Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring.

There’s only silence. Waves of heat cause the blacktop to steam. Outdoor dogs slouch with snouts on sweaty paws, without raising hooded eyes. They offer no usual chase, only a feeble growl as kids peddle slowly by. The stillness envelopes newly planted corn, so if your heads cocked just right, you hear it moan growing. Thermometers glow 98, but it’s hotter.

Old men rub aching knees and nod knowingly.

30 miles north, thunder begins its roar, wind buckle shingles on roofs long overdue as lightning begins a fireworks show not seen since two July Fourths ago. 

On one channel, a baby forecaster shouts dire predictions warning folks to head for the basement, an interior room, or maybe put a pot from Mom’s kitchen on your head.

A storm is coming. It’s time to prepare.

The ingredients for summer storms are simple. It’s one part heat, two parts humidity causing moisture to rapidly rise, colliding with cooler air until it explodes into a storm. It’s not preventable.

But the coming November 7 political storm can be stopped if we recognize the ingredients and act. Most pundits call this an off-year election. But if you care about your public school, they’re wrong. 

For thunderstorms, we look for lost flashlights, find the candles, listen to the forecasts, and take cover. There’s a need to protect what matters.

A political storm is ignited when one party uses messaging on wedge issues to sow division and distrust in respected institutions like public schools.

It began this past winter, when Governor Kim Reynolds and her legislative lemmings launched wide-ranging attacks on public schools and LGBTQ Iowans.

The final ingredient is more than a dozen Republican presidential candidates, several of whom are already flooding the airwaves with rhetoric short on facts and long on grievance.

Those are ingredients for a perfect political storm in Iowa’s upcoming school board races. 

We need to prepare now. Here are three suggestions for preventing the coming storm. First, ask hard questions that might help your community avoid candidates who would create chaos instead of consensus.

• Why do you want to be on the school board?
• When was your last visit to a public school?
• How would you handle losing an election? 
• Are you affiliated with any group? If you are, what is the name of the group, and how do you as a candidate differ from the agenda of that group?
• What are your priorities for the district?
• How do you feel about private school vouchers?
• Who should determine curriculum content?
• How would you get parents involved in the school?
• What should the procedure be if a parent has a complaint about curriculum?
• Do you believe parents are the school district’s customers? Why?
• How will you work as a team with the other school board members?
• Define “woke.”

Second, watch the candidate’s campaign. If he/she attacks existing board members from the start and never really goes beyond attacking, you have a candidate who is more negative than interested in protecting the future for our students. These are what my dad called, “Axe to grind candidates.” 

Third, follow the money. It’s surprising how much money is spent in a school board race. Watch to see what individuals or groups contribute. Look to see who volunteers for the candidate. If it’s not clear, ask the candidate directly. 

For this storm, it will take more than cowering in a basement. It takes critical thinking and caring about the future for Iowa’s students.

Top photo of thunderstorm over a wind farm by Igor Kovalenko, available via Shutterstock.