This month we are highlighting outgoing School Board President, Jeni Williams! Jeni has served on the School Board since 2019 and served as the GRS School Board President since April 2020. Arguably, these years were the most challenging years on record for any School Board president; serving the role as a parent volunteer during seasons of pandemics, social change, and leadership transitions undoubtedly added an extra level of spice.
It is difficult to put into words the amount of gratitude we hold for Jeni and the exemplary servant leadership she exhibited throughout her term. In terms of numbers, Jeni led thousands of minutes of Executive Committee, School Board, and Emergency meetings; she made a positive impact on the lives of all of our children by ensuring they had a stable and functioning school ecosystem to grow in. Jeni- thank you, thank you, thank you for your remarkable service as School Board President!
Jeni officially retired from the School Board on February 28th, 2023. Jeni took time this month to sit down with Lindsey Weaver, IB Coordinator and fellow former Executive Committee member, as Jeni reflected on her term. Lindsey used the 10 traits of the IB Learner Profile to structure the interview.
LW: In your role as President during an exciting (but challenging) season of unexpected events and transitions for GRS, you led School Board meetings, Executive Committee meetings, and various emergency meetings as the School Board navigated complex issues. You also led major collaboration and communication efforts with our wider community. Is there one trait you feel you and the School Board grew most in during this unique term?
JW: Amazing to consider how much has happened since I was sworn in at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year - it seems like a decade ago! When I look at the IB traits, I can legitimately find instances of where we, as the GRS Board, had to use every single one, depending on which (dare I say it?) unprecedented question or task we were facing. Looking back all of this time, I’m going to select Reflective as the one trait our GRS Board has grown most in from 2019 through today. We witnessed through the many aspects of the GRS community how we all impact each other, and have actively worked to incorporate that awareness into our reflections of how to best serve our school and community in our Board roles, while also thoughtfully considering what impact our actions and responses have on the GRS world.
LW: Arguably, the trait most relevant for the years you served was, “Risk-Taker: Approaching uncertainty with forethought and determination; working independently and collaboratively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies; being resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.” How do you see Risk-Taking fitting both your decision to accept the President role in 2020 and throughout your term?
Jeni Williams: First of all, I really appreciate that definition of Risk-Taker, as that is not how I would describe that trait outside of IB. That really helps me see risk-taking in that context. Choosing to accept the position of Board Chair when the need arose definitely required that I flex all of those IB Risk-Taker traits. And through the past few years, I have had to call a lot on aspects of resilience and resourcefulness to stay present to our GRS community’s array of needs, while also being accountable to our legal, financial, regulatory and authorizer requirements. I have enjoyed seeing our GRS Board Members and community rise to the challenges of exploring new ideas and innovative challenges together and if I helped play any part in facilitating that, I’m incredibly grateful.
I’d like to embody Risk-Taking one more time here and challenge the perspective that Risk-Taking was the most relevant IB Trait during my term, however. I have learned what can only be learned by participating in the GRS Board - that the IB Trait of “Principled” is what helps all of us on the GRS Board keep moving forward when things are challenging. And they have been so very challenging. But I, and the wonderful GRS Board members with whom I have served, have acted with integrity and honesty, calling in our strong sense of fairness and justice with an understanding of our responsibility to our school and community - often needing to leave our own personal perspective outside of the Board at the door and consider our duty to the school. We have endeavored to respect the dignity and rights of our GRS community while also knowing we would have decisions that would not be welcomed universally. As Board Chair, I have worked to ensure I take responsibility for my and the Board’s decisions and their consequences.
LW: What advice or insight might you have for future School Board members around “Balance: We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives…we recognize our interdependence with other people and the world in which we live?”
JW: In terms of interdependence, Board members depend on each other and our GRS Administration and partners, including our authorizer. They also depend on us to serve our duty well. While we are meeting together, we are making real change that impacts our GRS community. We must put on our Board hats and work to think critically and balance our individual perspective with that of our Board role and what serves GRS’s requirements and charter, mission and vision best.
In addition, we invest a lot of time during our Board term! So understanding the importance of our volunteer Board role and ensuring we can balance our lives with our Board commitment can help ensure a successful term; hopefully all board members can depart when their term ends feeling that they have served with integrity and feel proud of their work.
LW: As you Reflect on your 3 years as School Board President, what are you most proud of? What do you see as the next challenges and opportunities for GRS and the School Board?
JW: I’m so proud of our GRS Board. We have weathered a lot together. We have stepped up and faced these years of challenges with integrity and openness to learning as everything changed. I’ll say that, as I reflect back on the past 3.5 years, I am most proud of two things - one, that we successfully made our meetings more accessible by committing to a hybrid (onsite & virtual) meeting option consistently, and when we received feedback about audio challenges, we now ensure we have closed captioning / transcript on consistently as well. Second - of course - that we as a Board were courageous enough to ensure we did a methodical and thorough search for our new Head of School - and that our school could attract someone as phenomenal as David Nunez!
In terms of next challenges and opportunities - we always need more volunteers! Now that we have moved to two-year terms, it is even more important that our GRS Community gets involved. I hope everyone reading this, especially GRS caregivers, considers serving a term or two to help our GRS Community stay strong.