Vang Pao Elementary Shool Dedication

Dr. Tony Vang, FUSD Board of Education and Professor of Education at Fresno State University, delivers speech at the dedication ceremony of Vang Pao Elementary School, Fresno Unified School District on September 8, 2012 in Fresno, California, USA.
........
The Satisfaction of Serving as a School Board Member
By: Dr. Tony Vang
The duty of serving as a governing board member for Fresno Unified School District was a challenging and difficult task. I was elected to three terms on the FUSD Board of Education and served from 2002 to 2012. I feel that being a board member is one of the most gratifying and heartwarming public service acts anyone can ever take on. It also can be one of the most frustrating, time consuming, and heart wrenching ways to spend your time, but I believe it is one of the most important elected positions.
I believe that good board members lose a great deal of sleep. The public often perceives them as having casual attitudes about making decisions that affect the students and their families. The public is wrong to judge board members and assume that they don't truly care about the decisions they have made. Board members must consider what is best for the majority of the students in the district. The board members are the students' voices and their decisions must always be in the best interest of the achievement of their students. It is very difficult to make decisions that will satisfy everyone.
Taking everything in consideration, the job of being a board member is something I will always honor and treasure. The rewards outnumbered the negatives. The rewards are not what the public may expect. A very special and sentimental thing for me happens when a school is built in honor of our legendary and beloved Hmong leader, General Vang Pao. This is the first school to ever be named after a prominent Hmong leader in the world, and a plaque with all the board members' names is permanently mounted on that building. For me, the plaque and Vang Pao Elementary is a symbol that I have done something to give hope to all of the children who will enter that building. It is humbling for me to know that I have been a part of the decision making process that will positively impact every child's emotional and academic achievement when they enter this school.
Being a board member is one of the most trying, but most rewarding and inspirational jobs I've ever taken on. It is easy for the community to sit back and judge your governing board members. It's easy to pick out all the wrong doings and negativities because people are very quick to judge, yet nobody will ever really know what being a governing board member was like, unless they too, have been a school board member themselves. What I would like our community to understand is that it is never easy to decide on issues that will put some people's interest on the side while favoring other's interests. It's easy to complain; yet it's very hard to make changes. However, I've learned that "change" is the new normal, and by embracing change is the only way we will move our students forward.

[@Vajhmoob]

Excellent speech ! Long live to Gen Vang Pao Elementary School .

[@thunderthao]

Excellent speech Dr. Tony Vang! My nieces and nephews are attending Vang Pao Elementary, even though we are across town. We value Vang Pao elementary being a haven where our children can learn both Hmong and English.