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2019 Opening Session

School board members make a difference, whether they know it or not

Kentucky School Advcoate

March 2019

By Brenna R. Kelly
Staff writer

How do school board members know that they are having an impact on students’ lives? Is it test scores, high school graduation rates, state rankings?

No, it’s people like Denise Sande.

“Ms. Sande was the single most influential person in my life,” Tim Garchow told more than 1,000 Kentucky school board members and others Feb. 22 as he opened KSBA’s annual conference. “Ms. Sande taught me that knowledge is the only thing in life that people can’t take away from you. And you should strive to acquire as much of it as possible.”

Garchow’s opening session address was the first time the executive director of the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) had spoken to a large audience about how teachers helped him overcome a troubled childhood and inspired him to become an educator.

Sande, Garchow’s English teacher, taught him poetry using Led Zeppelin lyrics, inspired his thirst for knowledge and, when he dropped out of high school, helped him return to school.

Starting in preschool, teachers had profound influence on Garchow’s life. A beloved preschool teacher helped him overcome temper tantrums, and in elementary and middle school, teachers helped him escape bullies while inspiring him with innovative lessons using Legos and computers.

But it was Sande who saved Garchow after his home life unraveled. One day in his sophomore year, Garchow came home to find his mother missing, after three days the family learned she had attempted suicide; soon after his family moved and soon after that his parents divorced. Garchow left home and ended up living alone in a park.

By the third day of his senior year, Garchow had not enrolled. Then he ran into Sande.

“Something just clicked in my mind when I saw her,” he said. He told Sande everything that had happened to him. She quickly signed him up for classes, fed him, helped him find a job and convinced him to reconnect with his family.

He graduated with straight As.

“It wasn’t graduation requirements, or learning standards that got me across the stage, it was humanity,” he said. “It was Ms. Sande saving me with her actions. It was the ability for her to be empowered by those above her to really reach students.”

After initially dropping out of college, Garchow went on to earn a teaching degree, became a special education teacher, received his master’s degree then and moved into school administration.

When he became superintendent of Rainer School District, Garchow brought Sande to Washington State to honor her for Teacher Appreciation Day.

“She could have that impact on me, because she had people like you to empower her to make a difference in the lives of children,” Garchow told the Kentucky school board members.

“The decision makers, the school directors, the district office, they hired the right people, they educated them, they equipped them and they empowered them and it made a difference on my life.”

Though it may not be immediately apparent, school board members can have an immeasurable impact on their students’ lives, he said.

“What you do is amazing for the children of Kentucky, it puts into motion the ability for your teachers to change the lives of children,” he said. “You may not know it now, you may not know it 10 years from now, you may never fully understand the impacts of your actions, but you hold the power to unlock the potential of each and every child.”