Democracy is an ongoing process: it takes attention, work, and perseverance.

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Thomas Paine

(We know that Tom P. would amend that statement now to include ALL American citizens. ALL those who love freedom must undertake the effort to support and protect it.)

You may feel that things are looking up in CB. The policies to which we objected have been neutralized, the board is looking at improving them, and we hope to see some financial prudence. Plus respect for ALL our families. That’s great!

But if you are entertaining some notion that it’s all over, that you can step down now, that it’s crisis averted, or anything like that, think again.

We know what happens when we look away and think someone else is minding public education: our issues lose big.

Did you enjoy hearing the old board majority talk about ugly imputations toward our teachers? Did you like hearing a callous disregard for our most vulnerable students? How about book challenges and bans? Discriminatory policies? Did you relish seeing our name in national media as a laughingstock of backwardness?

We didn’t like it either. It happened because we looked away and we don’t intend to forget that.

So we all got engaged.

We rose up.

In the spirit of Liberty and Justice for ALL, in the spirit of E Pluribus Unum, we went to meetings, we took notes, we wrote letters, we talked to our neighbors—in short, we practiced democracy.

So now we’ve had a little rest. We had our winter holidays. We maybe baked some cakes and ate them.

Now it’s time to get cracking.

We need to return to school board meetings, to letter-writing, to talking with friends and neighbors, to public comment.

And it doesn’t stop there.

We need to branch out to committee meetings:

Think of the school board committees as being the source of all policy, all decisions, all initiatives. The committees deal with ALL the issues before they get to the whole board. They’re the fountain, the spring, the source of every decision and direction in our district.

Without public input to the committees, the board cannot make fully informed decisions. The committees determine policy drafts, spending recommendations, and the governance of the daily workings of our district. Our input helps them do all this with prudence and mindfulness of ALL their constituents.

The fact is that our committees need us.

Let’s show our committees the love and attention they deserve.

Are you thinking, “Gee, this is a lot of work. I don’t know how many evenings I want to be out at meetings”? We hear you! We feel the same way!

And yet what’s the alternative? Bring the old policies back? Let the old board run again and win again and marginalize our kids again?

Don’t deceive yourselves. Democracy, as ol’ Tom P. well knew, is an ongoing process and it takes attention, work, and perseverance. It’s never finished, It’s always vulnerable. It needs YOU.