On to the next

Last night was my last board meeting for LREI, where I have sat on the board for 9 years.  I could have re-upped for another 3 year term but it was time to move on for many reasons.

First of all, I am a big believer in term limits.  Although a school is a very different place and it is important to have a mixture of trustees who have a history, getting new blood on a board continues to create fresh ideas.  If there aren't term limits, what happens is that you have mass exodus of trustees when you least expect it.  When there are term limits, you can better balance when new people come and old people leave.  For me, it was time.

It was time for a variety of reasons.  I feel like I have given a lot over the past 9 years and that I am leaving an organization ( although not really leaving ) that is in a much better place than when I joined.  LREI is financially stable, has an educated parent body in regards to the annual fund, has had a capital campaign that has renovated the physical structure which was sorely needed, has pushed the education component to a higher level, has brought in new heads of each division, has integrated technology into the system, and most important, has an outstanding relatively new head of the school who I trust to lead the institution forward to many many years to come.  I was part of all these things that the board accomplished over the last 9 years.  It is time for new blood and new goals and frankly, I am burnt out.

Last night, at the last board meeting, each trustee that was packing it in was given a wonderful art collage, each different, created by Anne Schaumburger, one of the art teachers.  Really meaningful and a true token that can hang on my wall and be a rememberance for years to come. 

I really do love the school for many reasons.  It is a progressive, diverse (over 20% of the operating budget goes to financially aid ) yet diverse not only financially but in many other ways, embracing, incredibly tolerant, thought provoking, community driven, very urban downtown institution that is like no other that I have ever seen and I am truly lucky to have been part of the growth of LREI over the past 9 years.