My Interview with Cherlisa Richardson
Cherlisa Richardson, Vice President
Metropolitan School District of Pike Township School Board
Indianapolis, Indiana
Mrs. Cherlisa Richardson is a life-long resident of Indianapolis, Indiana. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management, Marketing, & Insurance from Indiana State University. She also has an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University and is currently working towards another Master’s in School Counseling. She truly is a life-long learner.
Mrs. Richardson has spent over 20 years in business and switched over to a career in education which has been where her passion is. While she was transitioning from the business world, she pursued her passion of writing and published a novel titled, “Summer Rain.” The novel touches on the themes of eating disorders, bullying, and teen suicide. She wrote the book because she was troubled by the increase of suicides and issues with students.
Mrs. Richardson decided to run for School Board because she knew it was an election year coming up and she heard that there was a seat open. She always liked working with students through church and other organizations as a mentor, through career workshops and many other ways. The passion for education was there.
Mrs. Richardson is a member of the Indiana School Boards Association, Indiana School Counseling Association, and the American School Counselor Association. Mrs. Richardson believes her best publication that is helpful in her position is the state school board magazine. She likes it because it talks about cutting-edge areas with trends in education, technology, and local/federal information.
She has had many personal rewards but her most valued is seeing her students make good decisions that are going to impact their lives forever. When the kids come back, they share that they were actually listening to the sound advice given to them about what was going to happen next.
As a school board member she is sometimes frustrated by the impact state legislation has on pressuring schools to be driven by test scores. Because of this, many times it takes away from teachers actually being able to just teach and sometimes forces them to teach to a test.
If she were to start her career again, she would not start her career the same way. She would’ve gone right into the School of Education. She would have done consulting to help students go to college and do private practice counseling.
When asked how networking has benefitted her, Mrs. Richardson shared that networking does a lot to expand reach for opportunities and increase your knowledge. The more people you know, the better. It allows you to reach different networks of people and also provide greater opportunities.
The Pike Career & STEM Center is one of the newest CTE centers in the state of Indiana. Mrs. Richardson was on the board that voted to initiate this program locally. She believes that the opportunities for CTE were there when she was in school, but that CTE has expanded a lot more to become what it is today. The different types of trades available are amazing, and the levels that students can go to within specific trades are endless compared to when she was in school.
Challenges in her field that she shared are that not all stakeholders are aware of the opportunities that are available to students. For some, a “trade” is not as valuable as a college career. Students who could benefit from CTE may not be encouraged to participate in it.
She cites her late start entering the education field as one of her main challenges to her leadership goals. It wasn’t her first career so she has a lot that she wants to do in less time but she is up for the challenge!
Mari A. Swayne
2017 Region III Fellow
Metropolitan School District of Pike Township
Indianapolis, IN