A good listener

One thing became crystal clear to anyone who listened in to or engaged with the Nebraska State Board of Education during its three-day visit to Aurora and Hamilton County last week: Brian Maher is the right man for the job as NDE’s new commissioner.
A board that historically has worked behind the scenes in relative obscurity thrust itself into a harsh spotlight two years ago with a set of proposed health standards that exposed a philosophy and agenda far different than this state’s conservative mindset. A lot has changed since then in terms of statewide awareness and engagement with this board, and education in general, and perhaps the biggest change introduced himself last week during the first of many planned board meetings to be conducted in outstate Nebraska.
Maher is a good listener, very personable, easy to talk to and yet extremely confident and competent when he speaks. He surely has opinions of his own, yet he seems to be doing a lot of listening early on, which is a good thing. 
Maher has years of experience as a teacher, principal and superintendent here in Nebraska, which gives him credibility when talking to and hearing from Nebraska educators. He’ll need to earn the trust of stakeholders, including members of his own board, who have very different views on various issues of the day. Based on his words, demeanor and the reaction to him last week in Aurora, Mr. Maher looks up to that task.
The decision to rotate meeting sites was made well before Maher took the job, but the board’s rationale to make that move was well founded. So much of the testimony we hear and media coverage of the board’s monthly meetings seems far removed from the issues, challenges and successes educators are experiencing here in rural Nebraska, so it’s refreshing to see that board venture out to get a broader view of what’s going on in Nebraska schools.
On that note, Aurora was fortunate to host this month’s meeting, with The Leadership Center showcasing itself yet again as an ideal venue for statewide conferences. 
Hampton’s Hawk Herd program was on the agenda during Friday’s meeting, for example. You could tell by the look on a few board members’ faces and comments they made that they had not seen or heard much about that kind of hands-on, real world, work/learning opportunity in larger school districts, especially as it involves our state’s leading industry — agriculture. 
That exposure was priceless for Hampton Public Schools, and frankly offered valuable perspective to board members who have spent too much time talking about pronouns and other issues not as relevant to educating our youth.
Nebraska schools face major challenges, make no mistake, chief among them a workforce shortage making it hard to find candidates willing and able to work “where the magic happens,” as Maher describes the invaluable work teachers do. The passion with which he addresses that question is proof positive that he intends to lead this board in creating policies and supporting legislation to help improve this situation as quickly as possible. Based on what we heard last week, he already has.
Communication is a two-way street. The NDE board needs to hear what parents and educators are thinking and saying about public education, and citizens need to gain trust in the folks setting statewide policies and procedures that impact local schools.
Last week’s meeting, with Brian Maher now at the helm, offers reason for optimism that communication and the board’s focus and mission are both improving.
-- Kurt Johnson