s a great segue into like, the whole process of running for election. Like it’s a whole big deal. There are lots of steps, lots of deadlines, lots of moving parts. And you both talked about how that can be kind of overwhelming. Walk me through, like, what does it look like from the moment you decide you want to run for school board? How long did you take to run a campaign? For example, Danni, you said you’ve done it twice. So can you give me some of those details? Give us, the listeners, some of those details about what it takes.

• Danni

Sure, I mean, Adam’s more closely lined to it right now because he’s living it. He’s sitting in that moment. I will say that one of the first things you have to do is… Is you file your petitions. At least in Ohio we have to get signatures. I found out that between ‘21 and ’23, our population grew just over the threshold. So what used to be like 75 signatures turned into 150.  And I… So I started in February gathering signatures because I’m above and beyond, like just needed to get it done. And it was a great way to… What I did, basically there was beta test my doorknocking speech, was start talking to people and see what I, what I said resonated and was able to get that conversation started. So you file and then you just jump into campaigning and you have to connect with so many people. And I think Adam mentioned fundraising and like, how much do we even expect to raise in funds and, and how do we do that? And I think that was one of the biggest things for me, because you don’t know what things cost until you find out what things cost. And so you’re all of a sudden sitting here trying to figure out the best bang for your buck, and you’re raising money and talking to people. So it is a very long and hard process. But I will tell you, even the first year when I… In ‘23, when I lost. It was probably the most uplifting process of my life. Because you are walking around, you are talking to people. You are cementing  what you believe and what you value into your own personal speech. So you can tell people who you are. So not only did I learn just a ton about who Danni is and who Danni is from start to finish, not just campaign Danni, but I also had all these amazing people wrapped around me that were like, yeah, we need you to win. Get this, you got this. And they’re holding my signs up and they’re wearing my shirt on their.. on their on their walks around the neighborhood and the, silver sneakers class at the rec center. And it’s just this uplifting reminder that you’ve got this whole community behind you, even when later on, you find out this whole community is not behind you. At least not 41 of those people. So, it was… It was, that would be my kind of takeaway from campaigning.

• Adam

Yeah. And it’s similar, here in Georgia or where I’m running. There’s no petition process. It’s just filing your paperwork. It’s a party based system, it’s like the whole primary and all that stuff. So that… Something that I learned talking to some of my friends who ran for board. They’re like, oh, you got to get your signatures. I’m like, oh, I don’t have to get signatures. They’re like, what? So like, you know, it’s a different process, you know? But it was a primary, I wasn’t a primary. So, that’s so I transitioned over to the general ticket for our November election. And just really, as you said, getting out there and meeting the community. Because, kind of we kind of talked about this a little bit about, Covid and being on Zoom. But in some cases we get so stuck in our bubbles and, you know, not to go down a philosophical rabbit hole, but, you know, we go to work if we go worship in churches or whatever. That’s kind of our circles that we have. Our kids are playing sports. Maybe you talk to the moms and dads or whatever on the team, but you really don’t go down the street, talk to your neighbors anymore. You know, in our society, the way we kind of, in this fast paced kind of space. You know, which is interesting going around to some people’s doors realized they don’t use the front doors, they just use their garage because they just go in and out the garage. So but anywho… But this process has gotten me to really go around and talk to my neighbors, introduce myself, say, hey, this is what I am. This is, you know, we’re… Because in my district, so you’re within this certain mile radius of where I live. So you’re my community member. So it gives me it gave me a chance to kind of talk to these people, get a chance to know them. And even… And I told somebody, even if I don’t win my election, I feel like I’m a better member of my community now from having these conversations that I’ve had with my neighbors, the ones who have said, hey, I’m not going to vote for you, I’m a vote for your, the opponent. Great. You know, well, tell me what do you care about in education? Because I still I sit there like, oh, you will still want to talk to me. Yeah. It’s a process. I want to grow as a person. And maybe I can learn a little bit from you. Maybe my campaign. I’m not saying these things and this other campaign… This other person is saying these things. Not that I disagree with it but it was like, oh, okay, that’s a really good thing. I’m glad that they’re doing that. Because at the end of the day, my kids are still going to be in the school system no matter who wins. So I want to ensure that our board is doing what’s right for my kids and all the kids. So I need to know what the community cares about and in some cases, even clearing up some of the issues or the misconceptions that they have about what a school board member does. Because that’s something, I don’t know if you found this out Danni as well. A lot of people think the school board does things that it doesn’t do. And so it was like, oh, it’s like, hey, I just want to let you know that’s not actually the school board. That’s actually this group or your, your state legislator, you know, that you need to complain to that person, not this person or that’s the superintendent. Our job is to make sure the superintendents be held to the fire. So sometimes it’s also just educating the voter on, you know, what’s at stake in what the board actually does versus what the county does or what the city does. You know, there’s different things of that nature.

