June 28 — Froehling approaches the final turn

Sumner SChool board member Toni Froehling leaves the board after decades of service

Chris Albert / of the Herald

Twenty-four years ago Toni Froehling wasn’t thinking about being on the Sumner School Board.

Likewise, it is not that he wants to leave the school board at the end of his term this year, but he and his family have decided to move to Orting and it has to happen.

“I love being on the school board,” he said. “I do think that I do some good and it has nothing to do with being smart or especially hard working or things like that.”

Froehling joined the board when he was asked by board members. It was the first time he even thought about being a school board member. A long-time school board member representing the downtown area had resigned, so she could retire. They asked him if he’d be a candidate for the position and he was chosen.

“Basically I was a warm body,” he said.

Since then he’s been the downtown corridor representative on the school board. No one has ever ran against him, something he thinks is unfortunate, because he invites other opinions and wants them to be heard.

“I suspect people are happy with the way the school district is run,” he said. “Somehow that has translated to continuity on the school board.”

The district has avoided many of the pitfalls of other districts. There hasn’t been any hidden agenda and they share a common goal, he said.

He suspects too often district staff can get wrapped into thinking they know the child better than the parent. It’s something he hopes district officials remember that’s not the case all the time, he suspects it is rarely true, and takes situations with a certain amount of common sense.

That mantra sparks healthy debate and gets people to at least analyze situations in multiple ways, he said.

He wanted people to voice their opinion, said Mike Pavlik, board member.

“My favorite thing about Toni is his not holding anything against you,” he said. “The main thing is his willingness to understand and value your opinion.”

When Pavlik first joined the board Froehling took him aside and told him “to just use your common sense.”

During the decades he has been on the school board he has seen a fledgling district that struggled to meet the mark in many categories become an example of success.

“It as a gradual process and it was a slow process,” he said.

It started when Dr. Richard Weathermon was the superintendent of the district, but really caught momentum about 12 years ago, Froehling said.

“He (Weathermon) was the guy that pointed us in the right direction and Don (Eismann) came in and took the flag and ran with it dramatically.”

It may seem a bit odd that the year Eismann retires, the superintendent for 22 years, Froehling closes in finishing his tenure as a school board member.

“Our jobs are going to be way more difficult with Dr. Eismann and Toni gone,” Pavlik said.

As a lawyer, Froehling has saved the district money and helped out tremendously with understanding tough issues, he said.

Leaving together has been something that Eismann and Froehling have joked about, but it is merely coincidence.

“He’s truly one of my best friends,” he said.

They both are choosing to leave the district in capable hands, he said. He has been able to get to know the new superintendent Dr. Gil Mendoza and thinks there will not be a continuity issue.

“I think it’s an exciting time for the district,” Froehling said. “It’s going to depend a lot on Gil and the board. I think it’s going to be good.”

Rick Hendricks will replace him on the board and Froehling is sure he is the right person for the job.

Every turn he has seen Mendoza make during the interview process and once he was selected, Froehling has found himself saying “He’s doing the right thing and he’s approaching it in the right way.”

Froehling has been a leader for many of the board members and what they have learned from him makes the process of leaving easier, Pavlik said.

“We all look up to him,” Pavlik said. “I can’t count the number of times I’ve said ‘Well what does Toni think about this.’”

It is almost like the board is starting over, but they’ll be OK, Pavlik said.

“Us four guys who are still there, we know each other very well and we’re all pretty level-headed and cued into what’s going on,” Pavlik said. “We want to do what’s best for the kids.”

Besides his leadership, level head and jokster mentality, Pavlik said, his laid back presence will be missed.

During board meetings many of the members would show up in suits, but not Froehling.

“Toni ‘s Toni,” Pavlik said. “He’ll come in a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans and some thongs.”

One of the things Froehling is most proud of include writing the procedure the district uses for addressing divorced parents. It is one many other districts have adopted.

“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been able to deal with those issues with a degree of common sense,” he said.

His disappointments with his tenure are limited, he said.

“I’m a little disappointed our teaching staff isn’t a bit more responsive to parents,” Froehling said. “But I don’t see us a having big failures.”

Teaching is an enormous task, he said, and the teaching staff is great, but can always improve. The average person can’t know what it’s like to teach unless they walk in a teacher’s shoes, he added.

Overall he’ll leave the district feeling it’s better than when he started.

His move to Orting is probably the only reason he’s leaving the school board, Froehling said. But don’t expect him to run for a school board position in Orting.

“I’d like to be active in the district, but not as a school board member,” he said. “I’d like to be able to do more in schools.”