Reid Grigsby

Role of a board member: “The fiduciary responsibility of the district is the number one goal. The superintendent is our only employee,” he said. Board members are responsible for gathering good information to make good educational decisions for the children of the district. 

 

Time he devotes to board duties: Grigsby reports spending significant mental energy on his board duties. He says he thinks about it constantly. He considers himself approachable, and says he is lucky to have the office downtown, where he maintains an open-door policy and has, “had some wonderful conversations” with constituents. 

 

District connections: His mother recently retired from a long-held teaching role. 

 

Board meetings attended in the last year: All but one, he reports, due to a schedule conflict with his duties serving on the hospital board. 

 

Technology/AI in the classroom: Grigsby described AI as “a tool that’s coming whether we want it or not,” that is developing not over years, but on a “week-to-week basis.”

 

“I strongly believe that the future will belong to people who know how to manage AI, but you still have to have the pencil to paper knowledge,” he said. It has to be managed in the classroom, and the district cannot lose sight of the fundamentals of education. 

 

How to establish a culture that retains teachers and students: Part of that culture is treating people with respect and listening more than talking. “Educators need to be heard,” he said. For students, Grigsby says they need the same thing, noting that it has been a “blessing” to hear a student perspective from the new student representative to the board. “We’re hearing it from a perspective we’re not used to hearing,” he said. 

 

Role of social issues in a school board election: Though everyone is entitled to their own values and opinions, Grigsby said, those opinions should go out the window when it’s time to conduct school board business. “Whether or not you agree with them, or the gender they identify as, we’re there to take care of kids,” he said. 

 

Any board action he would change: None, he said. “That’s the important part of being on a board. If you disagree with what the board is debating, when the board passes something, we have to accept it and support whether we agree with it or not.”

 

New superintendent set up for success: Mr. Orchard was identified early on as a rising star, Grigsby said. “We love to promote from within when we can, and he had done a wonderful job in his previous role.” Grigsby said the way the board is approaching the new superintendent’s training, in which he is training under the departing Dr. Wes Davis, is a “perfect situation.”

 

Most valuable thing he has  learned on the school board so far: I’ve always been open-minded to ideas, but what being on there has taught me is to be even more open minded. You can go in with a hard-nosed opinion and you’ll look like a fool every time.”

 

“We do not make a decision without asking the question ‘What is best for the kids?’ Regardless of any other factor, ‘how is this going to affect kids?’ It’s an easy decision. I love kids and love to see them being successful.”