■ GOVERNANCE
Doug Eadie
Lessons in Unlikely Places
Governance books are great, but consider adding fiction to
your reading lists for a well-rounded view of education
A few days ago, batting around
ideas for this month’s column, I decided
to write about an aspect of school gov-
ernance that is critical but often under-
valued: the responsibility of board mem-
bers to educate themselves not just on
their governing responsibilities, but
more broadly about issues in the field of
public education.
This is a facet of “board self-manage-
ment,” which I’ve described in several
of my books. In addition to educating
yourself about the big issues, self-man-
agement includes setting governing per-
formance standards and targets and reg-
ularly evaluating the board’s perfor-
mance as a governing body.
Self-education can involve attending
NSBA conferences and state school
boards association workshops, but
another way of staying on top of the
changing field of school governance
and developments in K-12 education is
to build a library of books and periodi-
cals (such as ASBJ—see 2010’s top
education books on Page 28) that are
pertinent to governing a modern
school district.
The natural starting place, of
course, is books that deal explicitly
with K-12 governance, and from there
you can expand to broader issues. But
sometimes you can find wonderful,
applicable information in the most
unlikely places.
38 American School Board Journal ■ www.asbj.com ■ January 2011
viding inspiration and a relatively pain-
less way of understanding complex
issues.
The floor-to-ceiling bookcases cover-
ing one whole wall of my study include
many works of fiction that have
enriched my professional life. For
Learning something new
“From the time I was a little girl ... I
wanted to be a teacher,” Jenna Bianchi
example, R.F. Delderfield’s To Serve
Them All My Days, the beautifully told
story of a British private (“public” in the
UK) school teacher who becomes a
beloved headmaster, has on re-reading
told members of her school board. never failed to rekindle the flame of my
“When I was growing up, my heroes passion for education, reminding me of
weren’t athletes or rock singers or what makes it such a noble profession.
movie stars. My heroes were the people Mulling over the topic of this month’s
who made learning come alive for me. ... column, I spied my copy of Project June
When I see a student in trouble, I feel Bug and realized that it would add a
honor-bound to do everything in my new twist to the subject I write about
power to help.” for ASBJ. (In the interest of full disclo-
Bianchi, the protagonist in Jackie sure, the school board featured in the
Minniti’s novel, Project June Bug, book does the right thing.) Then I won-
explains this as she describes her work dered about the types of fiction that I
with Michael Taylor, an angry, troubled should recommend for board members
yet gifted student who she believes who want to learn more broadly about
could have attention deficit hyperactivi- the work they do.
ty disorder, or ADHD. Taylor’s father Here are my three criteria for recom-
has pressured the school board to hold mending a fiction book for your govern-
a special meeting on Bianchi’s profes- ing library:
sional judgment after the second-year ■ No matter what the story line is, a
high school English teacher shared arti- candidate for your library should pro-
cles on the subject with Michael’s moth- vide truly useful information about a
er and encouraged her to have the youth serious educational subject.
examined by a neurologist. ■ The author must be drawing on
I learned a lot from this thoroughly significant professional experience in
enjoyable work of fiction, which pro- dealing with the issue or on serious per-
vides readers with a good introduction tinent research.
to the issue of ADHD. About six months ■ The book you are considering
ago, I met Minniti, and we exchanged should have garnered the kind of
copies of our books over a long lunch. reviews and other recognition that
After I finished reading Project June attest to its quality.
Bug, I thought of how well-written fic- This brings us back to Project June
tion has been a rich resource over the Bug, which satisfies all three of these
years in my professional life, often pro- criteria, as I’m sure many other fiction-
Copyright 2011 National School Boards Association. All rights reserved. This article may be printed
out and photocopied for individual or noncommercial educational use (50 copy limit), but may not
be electronically re-created, stored, or distributed; or otherwise modified, reproduced, transmitted,
republished, displayed or distributed. By granting this limited license, NSBA does not waive any of
the rights or remedies otherwise available at law or in equity. By granting permission to use of our
materials, NSBA does not intend to endorse any company or its products and services.
al works do.
Award-winning author
A New Jersey native, Jackie Minniti
decided early in life that she wanted to
be a teacher. She earned her bachelor’s
degree in education from Rowan
University and spent 25 years in the
classroom, teaching kindergarten and
grades two, three, seven, and eight.
During that time, she encountered a
number of students who had trouble
paying attention in class and more diffi-
culty than others in sitting still.
Minniti was so interested in finding
ways to help these students that she did
her master’s thesis on classroom strate-
gies that can help ADD/ADHD students
pay better attention. Her strategies were
so successful that she became the
school’s resident ADD/ADHD resource.
After retiring with her husband to
Treasure Island, a small beach commu-
nity on Florida’s west coast, Minniti had
the opportunity to fulfill a lifetime
dream and write a novel. She wanted to
combine her experiences working with
ADD/ADHD students into a book that
could help parents and others better
understand the disability. The result was
Project June Bug.
Minniti brought in-depth, hands-on
experience and substantial research to
bear on a serious educational issue, sat-
isfying two of my criteria. Project June
Bug also has been widely recognized for
its quality at the Next Generation Indie
Books Awards, the International Book
Awards, and Best Books (USA Book
News)—meeting my third criterion.
The story of how Project June Bug
came to pass and what I learned from it
serves as a reminder to me—and I hope
to you as well. When you build your gov-
erning library to fulfill your self-educa-
tion obligation, don’t neglect the fiction
shelf. There’s more there than you might
expect.
Oh, and by the way, Minniti has com-
pleted substantial research on cyberbul-
lying, so be on the lookout for her next
novel, which will have our heroine
Jenna tackling this very important issue
at Morrison High. ■
Doug Eadie (doug@dougeadie.com) is
founder and CEO of Doug Eadie &
Company. A contributing editor to ASBJ,
he is the author of 18 books on board and
CEO leadership.

Copyright 2011 National School Boards Association. All rights reserved. This article may be printed
out and photocopied for individual or noncommercial educational use (50 copy limit), but may not
be electronically re-created, stored, or distributed; or otherwise modified, reproduced, transmitted,
republished, displayed or distributed. By granting this limited license, NSBA does not waive any of American School Board Journal ■ www.asbj.com ■ January 2011 39
the rights or remedies otherwise available at law or in equity. By granting permission to use of our
materials, NSBA does not intend to endorse any company or its products and services.