Published: July 05, 2009 02:40 am      

DODD: Freshman year for Christina Gilkey

She sees her life as a living testimony for the kids of the Greater Clark County Schools who have obstacles to overcome. She was raised in project housing in Charlestown. There was no father in her life. Her mother struggled to provide no more than the bare necessities. The extras were to be earned by hard work and sacrifice from job hours that were squeezed in between a full high school schedule that included participation in three sports.

An early marriage that found her traveling with a military spouse ended with her being a single mom and having to make ends meet. She remembers the absolute joy of owning her first house. Ironically, when she returned to the area in 1987, she settled in Clarksville partly because “I didn’t want my kids to go to Jeff High.”

Her determination to provide for her children drove her into a sales and marketing position. The self-employed and hard-driving single mom eventually remarried and now enjoys her family and a successful insurance business. In her spare time, she ran and was successfully elected to Greater Clark’s Board of Trustees.

Christina Gilkey recently completed her first year on the school board. To say it has been a hard and long year is an understatement. The changes in her daily life have been very pronounced and dramatic. The effect on her family has been even more so. When a spouse gets voted in office, in some respect, the entire family serves. She admits to being a bit naive about the commitment in the beginning.

Christina now admits, “I was clueless as to how much time I would spend as a school board representative. I’m probably getting about a quarter an hour.”

She admits to spending somewhere between 10 to 12 hours a week actively with school board business and that time does not include reading and responding to her e-mails late at night. She lets her answering machine take phone calls and returns those as soon as practicable. There never seem to be enough hours in a week.

Her frustrations easily surface.

“Up to this point it’s been very difficult to get anything done.”

The factors that serve as obstacles vary, such as the ongoing construction at several schools. It is not uncommon to receive some type of complaint call or on-site situation that requires her to make a personal visit to one of the job sites. Parents often complain about the construction issues and progress, but she knows, “If you really want to know what’s going on in a school, ask a student.”

Her very biggest obstacle has been the nature of the school board itself.

“We are a very disjointed board,” she says. “We have communication problems with lots of problems including trust issues.”

As a result, she points out, “We often time don’t share pertinent information to make informed decisions.”

This is a similar complaint I have heard from the other first-time board member Becka Christensen. Both have expressed to me that information is held by a few of the board members and not always shared with everyone equally or on a timely basis.

School board politics have been another impediment for the new members. She held her hands up in the form of a mock scale showing that politics weighed down the scale heavily versus the desire to do things right for the kids.

“The reason that I ran for school board? If you had a scale, politics outweighed what’s in the best interest of the students,” she says. “It was a bit disconcerting as to the proportion of the imbalance.”

Some school board members refuse to talk to others between meetings.

Another common feeling that Christina shares with Becka Christensen is both feel so frustrated that their efforts haven’t had a direct positive effect upon the kids. Too much time has been spent putting out fires, both business-oriented and political.

Christina discussed another important factor that the board has simply refused to deal with, even under protest from the previous Superintendent Tony Bennett and his successor, interim Superintendent Travis Haire — the lack of any written strategic plan. The board is operating a $100 million corporation without any written goals.

“I believe our board doesn’t realize the importance of strategic planning and how much having a plan would keep us from being distracted,” Christina says. “We don’t have one and that’s a problem.”

She agreed with me in further discussion that starting goals in writing would create accountability for school board members. I told her that I feel it would also cut into political decision-making, which some current board members use in casting their votes.

I think in any objective analysis, Christina has been a very active first-year board member. She cast the lone no vote to accepting newly hired Superintendent Stephen Daeschner’s contract, which was not in any way a repudiation of the man, simply a disagreement over the compensation package.

She was also instrumental in starting up the Assist Mentoring Program at Jeffersonville High, which is loosely modeled upon one in Clarksville started by Ed Roth. She thinks such a program is essential to fostering improvement in some at-risk kids.

“It’s a community issue,” says Christina. “We all have to work together to be better stewards of our children.”

She feels the only other program that she has been in successfully bringing to the system that will have a direct positive effect upon students is the one-to-one computer program, which will put laptops in the hands of every Charlestown High School student. One of Christina’s goals would be the expansion of an alternative school program for Greater Clark.

“I think a lot of us would support that issue if we ever can get around to it.”

Gilkey knows that in many ways the year has been harder on her family than it has been on herself. Regarding her husband, “He sees the tossing and turning and the sleepless nights. He sees the impact that it has had on me.”

Her children also have had to deal with the added demands on her precious family time.

“To this point, I cannot sit here and honestly tell you I’ve enjoyed being a school board member,” she says.

The things she has enjoyed very much are all of the wonderful teachers, principals and parents she has met and gotten to know as friends. She enjoys going to all of the school student activities and interacting with the kids.

Another relationship she is proud of is with the president of the Greater Clark Education Association.

“Nick Wiese and I have a great relationship.”

Gilkey noted that it was his wife, Stacey Wiese, who was Christina’s opponent in the last election and things did get a bit heated during the campaigning.

It is far too soon to know if she will run again for another term. At the end of the first year, she knows she is just now getting her footing. Time and another three years of attempting to push agenda will tell the tale.

In reflecting upon her tumultuous first year, “I’m frustrated but not discouraged because I know there’s a chance to do great and positive things for kids. Our students are our product. When I see a positive impact upon out students, it will have all been worth it.”

Lindon Dodd is an Otisco resident who is a freelance writer and can be reached at lindon.dodd@hotmail.com