• Danni

Yeah, absolutely. That was one of those things where I’m like, oh man, everybody understands what school boards jobs are differently. And I had the I had the benefit, a couple… in ‘24, I went through a program called School Board School here, and it’s a seven month program, and it’s a couple times a month, full day sessions where we meet with community leaders, school board members, collaborate with and network with other people that are wanting to be school and school board members and school advocates. And the one thing, the one big thing that I took away is the school board’s job is the what, and the district’s job is the how. So yeah, I can, I can, I can figure out what I want you to do. But it is on the administration and those folks to figure out how it’s going to get done. And then for us to have oversight over those things. And I think that’s the hardest thing for people to understand that are not sitting in these conversations or in these spaces because it’s you feel like a school board’s in charge of everything. You can do whatever… You’re in charge. And that’s not really how it works, so.

• Chantell

Yeah, I think that’s a really common problem, is that people aren’t really sure who has which powers and who’s responsible for what. There’s a lot of gray area, and it can even vary a little bit, you know, state to state. What exactly the exact responsibilities are. So, Adam, you’re more than halfway through now, what’s something in the process that’s already surprised you?

• Adam

How long all this stuff takes.

• Chantell

Yeah.

• Adam

You know, people often ask me they’re like, Adam, you know, how’s it going? How’s it going? I’m like, well, I don’t know. There’s no polling data for school board. I mean, we’re so far down on the ticket, it’s not that kind of election. But just really, you know, as I go… I’ve gone through this process. What surprised me is just the… And kind of going back to the last thing I said. Just the lack of community understanding of what the board members do. And we’re set up in districts, and these lines have been drawn by somebody who I think closed their eyes and just like, you know, made shapes on the county map. And so even the piece that surprised me, like, people don’t know what district they’re in, because I have to be like, oh, Adam, I’m going to vote for you. It’s like I’m district five. You live in district one. You’re like, not even close to me. I appreciate it, you know, reshare my posts on social media, but you can’t vote for me. You know, that’s not what we can do here, but just, you know, the lack of people not really understanding the district that they live in, who represents them currently on the board in conversation. So it’s one of those things where, I think overall we need to do a better job. You know, once, once I win, I would love to do a better job of just the board being more visible in our area. So people know who their representatives are on those things, versus just showing up at our meetings and voting on items. Because I think our community deserves to know who represents them, whether they voted for that person or not. And I think there’s a big lack of understanding of who actually represents them and where these lines are drawn.

• Chantell

Yeah, absolutely. I… I find that here in our local school board elections as well, people don’t… They want to run. But maybe that seat’s not open this year in that district. And they have to wait and then they lose interest by the time it comes up. Or, you know, maybe maybe they’ve even moved, they’ve moved themselves, and now they’re in a different district. That happens to us, too. Danni, what’s something that surprises you about the process or about the community or about yourself through this process?

• Danni

There’s a few things. One is, is kind of what Adam alluded to. Is that how, like how the community… Just who the community is. And, and for me, how big the community is. Because you walk around and pre-election or pre-filing, you think you start building out all those people, you know, the groups that you mentioned before, church and school and dance. And for us it’s dance, and all those different groups of parents and people you interact with. And then you start doorknocking or making phone calls and you realize you’ve knocked 30 doors and you don’t recognize one name, and you start realizing you’ve gone through neighborhood after neighborhood of places where you’ve never been because your town is bigger than you realize. And all of a sudden you realize just how many 7000 or 8000 voters actually is and how many convincing conversations you have to have in order to make sure you touch at least enough people to get your message out to, to make it onto the board. And I think that part was really interesting to me because I… We live in a town that is very large, we’re a city and then we’re also a township that merged into our school district. So we are pretty, we’re pretty sizable, and we’re where we’ve been growing for years. And so I knew it was big. But when you start to sit down and look at just the sheer size of everything and the sprawl of where people live and how they vote and all these different factors, the data that you can get out of the the voter database, even you start to realize just how diverse the group is and how how many people actually live there. And then it starts to build what your conversations look like. It starts to build what your engagement looks like. So that would be my that would probably be my biggest one is just how large our community actually is.

