How Much Expertise Is Too Much?

It is natural for a current or former firefighter to be interested in serving on a fire commission, or a current or former teacher in serving on a school board. But is there an ongoing conflict of interest in doing so?

The question arose on the Milford, Connecticut school board recently. Three members are former school teachers who held union leadership positions.

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Another school board member asked them to recuse themselves from hearing union grievances. One school board member had recused himself in the past when he had prior knowledge of the case, and said that he would consider recusing himself on a case-by-case basis, even though his wife is chair of the union’s grievance committee.

Another had recused himself in the past (while still a teacher, I assume), but says that he will now participate, even though his wife is still a teacher and union member.

The third resigned from the union two weeks ago, and seemed to feel that this was all that was necessary to prevent having to recuse herself.

It seems to anyone that the teachers union has three members on the Milford school board, and they will recuse themselves only in the most limited circumstances. This does not make the school board look independent. That might be what the city’s voters wanted, but it gives the impression that the city’s school board is there to protect not the voters’, but the union’s interests.

It’s this sort of situation that makes one wonder whether teachers should be school board members at all. Or firefighters be on fire commissions, etc. They have the expertise, but are they too close to the people they’re supposed to be overseeing? Is expertise (narrowly defined, because there are all sorts of people with useful expertise on school boards, from accountants and lawyers, to negotiators and facilities professionals) truly what matters when it comes to making public policy?