After 13 years as a school board member (1978-88 and 1996-present), Brian McAlister said he couldn’t leave now.

Wednesday, September 29, 1999

After 13 years as a school board member (1978-88 and 1996-present), Brian McAlister said he couldn’t leave now.

"It’s been a different year for the district," he said. "There’s a lot of new people in the administration building. I want to see how things work out."

McAlister joins 16 others in pursuit of four open seats at the Nov. 2 Austin Board of Education election.

McAlister, captain of the Austin Police Department, said his top priority is to look out for every student. The best way to do that, McAlister believes, is to keep a keen eye on the classroom.

"As a school board member," he said. "You try and allocate as many resources as you can toward the academic end of the students’ time in school."

One reason for the district’s "different year" has been the district’s budget overspending and subsequent mid-school year budget cuts. McAlister addressed the issue by saying, "School boards are provided with information. It’s helpful if that information is correct. The decisions we make are based on the information that’s available to us."

McAlister, who said as a police officer he needs to be involved in community, insisted that he takes the time to research his decisions.

"You do have to be prepared to set aside an amount of time for that," said McAlister, who has watched his four children go through the Austin school district.

Because he is seasoned in the ways of the school board, McAlister isn’t sure that four new members filling the vacant seats would be in the voters’ best interests.

"I’m not convinced that we want to bring four new board members in at one time," he said.

McAlister is sure of what he thinks the role of the school district should be.

"I feel when students graduate from high school they should have the skills to be employable and have knowledge in a broad range of things," he said. "In the 1950s-60s, schools were able to do that."

He believes that collectively the school board believes in that ideal as well.

"The board does care about what it is doing," he said. "We find out how things work and we find out how to do it right – but we don’t always pull it off."