Actions speak louder than school board member’s words

Published: November 12, 2024

St. Helens School Board member Bill Amos is a talker. He knows it. Everyone who works with him knows it. It is one of the first things people realize when they meet him.

It was almost cruel for OSBA to set a five-minute time limit on his speech to address the OSBA Annual Convention on Friday, Nov. 8. As the 2024 Oregon School Board Member of the Year, he had a lot he wanted to share.

"My thing is kids first; 100% kids first," he said.

Amos wants to help students, and he wants to help them now. In retirement, Amos has chosen to devote his time to working in his school and his community to help young people. He spends his days shuttling from community project to project and volunteering at his school.

The Oregon School Board Member of the Year award started by OSBA in 2018 recognizes school board members for their leadership, advocacy work and support for student achievement. Past school board members of the year choose the winner from among nominations from fellow school board members, administrators or community members.

"Bill's heart is clearly devoted to student welfare and success, mentorship and community engagement," said Emielle Nischik, OSBA executive director. "His years of dedication to his school and selfless commitment to helping students have made a lasting impact on the St. Helens School District."

Amos was a high school teacher in St. Helens from 1970 to 2000. Three of his four fellow board members and Superintendent Scot Stockwell were St. Helens students while he was teaching.

"His countless contributions to the St. Helens School District and the broader community are hard to sum up," Stockwell said. "From volunteering to help students build a house to personally tutoring those in need, Bill always steps in when he sees an opportunity to make a difference."

Over the years, Amos has coached whatever team needs help, and he volunteers in the classroom to tutor and mentor students. He says as a teacher his favorite students were the ones who were "absolute pills," and he continues to work with students who struggle in classrooms.

An experienced builder, Amos volunteers every other afternoon to work with the high school's renovation and remodel class. The class buys distressed houses, fixes them up and then resells them to support the program.

Time is on Amos' mind a lot.

Amos and Rosie, his wife of 55 years, have both had significant health scares in the past 10 years. Amos was just finishing his first chemotherapy round when he joined the St. Helen's board in 2015. Amos has had three cancer diagnoses since 2013, and he postponed a treatment to be at the OSBA convention.

"I treasure this opportunity," he said. "I want to share a sense of urgency and cooperation that seems to come with age."

Tissues were passed around the convention as he shared how he wants to invest the time remaining to him.

Amos joined a board that was struggling. He said OSBA Board Development training showed his board how to "work hard to work together."

Amos is quick to share the stories of all the incredible things his fellow board members are doing for their community and its children.

"I'm standing among tall firs," he said. "We have a remarkable group of folks."

Amos played a key role in helping the district pass three bond measures in six years. He helped lead strategic planning that resulted in new schools, more elective and career and technical education classes that he also helped teach, no fees for athletics and activities, and higher graduation rates.

Amos can't help himself from talking about the student success stories.

Amos loves to the tell the story of his daughter Beth Davis as a new St. Helens teacher connecting with a student who was acting out in other classes. When she asked him why he behaved so much better in her class than other classes, he replied, "Because you are nice to me."

For Amos, that is what it is all about.

Amos said being a teacher made him a better school board member because it helps him stay focused on what the children need as people and not just district policies and budgets and his own agenda.

"My job was to stand at the back of the classroom and push students forward, not stand at the front and hold them back," Amos said. "Our school district is doing remarkable things because we are not getting in the way."

- Jake Arnold, OSBA
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