A conversation with … David Pollock 

David Pollock is the 2003 president-elect of the California School Boards Association, and a board member in the Moorpark Unified School District in Ventura County since 1994. His work on the boards of the Ventura County School Boards Association, the Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership, the delegate assemblies of CSBA and the National School Boards Association, and numerous other CSBA committees affirms his passion for public education. Pollock completed his undergraduate work at Pepperdine University and earned a master’s in business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds a commercial pilot’s license and is the manager of market planning for Rocketdyne, a business unit of The Boeing Company.

Editor in Chief Mina Fasulo caught up with Pollock recently as he shared his ideas about the federal role in education reform and CSBA’s future.

California has just made history in recalling Gov. Gray Davis. Does this signal a shift in education policy at the state level from your perspective as incoming President?

Well, we’re a nonpartisan organization and we’re committed to working with whoever the governor is. In this particular case we are familiar with Gov. Schwarzengger’s team because many of them are from the Pete Wilson years. He has also used some firms in Sacramento that we work with frequently — most specifically a group we were involved with in working on the repeal of SB 1419. And of course we have a common interest in advancing local control. So yes, it will be a shift, but it will simply be a shift — not a somersault.

Throughout the years that Gov. Davis was in office, CSBA had come to enjoy unprecedented access to the governor, especially in the last two years. How do you feel we need to go about building a relationship with Gov. Schwarzenegger that will benefit the children we serve?

I think it’s important that we develop relationships of trust not only with the governor but with those who work for him, as we did with the previous governor. I think that we have a running start with that already. Our President, Jeannine Martineau, has worked very closely with the Schwarzenegger campaign all along. That relationship will carry on throughout his term as governor.

What do you think that we need to do as an organization, say, in the first 30 or 100 days of the new administration — how do we reach out and let him know we’re here?

He clearly already knows we’re here — he has listened to our advice, and we offered our counsel to all the major candidates. I was very pleased to see how responsive Gov. Schwarzenegger was to our input.

School board members are elected as nonpartisan public servants. Still — as the recent recall election clearly shows — it’s difficult to escape politics. How do you reconcile the differences that arise between your own political beliefs and the goals of CSBA as an organization?

I don’t personally find any difficulty with that. I’m pretty nonpartisan in my own perspectives and I take each issue one at a time. I think I owe it to my constituency, and certainly to the children in my district and in the state of California, to keep an open mind and do what is in their best interests, regardless of party politics.

You chaired CSBA’s Legislative Committee and you also served as a Governmental Relations Chair. What were the most valuable lessons that you took away from those experiences regarding the realities of the legislative process as a whole?

First of all, the reality is that it is so overwhelming — because of the number of different bills that are floated. I think the main lesson I got was how centralized we have become in our governance of education. And that concerns me. I think we’ve gone too far in centralizing control of local institutions. I think even our legislators are beginning to realize that they can’t do all things for all people.

Since I brought up CSBA’s state GRCs — Governmental Relations Chairs — could you share with our readers your ideas about federal GRCs that the Board of Directors recently adopted?

Traditionally we’ve always assigned a liaison to each of our state legislators — a GRC. But with the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, our federal legislators have become increasingly relevant to education issues, so it only seemed natural that we should assign a liaison to each of them. Every year the National School Boards Association holds what they call their Federal Relations Network, which is the federal equivalent of our Legislative Action Conference — only this is obviously lobbying Congress. California needs to have strong representation at the federal level, so I think by having federal GRCs we’ll be able to bolster our presence and our influence on Congress and how it deals with education issues, most especially NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education act.

All across the country, The No Child Left Behind Act has increasingly come under fire for its unrealistic expectations, its lack of funding, and the burden it places on school districts still trying to implement the reforms of the previous administration. How does NCLB need to evolve so that its intent can be more fully realized?

Here again, if we’re concerned about too much centralized authority at the state level, obviously the prescriptive requirements of NCLB take that even further. I think, in principle, there are a lot of good things to be said about NCLB. The problem is that they became far too prescriptive and, even in giving some discretion to states, it’s still not helping us at the local level. I have some concerns about the way NCLB has been implemented and certainly they hear this from us in Washington, D.C. But the most overriding concern is the idea that we should transport students away from failing schools, when in reality what we should be doing is making those failing schools into places that attract voluntary enrollment.

