How often have you followed someone's car at well under the speed limit and wished you had a loudspeaker through which you could yell something like "Would you reel in the anchor?", or "You got a gas pedal in that thing?" Well, that's how I feel about our school district.

To carry on with the car analogy for a minute, our district has great infrastructure (the chassis, tires, etc.), highly trained educators (the drivers), a great track record of innovation and accomplishment (the engine), plenty of things to do (gas), and goals to strive for (the destination). But we've hit a wall (oops! Better skip the car analogy with that one).

The crew chief--our superintendent--is not only highly accomplished and greatly admired, but is also a very likable person who can really motivate a group, and can call the occasional spade a freaking shovel when the occasion demands it. While he's new in the job, my 24 years of experience with superintendents tells me that he may become the best of the seven I've worked with (I wasn't on the board during the Des Mackay tenure).

In other words, there is plenty of spark at the top to get the district moving forward as it has in the past (spark plugs). But we're not moving. We've slumped. The reason?--There seems to be a big foot on the brake.

That's where leadership comes to the fore. If things aren't happening as they should despite all the pieces being in place, there is only one way to deal with it--cast a vision, get the strategic plan firmly in place, and motivate the educational leaders as they apparently haven't been in the recent past.

I believe that the people I'm supporting--Preet Rai, Stan Petersen, and Freddy Latham--are up to the task of leadership. Please vote for them in this election.

Thank you.