• Danni

And Danni, if I could add to that like, just with door knocking, the number of people that when they do answer because, you know, our ring cameras now it’s a whole thing. But the number of people who are like, wow, no one’s ever come to my door before. No one’s ever solicited my vote, or no one’s just stopped by just to talk to me about whatever the case may be. So that’s been something that’s been surprising as well. And then I started thinking about it myself. I was like, nobody’s ever knocked on my door and asked for my vote. You know, even me. So that’s something that’s been very surprising to me throughout this process as well. 

• Danni

I had a really cool experience doorknocking last fall, and I walked up to some, a gentleman’s house and he was outside doing something in his yard. And he… I told him about myself and my platform. He’s like…. And he said the same thing. No one’s ever come to my house. You’ve got my vote. Do you have a sign? And I said, I sure do have a sign. So I dropped it off. I put it in his yard and, and it just it was that moment of reminder that all this work and this time to talk to voters, whatever method you use was really worth it, because he now knew my name and he knew I cared enough to come solicit his vote, to come talk to him and tell him what’s important to me. So I thought that was.. It was one of those good reminders I needed.

• Chantell

All right. So I want to talk next about push back. Let’s split it into two kinds. Are you getting any pushback specifically because you’re an educator or an EdTech person? And then are you getting any pushback just from just putting yourself out there publicly?

• Adam

I can talk about this as I’m kind of in it right now. I don’t think… The good thing, with my seats and the current election, knock on wood. It hasn’t been very charged around any of these cultural issues that are out there, you know, right now. So I know there are some folks who feel some kind of way about screen time. That was one of my concerns. I was like, oh, with the anti tech debate. Well, somebody kind of, you know, come after me with that. Which I’m fine answering those questions or concerns. But that hasn’t been necessarily an issue that I’ve run into on the, on the, on the trail of anything It’s been something that someone says, oh I remember you from when you were in the system as a technology person. You know a lot about this stuff. And I’m like, oh yes sure Yes I do. And they’re like, oh, well we’d love to have somebody like you on the board because you can help us get through all this stuff. And then they’ll start talking about data centers we’re getting in our community and I’m like, that’s not the same… That’s not me, that’s the county commissioner. That’s not me with the data centers. But I hear your concerns. But we would love to advocate the Googles and Metas of the world for more dollars toward our school system. But, I think it’s one of those things where people who know me, going into it have said, we’re happy that you’re bringing your skill set to this position that you’re running for. We are happy to have someone coming there. But it hasn’t been, anything that I’ve seen directly, any pushback. And I try not to scour too much on the social media because, you know, we have that community Facebook page that they’ll complain about. Somebody cut me off on the road. They’ll take a picture of somebody’s car saying, you know, this person? And I always thinking like, what are you going to do if somebody says they know that person? Like, yeah, but you know, I’ve been on the good side of things, knock on wood. I’ve been able to avoid those landmines.

• Danni

You just hope when they post that car it doesn’t have your campaign magnet on the back. 

• Adam

Oh, God. Okay, okay, okay, I know you’re going to say this but quick story, a quick side story, okay. We were in our little town square, and somebody was like… I was backing out and the car whipped around me and almost hit me, or whatever. And so I got on my horn and my and of course, we had the magnetic signs on the side of my car. My wife was like, Adam you know these signs are on there… the car, we can’t be honking at people and stuff, I’m like but they cut me off. She was like still the signs on the car. And I’m like, okay, fine, but I will say this much. Since this, I’m already a safe driver. But since my signs have been on the car like I’ve been super safe. Like no cellphones in my hand. No, because I don’t want anybody to snap a photo of, like, this school board member is running for school board and was speeding in a school zone. He was on his phone while he’s driving, you know, like, none of that. So I’m, like, 10 and 2. Checking my mirrors, all this stuff, you know? Yeah. So somebody imaging that.

