Hello and welcome to iEdKiddos, my name is Joseph Brooksbank Sr. and I wanted to take the opportunity to tell a little about myself. Throughout my life I have always wanted to be in education. I had planned through most of my middle school and high school life to join the military and then become a high school history teacher. I signed up for the delayed entry program almost right after September 11th, and made sure that my job was secured before graduation.
I graduated from a small school district in Southwest Ohio in June of 2002. I graduated and 2 days later, I was in basic training for the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, I was able to see many different parts of the world and serve two tours in Iraq during Operations Iraqi Freedom. I was eventually medically retired from the Air Force and then changed to a full retirement.
During the first few months out of the military, I took a job working security for a Walmart in my hometown area. During this time, I began working on my undergraduate degree and at first started with a goal of getting my Bachelors in History to become a high school teacher. While in this program, I found that this was not for me as much as I had originally believed and switched my major to Liberal Arts/General Studies so that I did not have to start completely over.
While working on my bachelors degree, I bounced from a few different careers trying to find the right match for me. I eventually found a position working in a retail company and working my way to management. During this time, I had met and married my wife. Then working with the Veterans Affairs Office (VA), I was given the chance to go back to school and get my Master’s degree in Education.
My degree in Education was with a focus in early childhood education (Pk-3). I graduated and continued to work on my K-12 Reading Endorsement as well as begun my first teaching job. Accepting this teaching job also required me to get my 4th and 5th grade Endorsement. After completing both my K-12 Reading Endorsement and my 4th/5th grade Endorsement from two different college programs at the same time, I began to explore getting my Doctorate.
I have been actively working on my Doctorate in K-12 Organizational Leadership for the past 3 years and am close to finishing this program. I recently began a Principal Licensure Program at a second University.
Why am I doing all of these things? My ultimate goal is to as I would like to say “Fix Stupid”. When I say “Fix Stupid” I want to make sure that it is clear on what I am saying. I am not talking about students, parents, teachers, or administrators. I am talking about individuals that are put into a leadership and decision making position that have no business being in those positions.
According to the Ohio School Boards Association (2019), In the state of Ohio, to be a board of education you must be elected; however, the only requirements to being put on the ballot are:

1. U.S. citizen
2. at least 18 years of age
3. Resident of your school district
4. Registered to vote in your school district for at least 30 days prior to the election.

This information and more can be found on their website at www.ohioschoolboards.org
Education is one of the most important professions in the world, yet we allow individuals that have no experience or education background in this profession to make decisions that can have a major impact both positive and more importantly a negative impact on our students.
The biggest reason that I am doing all of this is for my students and the students that I have not had the privilege to teach. These students are the most important aspect of my profession. I make sure through my words and my actions that all of my students understand that I am a teacher because I want the best for each one of them. I love them like they were my own children and want them to grow up to have full and happy lives. I explain to them that I am tough because I see so much potential in each of them and want them to push to reach that potential.