School Leader, the quarterly magazine of the New Jersey School Boards Association, is pleased to introduce a new “Up Close” companion video feature that will accompany select feature articles.
The first feature highlights Adam Parkinson, president of the West New York Board of Education, who is also president of the Hudson County School Boards Association and was honored by NJSBA as its 2022-2023 School Board Member of the Year.
In the video, Parkinson shares that he became interested in serving his local board of education because he “felt very strongly about wanting to give back.”
He also shares insights on what it means to be an effective school board member, noting that “people who serve on these boards are genuine people who care about education.” He observes that “if you really take the job seriously, it is a very demanding job.”
He also notes, “Effective school board members really try to not only get a sense of what the issues are in their community but how to fix those issues. We don’t get elected or appointed to figure out where the problems are. Our role is to try to find solutions to those problems and working collaboratively as a team to be able to do that.”
You can read an in-depth profile on Parkinson, highlighting how he became a board member at age 18 and why he’s so passionate about helping students succeed in the latest issue of School Leader.
Stay tuned to School Board Notes and School Leader for future “Up Close” features in which board members and other members of the school community will share insights to complement articles that appear in print.