What can and will CSBA do to affect that evolution?

NCLB is still so new the administration has taken somewhat of a bunker mentality. They were afraid that the bill would be undermined if they started compromising. So it’s been very difficult to get through to them. I am hopeful that, with our upcoming annual trip to Washington, D.C. falling in an election year, that they will come out of the bunkers and listen more closely. Because there are some very serious and abiding concerns with the real effects of NCLB, some of which are accomplishing the opposite of what they, in fact, intended.

And perhaps the fact that we now have a Republican governor will also allow us more access at the federal level.

I think those partisan dynamics certainly will change California’s relationship with the White House, and that is certainly a bright spot of opportunity. I do hope that Gov. Schwarzenegger will capitalize on that.

You’ve served as a board member for 10 years, and as president of the Ventura County School Boards Association. How have those experiences prepared you for the presidency of CSBA?

I think that they have grounded me in what the reality of public education is at the classroom level. I still make time to go visit classrooms and see what is really going on, to listen to our teachers, students and parents and to make sure that I have a field-level understanding of how the policies, of not only my board, but the state and federal governments, land in the classroom.

You were very involved in the crafting of CSBA’s Vision Statement: [The California School Boards Association envisions a state where the public schools are widely recognized as the foundation of a free and democratic society, where local citizen governing boards are fully vested with the means to advance the best interests of students and the public, and where the futures of all children are driven by their aspirations, not bounded their circumstances.] You’ve also said that the statement will be central to your tenure as president. Why does the statement mean so much to you and how do you hope it will manifest in the legacy you leave as President of CSBA?

We originally started out to revise our mission statement, and I pointed out that I felt we also needed a vision statement that would provide us some focus and guide the mission statement, and that was very enthusiastically received by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors — and the Delegate Assembly, for that matter. It gives me a great opportunity to bring some focus and direction to our association. So I will certainly judge my own effectiveness by the extent to which I am able to further that vision, and I hope other people judge me that way as well.

We have been so focused on getting through and past the recall election and now we’ve done that. We now have a major — almost $13 billion — school bond initiative that is going to be on the March 2004 ballot. What do we need to be doing to make sure that this is on everyone’s radar, and how critical it is that we pass this?

It is critical that people understand that this is the second installment of the bond that passed in November 2002. It’s critical they understand that there is still a huge need for building school facilities and that the state has to play a large role in that. We have some concerns about California’s financial state, but I think that’s a fair question and one that should be answered. Because the fact is that this is already being anticipated, and what’s being asked for on the March ballot is still comfortably within the state’s ability to borrow and pay back. But people need to look at this as what it is — an investment in the futures of our children.

You’re a single father, you have a demanding job with the Boeing Corporation, you serve on a school board — and you’ll be taking the reins as president of a statewide organization. What advice can you offer to new and veteran board members alike about maintaining a healthy sense of balance in your life?

I think that everybody needs to find their own balance. I’ve been very fortunate in that I have two wonderful children who are supportive of what I’m doing. I also have a very supportive board, a very proud community and a very supportive company. Boeing is not only supportive of my efforts at CSBA but it is also a very large financial supporter of CSBA. As far as advice for other school board members, the calculus is different for each person and balance is, I think, a very personal thing for people. So I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that people use my life as a model for balance in their own. I only hope that I might offer some inspiration that it is possible to take on large challenges and still find a way to achieve balance in your life.

I’m curious to know at what point you decided that you wanted to take a position of leadership with CSBA. What was behind your decision to become more involved?

I think, if left to my own devices, it’s not something I would have done — certainly not as soon as I did. My personal preference is to work slowly into things and build credentials on the way. In this case I was persuaded by those close to me on the Delegate Assembly. They thought this was really the appropriate time for me to do this, even if I didn’t feel entirely ready, and as it turns out they were right. I don’t think anybody runs for the local school board and thinks about the presidency of CSBA. It happened in increments for me. As the incoming President of CSBA I have this profound sense of standing on the shoulders of giants.

My grandfather was a shop floor worker and worked in a plastics factory in Monrovia all his life and he had some great insight and wisdom. One of the most profound things that he told me, and I will always carry with me, is that when it comes to leadership, people often fall into two categories. There are those people who appear to rise above others by pushing other people’s heads down. Then there are those who rise above others and pull everyone up with them. And I remember from a very young age wanting always to be that second person.