A letter to the editor in this week’s edition of the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate illustrates why local governments in Illinois tend to be little better than the insane clown posse that passes for state government down in Springfield.

That letter, by Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 superintendant “Philip Bender, Ph.D” (apparently he’s another one of those folks who wants to be called “doctor” even though he can’t legally prescribe drugs) announced how District 64 observed School Board Members Day this past November 15.

That’s right: School Board Members Day. 

As best as we can tell, this particular faux special day is the creation of something called the Illinois Association of School Boards (“IASB”) or its parent organization, the National Association of School Boards.  According to the IASB’s website, observance of School Board Members Day is intended “to build a stronger relationship between school board members and the community” – and if that communty can’t figure out the best way to celebrate it, IASB will furnish a “proclamation,” “sample marquees,” a “tip sheet of suggested activities,” and various other gewgaws to help.

Frankly, if we’re looking for a pre-fab special day to celebrate, we’ll take Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19).  At least the people responsible for that day, unlike their counterparts at the IASB, don’t appear to take themselves seriously.

The last time we checked, school board members were elected by the voters of their community.  That fact alone would seem to suggest that they already have a sufficiently strong “relationship” with that community – or at least strong enough that the community’s voters were willing, however wisely or foolishly, to entrust them with oversight of a public school system which consumes approximately one-third of our property tax dollars.  If not, shame on the voters.

A faux special day to recognize elected public officials, however, is exactly what we would expect from a superfluous organization like the IASB, a…wait for it…“private not-for-profit corporation” (i. e., having no shareholders and, therefore, no real financial accountability to anybody) whose “mission” purports to be “excellence in local school governance in support of quality public education.”  We’re surprised they could exercise enough self-restraint to stop before adding: “at any price.”

We haven’t read any shining reviews about the quality of Illinois public education lately, so we’re not sure exactly how successful IASB has been in achieving its “mission.”  But from a couple visits to its website, we suspect it considers itself quite successful, thank you. 

And while Supt. Bender writes about the D-64 Board members’ “vision and leadership on student achievement, academic programs, funding, and school facilities,” we can’t put our finger on any particular demonstration of Board “vision” or “leadership” over the past 10-15 years, especially when it comes to “student achievement” – at least not as measured by objective standards like ISAT scores. 

Which may explain why School Board Members Day sounds to us like just more of the same old faux self-esteem that’s been baked into our culture for the past 20-30 years, presumably so that everybody can feel like Garrison Keillor’s fictional children of Lake Woebegone: “above average.”

But what a fluff-and-stroke organization like IASB and a we’re-fine-just-ask-us cheerleader like Supt. Bender don’t seem to get (or don’t seem to want the “above average” citizen to get) is that a public office like school board member, alderman, or park board member, although often described in terms of representing a “civic duty,” actually is an honor and a privilege – so much so that the folks who have sought and been awarded those offices by the voters owe their constituents a debt of gratitude and recognition, not the other way around. 

The public trust inherent in those public offices is one of the few “sacred” things in our secular society.  Thomas Jefferson considered the public trust of such importance that he believed it transformed those who hold it: “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself a public property.”

So if being accorded that honor and privilege isn’t “recognition” enough for the D-64 Board members (or aldermen or park board members), we doubt that any silly, superficial special day will fill the gap.

Except for silly, superficial people.  And silly, superficial not-for-profit organizations.

To read or post comments, click on title.