Thoughts from the Vice-Chair of your School Board
As always- my mantra is necessary: These ideas/thoughts are mine and mine alone… I cannot and do not speak for the board. Now, let’s move on to my topic- your board.
The elections were held at the last board meeting, and I am pleased to say that I was chosen to be vice-chair. This, to me, is a great honor, and I am ready to work on the projects I had in mind earlier and those fermenting in my mind and others. For one thing- I want to reenergize the Key Communicator Network. This group of community members opens a two way street between you and the board and the board and you. A two-way street that hopefully will address questions you might have hopefully before they occur to you but certainly once they do. I have other things in mind as well but all of them have to do with a stronger, clear communication with the district parents, staff and children.
The next few columns are dedicated to those hard working co-board members – I begin today with Craig Soderberg. To me, Craig embodies the perfect board member. He is a bit of “no nonsense” person with a heart of gold who cares about his community and the children of that community. Craig was born in Texas spending only the first few months of his life there. He moved to Oregon in 1968 and has been an influential part of life here since then. He has opened his home for kids other than his own who need a home for various reasons. He recently married Sally of Illinois, and we all look forward to life with this powerful couple once she is able to relocate. Some, but not all, of his services to the community involve being a prime mover behind the MS-Cancer Funding for thirteen years, serving on the Business Development Committee for the Fern Ridge area, the Park Board [currently the chair], and of course, the School Board since 2007. His most recent term will expire in 2017. Here is a message from Mr. Soderberg.
Twinkle asked me to jot down a few thoughts, which I am glad to do. I have been on the School Board for nearly nine years and have had the privilege to serve this wonderful community alongside many amazing people. The current board has a fabulous passion that I frequently draw from. Our year old superintendent has many new skills that rarely find their way to a district our size. For instance, I got to golf with Eugene’s retired superintendent, George Russell, and he commented how fortunate we were to land Dr. Storm. I agree!! This is the fourth district leader I have served with, and she, I believe, is building on the foundations our last three superintendents erected.
Do we have a perfect district? Not at all. But we have leaders and administrators who want to continue to make this even better than I see that it already is. I am so glad that nobody is coasting! The new school improvements are very cool, but that too has to be attributed to the district leadership both past and present.
You truly can be proud of Fern Ridge School District, as we continue to aim for the “perfect” place, even as it is a fluid target. Thanks for letting me serve all these years.
Craig Soderberg exemplifies for me my quote for this column by Lao Tzu: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” Craig is a force to be admired and followed. I am honored to work beside him on the board. My video for this time is at https://youtu.be/C6xSyRJqIe8 – my advice this time is don’t skip the ad at the beginning… it is as potent as the actual video. As always, I look forward to your continued connection with me by writing to me at tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us . Until next time.