Messerli to retire from school board

To the editor:

Time to retire (again).

I?d like to write a brief letter to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to serve on the school board. It has been an interesting, and mostly enjoyable, experience these past four years. It certainly looks and feels different when you are on the other side of the table, and carries a huge responsibility with a huge amount of time, yet great satisfaction when it all works well. I would also like to thank Jeff Wilson and Vicki Tillis at the Fairfield Ledger for their faithful and consistent reporting of Fairfield School business and activities.

I?d like to suggest three ideas for readers to consider: 1) Encourage the citizens in this community to become more actively engaged in your school system. Think about running for the school board, even if for only one or two terms. We have lots of good, well-qualified people who could serve for a time and really contribute to our school district. 2) We need to consider a more ?diversified? board. Don?t misunderstand, all of those on our board are good people willing to give their best. However, in my opinion we have too many ?educators? (former or present educators on the board, including myself). It would be nice if we could keep a couple of educators on the board, then perhaps add others from the business and industry occupations ? especially someone who knows and understands the budgeting side of things; someone from ag industry and construction, as well as other areas. This kind of diversity could make for a better overall board to oversee our district. We need this to happen right away, because sign up time is from now to Aug. 4. 3) It might also be good to continue to keep a fairly even gender balance on the board if possible.

Keep in mind that it is the school board that is charged with the major responsibility to the citizens of this community for a strong academic school program for our children; and this board then hires administrators, teachers, and non-certified personnel to perform the daily operations of the district. I?m hearing many good things from people about Art Sathoff, our new superintendent ? the most prevalent being that he has high moral character and his integrity is beyond question. From the experiences I?ve had with him, I certainly have to agree. Hopefully, he can help strengthen the trust and confidence of our community in our school leadership ? time will tell.

Therefore, because we already have one educator on the board and two others running again, I?ve decided to take myself out of the race in the name of diversity. My wife and I also still have our ?bucket lists? to work on (things we put aside while serving on the board) that we?d like to do before the good Lord calls on us for final retirement. I?ve appreciated the many opportunities to come to know more of you through phone calls, e-mails, and personal contacts throughout my four years on the board.

Again thanks to all ? I?ve enjoyed the opportunity to serve our school district and our community. 

? Ralph Messerli, Fairfield