• Danni

That is so real. When your name is on your car, you are especially careful.

• Adam

Yes.

• Chantell

Oh, goodness. What about you, Danni? Have you seen any pushback because of your background or any pushback in general about putting yourself out there in public? Or have you had that same experience as Adam where it’s been pretty friendly?

• Danni

It’s been pretty friendly. Honestly, I was surprised early on to have a political experience. We’re nonpartisan here in school board and city council elections. So, I wasn’t expecting it to be as political as it is. And so that part was a little bit weird. So that would be where I would get most of the pushback. But I’m not getting pushback because of my educator status. And to be really clear, like I led with educator and then added in the EdTech part. So I was an educator first on my campaign. And it is who I… That’s how I identify. I’m an educator that happens to specialize in EdTech. So I think that helped. And we have a lot of support for our teachers and our schools here in my community, so that helps too. So when they see an educator and they hear that messaging, it worked really well. So yeah, no. But we have had a little bit of the conversation around the screen time debate in our board meeting. We’ve had people come, a person come and speak to that and it’s nice for me to be able to say, okay, I have resources for this. I know how to have this conversation. I’m happy to have this conversation and to be that liaison, that person that knows these things on our board, which is I find to be more helpful than pushback, per se.

• Chantell

Awesome. Well, it’s great that you both have mostly experienced, you know, friendly elections process because that’s not always the case. I think it does help to be, since it’s nonpartisan, it blurs those lines a little bit. That can be so dividing. And, you know, most people can rally around. They want a good school system and good education.

• Adam

Yeah. Can I say, Danni? Thanks. I’m happy, I’m so happy yours is nonpartisan. Ours isn’t here in Georgia, which to the life of me, I don’t get that. School board should not be a partisan office. And so, of course, I have had to go through the party process, but with that being said, that’s not anything on my platform. That is to your point. It’s, you know, I’m a parent. I’m an educator. This is what I lead with community members and those are the pieces I want you to know about me. You know, you see me at the ball field, you see me at the grocery store, you know, that’s, you know, seeing me at these school events. That’s who I am. R, D, I’s, by your name should not matter ultimately. Does the person you know? And I think ultimately we need to get back to more of that because, I’m a firm believer that we have more in common than different. But we’ve allowed some social media platforms to allow folks who, you know, make a broad accusation about people based on something that somebody said. And so I’m happy that yours is nonpartisan and that was the one thing going back to our last question that actually scared me going into running was doing a whole party process. And I’m like, okay, I don’t want to do this because I don’t necessarily want to go out there and drag my family through the mud and muck and all that. And that’s something I asked my wife. I’m like, hey, if this, if I do this and somebody does do that, would you be okay? And I even talked to my kids. You know, hey, this could happen. And people could say bad things about daddy. Just letting y’all know that. Would you be okay with that? And they’re like, you know, we’ll support you dad and all this stuff, but I wanted my family to understand that by me doing this, unfortunately, they could once again, love my community and no one has done that. So I’m so happy that did. But just being that person who thinks about everything that could go wrong in the process and, you know, as a tech director, we’ve done that. We’re like, okay, all these things go wrong. What if the network goes down, all these things. So, you know, that was part of that going into that. And I would tell anyone who’s running to have that conversation with your loved ones because, you know, even if once you are on the board and Danni can probably share, if you do have one of those, issues where the community pushes back against the board and your vote doesn’t go the way some people want, then you could be attacked for whatever reason they want you to be attacked for whatever narrative somebody puts out there. So you have to be comfortable with that when you choose to run for a public office.

