Panelists Share Benefits of TASB Board Service

Unless trustees have a seat at the table, they can’t share their stories. That was one of the messages that Quinton ‘Q’ Phillips, a Fort Worth ISD board member and a TASB director, shared as part of a panel discussing the benefits of participating on TASB boards. The panel was held during the Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members conference held recently in Round Rock. 

“If you’re interested in something, there’s a reason why you’re interested in the first place,” Phillips said. “We need you, and specifically you. ... You have a story, you have experience, you have things that you know that I don’t know about. And all that adds to the collective power we are supposed to have.” 

The session, Taking Your Board Service to Another Level, kicked off with TASB Executive Director Dan Troxell and Kelly Panfilli, TASB director of Board Management Services. The pair shared information about TASB, its boards, and the opportunities available for trustees who might be interested in running for seats, or who might want to participate through other avenues, such as attending Grassroots Meetings or serving as a delegate for Delegate Assembly. 

“You need the opportunity to be included,” Troxell said. “But you can only be included if you’re knowledgeable about what’s happening, and one of the ways you get excluded is you get left out of the discussion.” 

After the introduction, the panel members offered their reasons and perspectives for serving on TASB’s many boards. The panel, which was moderated by Darlene Breaux, Alief ISD trustee and TASB director, included Phillips; Bobby Blount, Northside ISD-Bexar County trustee, former TASB director, and former Lone Star Investment Pool trustee; and Ted Beard, Longview ISD trustee, TASB past president, and TASB Risk Management Fund ex officio member. 

Beard, who has served on the TASB Risk Management Fund Board for 17 years, told the group that when he was appointed to the Fund board, as a trustee, it gave him an inside view of the larger picture of TASB and its entity boards as a whole. 

“It gave me more of a push to become more involved in the process of representing not just my district, but all districts and students and cause change,” Beard said.  

For trustees who are interested in getting more involved but not sure where to begin Blount said that TASB’s Grassroots Meetings are a good first step. 

“Be a driver at your Grassroots,” he said. “Don’t just sit back. Tell them about what your district thinks, listen to what others say and debate them about it. And listen fully.”  

From there trustees have a pathway to learn even more about how they can serve and be engaged, Blount said. 

Serving on the TASB Board has helped Phillips have a broader perspective about his role as a trustee. 

“For me it has enriched me so very much through driving home the point about it being so much bigger than ‘Q' Phillips and so much bigger than Fort Worth,” he said. “The service in TASB really helped to expand that for me. Serving on the TASB Board, broadening that when we’re talking about really looking out for children, really trying to do what’s best for student in communities that there are brothers and sisters in the fight all over the place.” 

Trustees are encouraged to learn more about the TASB Board and the nominations process and TASB’s Affiliated Entity Boards.

Board members who are interested in advocacy are also encouraged to learn more about TASB’s Advocacy Agenda, advocacy resources, and how to get involved.