`Spiritual leaders also serve as school board presidents`

By Lawrence Sanata
Herald Staff Writer

David E. Dale/Herald

The Rev. Donald Wilson takes on the dual roles of school board member and pastor. Wilson has been a pastor at the Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Lackawannock Township for 31 years and school board member for 21 years.

Donald Wilson, pastor and school board president, took a breath and sighed during a helter-skelter morning a few days ago before finally answering the question.

Yes, he said, he has enjoyed his work as a school official ``for the most part.''

The two roles ``work together,'' said the longtime pastor of Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Lackawannock Township and longtime president of the West Middlesex Board of Education.

``You've got to be a moral, ethical person.'' And you've got to set an example in terms of values and morals, Mr. Wilson said.

But after 21 years with the West Middlesex school board, many of those years as its president, there are still times when he has to muster his faith to continue his work as an elected school official, he said.

Labor negotiations are especially demanding, Mr. Wilson said.

``Personalities instead of facts,'' the 57-year-old said, have a way of becoming involved in those typically long and laborious discussions.

Mr. Wilson ran for a position on the school board after serving as a mediator when teachers went on strike nearly two dozen years ago.

Disciplinary action and student expulsions also take a toll, he said.

``It's always painful (to tell a parent) ... your son or your daughter is expelled.''

People assume you can bend the rules because of your role as spiritual leader.

``You can't,'' said Mr. Wilson, who has been pastor of the Lackawannock Township church for 31 years.

And with the district's ``zero tolerance'' policy regarding drugs and weapons, there's no question in those cases, the pastor said.

Years ago, Mr. Wilson said, school officials may have been able to sit down and reason with a student. But in today's more permissive society, firmer action has been deemed necessary, he said.

``You have to say no.''

If students are going to be educated, school officials need to provide a safe and healthy atmosphere in which that can be accomplished, he said.

Fortunately, positive experiences overshadow the negative ones, he said.

Seeing students graduating from high school and moving on with their lives is always exciting, he said.

The fact that the high school's National Honor Society was named after him a number of years ago is especially gratifying.

``It was the most flattering thing that ever happened to me.''

For a religious leader, serving in a public office can be gratifying as well as challenging, he said, especially when you're in the pulpit looking into the faces and eyes of parents and students with whom you have had dealings, good and bad.

``There are days I could walk away and say I've done my time (as an elected school official).''

The Rev. Lora Adams-King said faith plays a big role in her work as president of the Sharon Board of Education.

``I don't see how anyone does it without (faith),'' she said.

Having strong religious convictions and living those convictions has made serving in an elected capacity ``a whole lot easier.''

She took a seat on the Sharon school board in August 1996 when she was an associate minister at Cedar Avenue Church of God.

In March, Ms. Adams-King became pastor of Erie Street Church of God in Franklin.

Despite a schedule in which she commutes from her home in Sharon to her congregation in Franklin, the pastor said she finds time to serve her roles as church leader, school leader and also family member.

The expulsion of students from the school system is the most trying challenge she has faced in her school board capacity, she said.

``You have a student that you are about to literally throw out of school. And when the case is presented, you really wonder, `Am I making the right decision?'''

Other challenges, she said, include labor negotiations and budget cuts.

``Anytime you're dealing with money,'' she said, especially taxpayer money, emotions become heightened.

Many people, however, forget that school board members and pastors also pay those taxes, Ms. Adams-King said.

``It affects us too.''

It didn't take long on the school board, she said, to realize that not all decisions will please everyone.

``As long as I can answer to God with a clear conscience, I have no regrets.''

What's more, she believes more people with religious conviction should seek political office.

``To be religious means to have high moral standards and everything else that goes along with that. I think those are some of the best people to serve.''

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Updated May 29, 1998
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