Teaching government at Hilliard Darby High School in Ohio (a suburb of Columbus), Amy Messick helps students understand how our constitutional system works. She also encourages them to figure out their own political views and to actively engage in civic life. One former student who appreciates what he learned from Messick now serves on the school board for the district in which Messick teaches. In 2023, he returned the encouragement Messick had given him. He suggested she run for a vacancy on the Dublin City school board, the district in which Messick lives.
It was an idea Messick had already tossed around in conversations with her husband. By August 2024 she would complete her degree in the Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) program, giving her time for such an endeavor. She thought she could help repair a disconnect between what some worry is happening in public schools and what she knows actually happens.
Understanding the Reality of Public Education
During her more than twenty years teaching government at the general and AP levels, Messick has certainly seen changes. Some of them encourage her. As immigrant students from Somalia, Venezuela, and elsewhere have swelled the student population in her district, students’ attitudes toward racial, religious, and cultural diversity have shifted toward greater openness. On the other hand, because students now rely increasingly on cell phones for information, Messick spends more class time helping them identify credible news sources. Since the disruption of schooling during COVID, she’s also spent time catching students up on critical thinking skills.
But one concern being raised at school board meetings—that teachers were indoctrinating students with their own political ideas—showed a misunderstanding of how she and her colleagues work.
“Some groups were saying we’re teaching critical race theory,” Messick said, explaining why the claim was baseless. “I have two master’s degrees, one in educational leadership and one from MAHG. I’ve even taught at the college level.” (She began teaching a 200-level dual enrollment class for Kenyon College a decade ago.) “But critical race theory is something I don’t know. I’ve never studied it,” Messick said. Another claim—that teachers were “persuading students to change their genders”—struck Messick as comical. “I can’t get students to put their phones away. But people think I can persuade them to change their gender?”
More worrying was a complaint that showed confusion about what civic education requires. “Parent groups have complained that teachers are injecting controversial topics into lessons. School boards are responding with directives to avoid controversial topics,” Messick said. “Well, how do I teach government without talking about controversial topics?” Self-government in America has always entailed controversy and debate, Messick pointed out.
Messick’s former student thought she could explain the reality of public education to worried voters and a worried school board. He put her in touch with a citizen’s group who’d support her as she campaigned. They’d help her identify homes in the district to canvas—those at least 40% likely to vote for a “progressive” candidate (Messick’s self-description). Assured of help, Messick decided to run. “I’d been complaining enough. Now it was time to do something.”
How Messick Campaigned and Won
Knocking on doors, Messick found her task simpler than expected. Most voters focused on a point she raised as she introduced herself: that no one then serving on the Dublin School Board had experience as a K-12 classroom teacher. This surprised voters.
Messick assured them that “all those serving on the Dublin School Board want to do what’s best for students. But when school board members are approached by very vocal groups, and the members themselves are not inside school buildings every day, it’s natural for them to think, ‘Well maybe what these folks are complaining about is what’s happening.’ They then feel they must respond with a new policy.” Many citizens took Messick’s point, agreeing the school board needed someone with classroom experience.
In the November election, Messick—out of six candidates running for two open seats on the school board—won the highest number of votes. Her support even exceeded that of a twenty-year incumbent.
As she serves on the board, Messick will focus on “making sure that our teachers feel supported in their efforts to support students. Do they have everything they need to do their job to the best of their ability, so that all students can succeed to the best of their ability?”
The Content Expertise Teachers Must Acquire
One thing all teachers need is something they must acquire on their own: expertise in the subject area they teach. “I highly encourage any new teacher to get a master’s in content,” Messick said. Once a teacher is comfortable with steering students through the basic outline of the subject area, “it’s on the teacher to realize, ‘I need to up my game. I need to make sure that I know more than my students can learn by reading the textbook.’” The biggest barriers to getting a masters are time and money.
Messick herself did not begin the MAHG program until twenty years after she completed her undergraduate degree. In 2017, she began taking occasional courses in MAHG, realizing she needed “to get some refreshers.” Messick was ready to put in the time required to get through the heavy reading required for each course. MAHG program administrators, she adds gratefully, helped her overcome the financial barrier.
“Our school district used to get student teachers from Ashland University, and I would get fee waivers for working with them. That was a huge help.” Then MAHG Director Chris Pascarella pointed out that the degree was within her reach. She had already completed the six core courses the degree requires. “Why don’t you just finish this up?” he suggested. Pascarella arranged for her to pay for some of the remaining coursework through Buchwald fellowships, grants provided through the generosity of Jim Buchwald, a donor who recognized the unique value of a Master’s program conducted through conversation about the primary documents of American history.
How MAHG Builds Teachers’ Confidence
“When you look at the other programs out there for teachers to take for credit, MAHG is a breath of fresh air,” Messick said. “You’re talking with colleagues who face the same teaching challenges you do. They also share your passion for the subject.” Taking an online course that meets in the evenings during the school year taxes a teacher’s stamina, “but it’s also energizing. The next morning you want to share with your students what you learned the night before. All the courses are immediately impactful.”
MAHG’s required history courses “gave me the context I need for teaching government,” Messick added. “It helped me see how the Constitution has been interpreted at various moments of our history.” Reading deeply in the primary documents of each era gave her more resources to deal with students’ questions. “If I don’t know the answer, I now know where to look. And having read two, three, or four different sources for each concept I teach solidifies my certainty that what I’m telling students is true.”
She also learned from watching how MAHG professors steer discussion of documents. Professors provide context for each document—“the who, what, when and where,” then “ask questions to make us think about the how and the why. I’m now more confident I can help students break down a document’s argument.”
Helping Students Understand Our Contentious Politics
Teaching government involves teaching current events, which involves following the contentious politics of our current era. “I try to put a positive spin on it,” Messick says. “Let’s watch the chess game play out,” she tells students, as an incoming administration tries to push appointees through without FBI background checks, and Senators of his own party object. “I tell students about the relationship between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama. She worked with the president, but also reminded him, ‘You can’t just steamroll over Congress. We’re in charge here.” “It all relates to Federalist 51,” Messick says. “We’re seeing ‘ambition . . . counter ambition.’ This is why we have separation of powers and checks and balances. They need to fight it out, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”
