Elissa Dyson Reflects on 40 Years of Service
After 40 years of school boarding, Director Elissa Dyson of the Onion Creek School District is passing the torch. At the WSSDA Annual Conference in November, we asked her to reflect on her career.
Elissa is one of only five people to ever receive WSSDA’s Hero in Education Award for her contribution to educational leadership and K-12 advocacy. Among her accomplishments was starting and finishing WSSDA’s multi-year small schools tour, which she describes below.
What’s a favorite memory from your school board career?
It’s not related to my local district directly, but probably my favorite memory is visiting all the small schools in the state. We spent 12 years reaching out to every one of the small districts. I think we made 215 visits or so.
It started out when the Small Schools Committee was reconstituted as a task force back in 2006. Our executive director at the time didn’t really understand how many of us there were, and she was from out of state, so she expressed an interest in visiting some small schools.
Originally, the proposal I wrote was for side trips to small schools in conjunction with regional meetings. But after we started, we decided, ‘Let’s visit every one of them because they’re all different and they’re all special.’
So, it carried forward through several executive directors with support from the WSSDA Board.
What was the impact of all those visits?
There’s been a much greater awareness, within WSSDA at least, of how many of our districts serve a small population and how important it is that we don’t just think in terms of the big-district perspective. There are lots of similarities, of course. We’re all united in the same mission, but how we’re able to fulfill the mission, the funding, all of that, is quite different. I think that it really has enriched WSSDA’s ability to represent those schools in the Legislature.
Do you feel like your school board experience has changed you in some way?
Definitely. Certainly in terms of a knowledgebase. I mean, all of us think we know about schools because we went to school once. I worked in Higher-Ed for 15 years before I moved to Onion Creek, so I knew that landscape. But I really didn’t know that much about K-12 schools.
I’ve grown such an appreciation for the people within our schools. The administrators, the teachers, the students, the challenges they face, and the determination they display in terms of trying to meet everyone’s goals in a complex system. It’s been really valuable for me to learn that and be tested in terms of understanding others. You have to be able to listen and appreciate people with very different points of view.
What’s your advice to a new board member, and one who might want to serve for 40 years?
When I was a new board member, I had a nine-month-old daughter. So, the idea of participating in school board work outside of my district was kind of overwhelming. But I was encouraged to go to my first annual conference and become familiar with WSSDA.
Now, I really think that the kind of professional development and knowledge that you build working within an organization that represents all school districts is important.
I like to see our new board members attend conference and develop an appreciation for WSSDA. For us, it’s a costly part of our budget to travel a long way from up in the corner of the state. And we’re traveling two and a half hours to get here, but I think it’s really important.
In terms of longevity, I might do a variety of things, but only things that I can focus on and really pour my heart, soul and energy into. That’s what school boarding has been for me. In fact, I had to force myself to announce that I was not going to run again. But I just feel like it’s time for other people to have that experience. It’s been a great one for me.
Is there any other wisdom you’d like to impart?
You need to educate each other and the community about the importance of public education. Serving on the school board is good, important work. We’re helping support our kids’ future and I think that’s the main thing.
Everything we do needs to focus on students, their needs, and their desires. And we need to be good role models. These are important things that I think get lost a lot, especially when we focus on achievement as opposed to just getting along with one another and really appreciating people. That’s what I feel is most important about school board service.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of Direct.
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