Think you could survive 50 years--a half century--as president of your school board?

In Northeast Ohio, Richard A. Moss has already passed that mark. He’s been at the helm of the 1,430-student Cardinal Local School Board since the year the Ford Edsel made its debut.

Moss, who’s profiled in the April issue of ASBJ, is believed to be the longest serving school board president in the country. And during many of those years he worked two jobs—full time as a postal carrier and part time for the local telephone company. On weekends he also mowed grass and tended the local football field.

He’s dealt with everything from budgets woes to forced consolidations, building schools to figuring out what to do with vacant buildings and everything in between. A school board member who’s going to last more than one term, he says, is someone who embraces all the intricacies of the job, not someone who runs on a single-issue platform or has an ax to grind with other members or administrators.

Moss was kind enough to share some of his wisdom and lessons learned with me a few weeks ago, in between physical therapy sessions. His secret to making the job manageable is hiring a good superintendent and good administrators who can oversee the daily operations of the schools. He’s worked with six superintendents who’ve stayed from two to 23 years.

But the sharp-minded 91-year-old is stepping down later this year—he’s decided it’s time to take a break and let someone younger have the job.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor