School Board Member Wants to Halt Out-of-State Travel

South Washington County School Board member Jim Gelbmann says a trip to Florida for the 1996 National School Board Association convention yielded one good thing.

“From a personal perspective, it was great. The speaker was Colin Powell, and I even reused one of his jokes in my speeches,” he said. “But as far as helping the students in District 833, it did nothing.”

Gelbmann wants board members to stop traveling out of state for conventions. He sees the trips as a waste of money because school districts vary greatly from state to state and there are other avenues available to obtain the information.

“There is very little you can learn from national conferences,” he said.

Gelbmann brought up his objections during last week’s school board workshop, during which members were examining ways to trim the 2011-12 budget. He acknowledged that sending a board member to San Francisco is a fraction of the district’s approximately $151 million budget.

“But this year, of all years, is a year that nobody should be going,” Gelbmann told Woodbury Patch. “We’re cutting $3.5 million to $5.5 million from the budget and eliminating positions and services, and I don’t see why we should be sending someone to San Francisco.”

Aaron Bushberger, the district's director of finance, said it costs $1,975 per person to send someone to the NSBA conference.

Board chair Leslee Boyd has never been to an out-of-state conference, but said the events are valuable for the school board.

“It’s our responsibility to stay on top of best practices and I’m not sure that’s always possible to do by staying in state,” she said.

Boyd said two board members—Marsha Adou and Laurie Johnson—are heading to the national convention in early April and the district is in a strong enough financial position to send them there.

Asked if the board should revisit its travel policies, Boyd said, “If we were in the position of some districts, perhaps. … But I don’t think were at a point where continuing education is something we need to be cutting back on.”

Of Adou and Johnson, Boyd said they do a good job of keeping up to date on the latest education initiatives.

“I think it’s important for everyone to stay on top of current trends in education and I hope all of our board members are doing the same type of thing," Boyd said.

Johnson, who will be heading to her first national convention this year, said she shares Gelbmann's concerns about the district paying for travel and plans to pay for her flight and hotel herself. The convention is a good opportunity to attend several presentations in a short time span, and a seminar on technology looks especially interesting, she said.

“I don’t think that anyone would say that anybody has abused this,” Johnson said, adding that she didn’t think Gelbmann’s comments were appropriate in that light.

“It’s trying to stay ahead of the curve in a big district that affects a lot of students and teachers,” she said. “We can’t just rest on our laurels and not take advantage of the tools that are out there.”

Gelbmann said that when he returned from convention back in 1996, he declined half his school board stipend, which was $4,600 at that time. He said the board should utilize online webinars and other measures if members feel a national perspective would be helpful.

“There’s just so many other avenues for you to learn,” he said. “(Conferences) are more for personal benefit than they are for the benefit of the kids.”

“I see no value whatsoever,” Gelbmann said.

Adou said school board members go to few conferences as it is.

"People always wonder why we don't come to anything," she said. "One (trip) a term is probably OK—it gives us a global perspective."

The conferences are a good chance to see what's working elsewhere and tout the successes of District 833, Adou said, adding that it's not a good idea to "keep your head down in your district."