• Danni

Yeah, absolutely. I think too, for me, I, we definitely had that conversation both times I ran with my family was are we willing to do this and then are we willing to do this again? I did not get any that I can think of negative commentary either on social media or elsewhere, which I was, you know, you see other elections and they get kind of nasty at times. And even our smaller elections here in Ohio get a little bit nasty, but ours did not, thankfully. And we had people from both sides, you know, all three parties actually independent, Democrat and Republican running. And the thing that sat with me the entire time when I was running is I’m going to have to work with some of these people, I’m going to have to be a collaborator and a productive collaborator with someone that I’m standing outside this Board of elections with, that I’m on this panel with, that I’m campaigning against. And so it was really crucial for me to keep things aboveboard and honest with just focusing on what I was going to do, because I knew we were going to be a team in five months or four months or whatever it was. And thankfully, as I’m on the board now and I am sitting on the dais with people that are of all kinds of different political backgrounds, we get along great and we’re able to listen to each other and contribute and have those conversations. But it’s because I think we all kept it civil during the campaign part, and that helped.

• Chantell

You both bring up a great point that you might be the one whose name is on the sign, but it’s your whole family that’s running for a public office. You know, you get some of that scrutiny. You’re in the public eye as an educator, kind of held to a higher standard. This just elevates that even more, I think. Great point. Earlier, Adam, you kind of alluded to this. Are there either one of you, are there specific policy infrastructure or procurement decisions? You see boards get wrong that you want to fix or that you have fixed. Adam, you said you wish the board would have asked you some questions and they didn’t. What do you think? Are there some things that you think could be corrected or could be maybe understood better by the community? 

• Adam

I can hop in, like one of the things that kind of frustrates me at times. And once again, I love my school system. That’s why I’m running. Love our current administration. I think they’re doing a great job, but they often do the spin on data. So, when the superintendents sharing like growth and gains, I’m sitting there like, you know, you know, you’re sharing that number, but that really is not the gains we should be stressing and focusing in on. That’s a good point to tell the community that we’re making progress, but we actually aren’t making the progress that we need to make and or just asking that question where it’s like, okay, well explain how this is going to have that direct correlation to our literacy scores, because what you said is this, but you haven’t shared this number that the state is actually holding us accountable for. Where are we on that number? So I think sometimes having a board member that knows that can smell BS and be able to call out sometimes and once again, you know, we don’t we don’t work for the superintendent as a board member, you know, but you want to make sure that you’re getting the results that as a system that you should get. And I think it’s disingenuous at times when superintendents share data that may not tell the true picture or the accurate picture of where we are, and not throwing anyone under the bus. But during my time at the takeaway, I remember sitting at the hearing, our curriculum department share stuff, and I’m like, that ain’t really the true story here y’all are… Y’all are sugarcoating this, to the public. And if somebody if the board would have asked you this, then you would have had to answer it directly. And so I think with my experience and, and what I’ve seen whether in my district or the role that I have now at Future Ready Schools, working with schools across the country gives me a better perspective and more insight on what questions to ask and to kind of push our staff, our leadership team to do better. To get better results for our kids because we… People send you the best kid they got, If they had better kids they’d send you those too. But, you know, they send you the ones they got. So our job is to do the best with what we have and to continue to make our students successful. So we just have to be open and honest in those conversations. I think sometimes we’re not totally honest and truthful. And my job is to, you know, get those truthful answers out and make sure we’re doing what we need to do.

• Chantell

Yeah. Danni, what about you? Do you think that, from your perspective as an educator, as an EdTech leader, that there are some things that boards aren’t getting right or misunderstand?

• Danni

Yeah. And I think the point that we’re there to ask a lot of the right questions is, is an important one. Because that is really the crux of it. I’m just one board member of five. So when a decision maybe doesn’t go the way you’re expecting it to, what the public doesn’t necessarily isn’t necessarily privy to, in at least in our district, is all the work session conversations. Because they are public, but nobody comes. People come to our board meetings periodically, but nobody’s going to come to a work session. Which I understand, but they don’t see the back and forth. They don’t see all the discussion that went into this decision that’s coming. And I think one of the things that I see differently now as a board member and actually a little bit prior to that, because I started engaging, was just learning the processes. So I understood them. You know, people go into the school district and they have their frustration… They have frustrations around certain topics or certain things that are happening. And I did too, because I was trying to figure things out as a parent of young students. And what I did to figure that out is I started attending coffees with the superintendent, and I started going to our board meetings. I was a figurehead at all of our board meetings. It was me and the union rep and our board and our administration. And like that would be it in the room for almost two and a half years. And so by the time I joined the board, I knew how they’re making decisions on curriculum, because I understand the process that it goes through, the student achievement committee and they get referrals. And like I kind of went through all that. So now it’s not a surprise. So much now because I had already learned those things, and I had done the digging and the questioning and the asking, as a community member. Now I just get to sit in the seat. So when those decisions are coming forth, I can ask those questions to my board, my fellow board members, and help not just educate them, but help us to kind of dig and puzzle solve to make sure we’re doing the right thing for the kids based on all of our kind of combined experience.

