Sue Morgan’s job at a church gave her easy access to divine intervention at tough moments in her one-year term as Lawrence school board president.

Her successor as president, Scott Morgan, joked that he also might need to draw inspiration from an icon at his book-publishing office.

Scott Morgan referred not to a deity, but a life-size cardboard image of Elvis Presley. This king stands by the front door at Morgan Quitno publishing company. Activated by a sensor, he dispenses all sorts of wisdom.

“Relax and enjoy yourself,” Elvis is fond of saying.

As Sue Morgan knows well, that simple mandate will be a challenge for Scott Morgan over the next year.

Tonight, he will be elected school board president. It means he’s agreed to work about 40 hours a week leading a seven-member board that manages a public school district with 10,000 students and 1,900 employees.

He won’t be paid a dime for that privilege.

“We’ll try to make our motto ‘TCB,'” said Scott Morgan, recalling one of Elvis’ favorite slogans. “Takin’ care of business.”

Difficult issues occupying Sue Morgan’s thoughts in 2001-2002 will remain on the table for Scott Morgan in 2002-2003.

Two examples: budget and facilities study.

In the past year, the board approved the internal reallocation of $2 million. It meant the end of school programs and teachers’ jobs.

Most of the money was invested in staff salaries. Without that cash, Lawrence teachers wouldn’t have received a raise because increases in state funding to school districts were meager. State aid may not climb next year at all, setting up another round of difficult decisions by the board.

“I didn’t anticipate the level of budget issues,” Sue Morgan said during a break from duties as office manager at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt. “I must have had too much faith in the Legislature.”

She said she was proud the board stuck by its top priority  academic achievement of all students  during the budget battles.

Facilities assessment

Scott Morgan said the comprehensive evaluation of district school facilities by DLR Group, an Overland Park consulting firm, was about to get very interesting.

In late July, DLR will present the board with broad options for improving the quality of academic space for children and teachers. The goal is to create schools that support the district’s curriculum. Too often, Scott Morgan said, the curriculum was wedged into ill-conceived or outdated schools.

The study will likely produce recommendations for consolidation, renovation or construction of schools. Plans might include new uses for existing buildings. Vocational education, early childhood education and alternative high school programs could find a home in vacated elementary schools.

The board will tinker with the facilities blueprint until September, when it settles on a draft plan the community can chew on.

“You can’t force it down this community’s throat. We can modify it accordingly,” Scott Morgan said.

At the same time, he said, “I do not kid myself that we’ll get unanimous agreement.”

A multimillion-dollar bond issue to pay for school building upgrades will go on the November ballot.

Better communication

Scott Morgan’s year at the helm also will be marked by his effort to improve communication between the district and parents.

“You get a lot better results when they’re at the table,” he said.

He also will work to make certain no member of the board feels his or her dissent ought to be muffled. Dissenters should to be encouraged, he said.

“That needs to be said occasionally,” he said.

The incoming board president also plans to focus attention on the need to reduce distractions for classroom teachers.

He’s also worried about the amount of student assessments. It was an issue faced by Sue Morgan. She had some success convincing others that the real value of student testing was tracking each student as he or she advances through the grades.

It’s more significant, she said, than annually testing each new batch of fourth-graders like the state does.

“The most important thing: Is a student getting better while moving across the years?”

Both Morgans said the district’s overhaul of math curriculum during the past year was an important achievement. “It’s been an area where we’ve been disappointed for a number of years,” Sue Morgan said.

As Scott Morgan will learn, the position of school board president can be a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week endeavor.

That was proven when Sue Morgan visited a clinic for medical tests. She had intravenous lines sticking out of both arms when a nurse walked past.

“Are you the Sue Morgan who is school board president…?” the nurse asked.

“I thought, ‘I’m tethered to a chair. Give me a break.'”

Now, she’ll get one. Sue Morgan returns tonight to the role of rank-and-file board member.

It’s the other Morgan’s turn.

At least he’ll have the King at his beck and call.