Decision Making:

School Board Member

An Interview By Colleen Carlson
11/16/2013

Brad Neutz started out as a member of the school board in his community in 2010, then all of a
sudden he went from the new kid on the block to the president of the school board.

Brad Neutz is the school board president of Maple Lake Independent School District 881.
Brad has lived in Maple Lake for 13 years, he has four children who attend either the elementary
or high school. Brad is a custodian in another school district and his wife is a teacher in a third
district. Brad does have a degree in finance and chose to follow his career path to allow
flexibility with daycare and raising a family. Along with custodial work, Brad owns and
maintains various rental properties.
Brad was approached by community members into 2010 about running for the school
board. His family has roots in the community therefore he had name recognition. After some
thought he decided he would like to become more involved in the community and he was
interested in the operations of the school.
When talking about his initial decision to run for a seat on the board Brad shared his
experiences with a special interest groups. Brad tells the story best. When I first decided to run
for a seat on the school board, it was mentioned at a custodial union meeting at the school where
I worked. It was brought to my attention that SEIU is in favor of having union members placed
onto a school board and that money would be available. My initial reaction was to reject it and
move on without any help. I later found out that $300 was available to my campaign fund from
the union. Again, I declined the payment, but soon learned that the money was coming from the
political action committee fund that I contributed to over the years. I totaled up that I have given
more than $300 over the years that I have worked and decided to take my share back to operate
my own campaign. The money was legally filed with the state. I used the money to buy a
newspaper advertisement, mileage reimbursements, and finished it off with a pizza party for my
fearless campaign crew. It's interesting how people can think that they own you if you take
some money. During my first year on the board we had to make some major budget cuts and
lay-off some staff. Trying to save some teachers' positions I presented several other areas that
we could cut. A custodial position was mentioned. After my entire conversation was recorded
in the local paper, I received a phone call from the union representative that several people
wanted to meet with me; I agreed to meet with them. They informed me that they gave money to
my campaign and were not happy with the comments that were said. I quickly asked if anyone
was contributing to COPE (union's political action committee). After replying no, I quickly
informed them of the money that I donated over the years. Furthermore, I presented them with
the facts of the district's budget shortfall, loss of enrollment, and the emails I had received from
parents stating that too many workers were standing around during the basketball games and that
they should be considered for the budget cuts. I also informed them that my votes were not for
sale and that I will continue to do what people feel is right for the district. My experience was
certainly not worth the $300 that they "gave" me. (Neutz, 2013)
During our conversation about his tenure on the board the controversies about dress code
came up. When asked about his decision-making process he replied I try to gain as much

information as possible. Obviously, the more information a person has, the easier a decision is to
make. The primary source of information is most commonly from the people involved in the
daily operations of the school. This could include the principals, superintendent, teachers, and in
some cases the students themselves. But he cautions that he understands all people present their
concerns with bias and he understands that while listening to concerns he has to separate opinion
from fact. Along with listening he often referred to school policies and other policies and
guidelines set by the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA). Brad shared an example of
a recent controversy address by the school board members, the dress code. I first heard about it
through comments posted on social media. From there, it progressed to emails being sent to
certain board members and then sharing those with all the board members. After getting a feel
for the situation, the item was discussed with the superintendent of the school, and also the high
school principal. After learning both sides of the argument for the dress code, we reviewed what
the school's policy stated and also who was to enforce the code. After gathering these facts, a
meeting was held with the superintendent, principal, board members, and parents of the
students. The difficult side of this is that emotions can run high and cause meetings like this to
be difficult to manage. In the end, the ultimate decision came down to leaving the existing
policy in place, but that enforcement of this policy would be handled with more care. This is not
the end of the discussion, however. The policy will be reviewed in the spring (policy review
time) and I am certain that discussion will revolve around the overall dress code's purpose. The
original purpose of the dress code was to keep students from being distracted by what another
student is wearing. The question for discussion now becomes: What is the bigger distraction for
the students? The dress??? Or the code??? (Neutz, 2013)
Community values run strong in Maple Lake. Maple Lake is a small community of 2000.
There are less than 1,200 students in the entire district. Citizens often have deep roots and are
slow to change. Brad said he realized that the existing board members all seemed to have the
same "circle of influence. As he did not have those same contacts he realized his new ideas
were often met with resistance. Over the past few years as new members joined with still
different circles of influence this has allowed for more constituents to be heard. Brad says the
best way to respect community values is to talk with and listen to people.
Our conversation turned to political influence. Brad said when they meet with the City
Council the conversation rotates around city issues, finances, over-billing the school for services
and attracting new families to the area. He has met with representatives at both the local and
state level at such gatherings as the yearly Schools for Equity in Education (SEE) forum and the
twice yearly MSBA seminars. He is also heard Tom Melcher, Director of Finance and Brenda
Cassellius, Minnesotas Commissioner of Education speak. Brad said he always seems to ask
the same question "why are taxpayers in our area paying more in taxes and receiving less
government aid?" He has yet to get any type of answer to this question.
Brad Neutz is a measuring stick to which possible school board members should be
compared. He is thoughtful and interested. I have seen him in action, listening to community

members and school staff. One co-worker said it best when talking about which board members
were on the negotiating team, "Nope, Brad is not a negotiator, they wouldn't want someone smart
on the team."
As a leader I understand that I will have people to report to, like it or not that includes a
school board. A school board holds a very powerful role in the decision making process of a
school district. The members have a lot of influences. Community members have personal
relationships with members of the school board; they might have special interests and cant see
the big picture. School board members may or may not be able to separate their personal
relationships from an issue. The superintendent holds another large amount of power, especially
if the school board members are new to the process and are looking to someone for direction.
Other influences include elected officials and special interests groups at the state level.
In the leadership role I will work on making my relationship with the school board a two
way street. I plan on creating a line of communication that will not only be just receiving
instructions from and reporting to a school board, it will also include being an influence on the
decisions the school board will make. What I noticed from my interview is that Brad did not
mention how, or if at all, he was influenced by the principals is the district. I understand that I
will have to work at gaining their respect and trust, I will take that time. What I hope for myself
as a leader is that the school board I work with in the future will be focused on students, as a
group and students as individuals. Being like minded will create a solid team that will allow for
fair and respected decision making.

References:
Neutz, B. (2013, 11 05). Interview by C Carlson [].