putting my work where my whining is

Early in the school year, I signed up to be a parent representative on one of the Site-Based Decision Making (SBDM) committees for kiddo’s school. I had already started being a rabble-rouser about ClassDojo and some of my other edtech concerns, and I wanted to show that I could put in work where my whining was: That is, that I wasn’t just going to complain about things, but that I was going to show support for the school by helping out where I could. Besides, I have long term aspirations to run for a school board seat, so this seems like a good way to work my way there; also, I’d guess there aren’t as many dads as moms that are available for 3pm committee meetings (hooray for a flexible academic’s schedule!), so I figured I’d try to balance out some of the gender representation there.

In volunteering, I expressed particular interest in two committees: the student achievement committee (which oversees the technology plan among other responsibilities), and the planning & professional development committee (where I figured my education PhD and professional development-adjacent research would be helpful). My preference was for the first—because I was interested in seeing what’s involved in defining a technology plan and in having some input there—but I got the email yesterday inviting me to serve on the second. The student achievement committee strikes me as one of the larger, broader, more important committees, so I’m not terribly surprised that a first-time volunteer wouldn’t make it. Besides, I am genuinely interested in planning and professional development and happy to serve wherever—that’s part of putting work where my whining is.

• school
• parenting
• edtech
• ClassDojo