• Adam

That’s such a good point there, as far as being aware of what’s happening. Because it’s easy… I wouldn’t say it’s easy but it’s one thing to say, I’m just going to run, and the first time you attend a board meeting is when you win. I mean that, you know, and even if you don’t, can’t physically be there, I know, I don’t know about y’all, but ours are recorded there, you know, live streamed on, on, YouTube. Things of that nature just watching those work sessions, watching the regular board session, understanding the issues that the board is grappling with, reading over those minutes and notes, I think is something that every candidate should do. But in some cases, even if you’re an educator within that district, and I know you got a ton of stuff on your plate, I get it. But just kind of getting a high level, okay, what’s what’s getting approved right now? What’s the board grappling with right now? Because it’s going to… It’s impacting you as an employee of the district. It’s impacting you as a parent in that district. So you can have some valid concerns. So you can come to your board members and say, hey, I saw that this is an item coming up about benefits for teachers. You know, this is how I feel of this or hey, I see you’re going to we do a lot with millage rate and taxes for, you know, you know, this is how I feel about this. I understand that the rates are going to go up, but I do also understand that we have to pay for XYZ. So, you know, just being able to get that thing, and read it and be aware, just being knowledgeable I think is so key, of everyone, especially candidates.

• Danni

A hundred percent.

• Chantell

Yeah, absolutely. So as we kind of start to wrap it up a little bit here, you know, Danni, you’ve done it twice. And Adam, you’re almost getting near the end of it. Would you recommend this to other education leaders, other EdTech leaders out there, this whole process. I know if you live in your school district and work in… If you live and work in the same district, you can’t run for your school board. But maybe some other local politics where an educator could make a difference. Would you recommend that?  Would you go through it again?

• Danni

I would. I would recommend it to somebody that has the time and the energy to devote to it. If you know… This is not a power job. This is not a… You don’t get tons of recognition, you don’t get noticed at the grocery store. Like this is just, kind of a get in there, be a servant leader, listen to your community and do what you think is best for kids. And I think if you have those ideas in the back of your mind. And that’s where your heart is. Yeah, it’s a great thing to do because I think people, especially Ed leaders or EdTech leaders more specifically, we’ve got a more broad experience with districts. And I think sometimes districts get in their own silo in their little bubble, and they do what they’ve done and they, you know, we’ll figure this out. We’ve got the people, we’ve got the resources. And being able to bring in that external perspective sometimes is just what is needed. And I found the best way for me to do that was at the board level. But if that’s not your thing, if campaigning is not your thing, if talking to voters is not your thing, if elections are not your thing, find some way to engage that is meaningful. When I lost my first election, I was kind of lost. I didn’t know how I was going to going to what the next thing for Danni was like. That was like, what? What do I do now? And I got added to the board of our school foundation, and I’ve been on our school’s foundation board now for three years, and it is probably one of the best experiences I’ve had. Because we are a working board. We’re out there volunteering, we’re working with teachers, we’re supporting through grants, innovative projects, and innovative spaces and reading and literacy. All these things that we know are good for kids. And that was a byproduct of me doing having this experience, because now I they knew I was committed to the district, and one of the best moments was when I got my committee assignments after I won the election, because I thought I was going to have to step down from the school foundation board. And it happens to be one of our superintendents committees also. So that was my assignment. I get to be the board liaison over at the school foundation. So I still get to interact with these people. I’m still volunteering all the time and wearing my school’s foundation shirt, and it is probably one of the biggest bright spots out of that first loss. Just coming out of that and feeling so low and then finding somewhere, someplace to throw my energy.

• Chantell

Awesome. What about you, Adam? Would you do it again? Would you recommend it?

