Book Club starts next week!

Hi friends!

Last week, I pitched the idea of doing a City Reform Book Club as a way to exercise the power we have over our school district and our City. I still think it’s a little nuts, but I trust my instincts and this feels like the thing to do. Or, at least, it’s A thing to do.

When the weight of the world starts wearing me down I look for ways to put a little good into the world. Send a note to a friend. Make a delicious dinner. Buy someone a gift. Put up too many Christmas lights. Craft something beautiful. Write. Paint a room in my house. Anything that brings a smile, some shine, adds a little brightness.

Somehow it seems like this book club belongs on that list.

I hope you’ll join me and other City Reform readers in re-learning what it means to have an elected school board and what it takes to hold them accountable.

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How it will work:

Order a copy of The Governance Core 2.0: School Boards, Superintendents, and Schools Working Together (2025) by Davis Campbell, Michael Fullan, and Babs Kavanaugh.

If you happen to have a copy of the first edition of their book it will work too. The content has been reordered, so some weeks won’t match up but by the end of the book you’ll have the same information. If you are unable to purchase a book, please feel free to follow along with the book club anyway. I think you’ll still find it useful to think through the content and examples.

Starting next week, we’ll read a chapter a week (with the exception of the first week and one week in March). This schedule allows us to finish the book in time for the school board election on April 8 and front loads important content you may find useful for engaging with candidates or watching candidate forums.

I’ll send out a new book club newsletter every Thursday around noon. The content will vary based on the topic (and as I figure this out), but you can expect some combination of my commentary, examples from real life school boards, and additional resources every week.

My goal for this book club is to help you learn as much as possible about school board governance. I want to give you the information you need to be an informed voter and engaged citizen. So, you need to tell me what that is! The comments on this post are open to ALL subscribers. Leave me a note about what topics you want me to cover and what questions you have about school district, leadership, politics, or governance. I’ll do another open call for topics and questions sometime in March to help guide us through the second half of the book.

To get things started, I’ve opted all existing subscribers into this sub-newsletter. If you’d rather not receive the City Reform Book Club emails or notifications, you can toggle them off in your Substack settings without affecting your subscription to the main posts.

I really hope to build a dialogue around these topics so it feels like a real book club. Paid subscribers will also be able to participate in chats and leave comments on all posts (regular City Reform and Book Club). You can earn comped subscriptions by referring friends to sign up - one free month for 3 referrals and three free months for 10 referrals. I turned on the chat last night, so it’s ready when you are. (I also did not realize it would send out an email to everyone until it was too late. I promise I’m not trying to spam you all. I am just learning with an audience. LOL!) And, as always, if you feel that asking these questions, sharing information publicly, or participating here will jeopardize your job, please message me privately.

Thanks so much for joining me in this new project and for your patience as I get the kinks worked out. See you next week!