• Adam

I was going to say, you know Danni, get out of my head. Because as you were talking like, you know, I’m sitting here mentally making my point that I’m going to talk about, And you hit a lot of those things, because I was thinking, like, because I currently serve on our YMCA board, my local YMCA board, and my local, library systems board. So I say to any educator out there, we have so much knowledge and experience, that these boards in our local community deserve to have us sitting on those, whether it’s, you know, a Parks and Recreation board, like, whatever those things are, it doesn’t have to necessarily be school board. But as educators, we bring such a unique lens and perspective to our communities that we work in and serve. So, yes, you may work in your in that district. You can’t run for school board but find some other way. And I know we have life, we have papers to grade or whatever. We have our kids. But you know, finding those opportunities where we can be actively involved in our community, I think it gives us a better connection to our neighbors, to our to where we live. And it just makes us better people. So, to go back to answering the question, yes, I mean, I would definitely would do it again. You know, my goal and my plan and desire is to win. But if I don’t, alright Danni, thank you for like being an inspiration to someone who did not wasn’t successful the first time and turned right back around and got out there and did it again. And that’s, that’s what we need to do sometimes, you know, that first no isn’t a no sometimes. Sometimes it’s a, hey, I need to go back and try something a little bit differently or now learned and b eing able to retool and move forward with it. So, you know, you’ve inspired me. If no one else is telling you that today, you know, I believe every conversation and every meeting happens for a reason. So thank you, for putting this together. Because now I’ve been able to meet you, and I have some, some, this inspiration and somebody I can pick their brain or some ideas when things start coming my way as well. So thank you for sharing and being who you are.

• Danni

Please do. Please pick my brain.I’m happy to connect.

• Chantell

Awesome. Awh look making connections all the time. That’s what we do in education right? All right. So towards the end here we do a little bit of a rapid fire round. So I’m going to ask you some questions. These are quick responses. So Adam the first one is to you. One word fill in the blank. Campaigning is…

• Adam

Fun.

• Chantell

Awesome. Danni serving is…

• Danni

Fun. He said my word.

• Chantell

Well, the whole process is fun. Awesome. So Danni, what do you think is the biggest myth about school boards?

• Danni

That we have… That we have direct contact with all the day to day processes of the school. Of the school.

• Chantell

Yeah, absolutely.

• Danni

And control over it.

• Chantell

Adam, what’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you started?

• Adam

How hot it is in Georgia in July to be walking around knocking on doors, and how quickly it can rain. And at the same time, when it’s 100 degrees and we have a thunderstorm, and you have to run to your car and get right back out there. Yeah. I wish somebody would have told me to be ready for all of that.

• Chantell

All right, and final rapid fire question here for both of you. One EdTech tool every school board member should actually understand?

• Danni

The SIS.

• Chantell

Yeah. Controls everything. It’s the brains of the operation. Adam, what do you think?

• Adam

You know, I’m going to go, like really… What I want to say is everything’s connected to the network.

• Chantell

It is. Everything is connected to the network. From the HVAC to school safety to the computers that our students and teachers use. Absolutely. All right, so final thoughts here. What’s one thing someone should do if they’re considering, what’s one first step they could take if they’re considering running for a school board position or another board in their community?

• Danni

Go to the meetings. Pay attention to what they actually do.

• Adam

Yeah. Just walk up and talk to someone that’s currently serving on that board. Don’t be intimidated, because if they’re an elected official, they should be willing to talk to you, and especially if they’re representing your area or whatever, talk to them and see what it’s like to be on the board.

• Chantell

Yeah. The more you know, the more information you come armed with, the better board member you can be. I think that’s true no matter what the board is. Well, we’ll share your LinkedIn profiles and your campaign websites if anyone wants to check out what a great campaign website designed by an EdTech leader looks like. And if they want to connect with you later. I want to thank you so much for being here today and for giving us some insight into this process. I agree with both of you that education leaders, from the classroom to instructional assistants, anyone who works in the system has so much to bring to school board, to other local boards, to local government, and we’re doing a disservice by not putting our best foot forward to help the students, teachers, and communities we serve. So thank you again for being here. Catch us next time on the K-12 Tech Podcast. And don’t forget that if you fill out the Google form, you can get a professional growth point for listening today. You can put that towards your education license renewal or your CTL renewal. Thanks.