The ups and downs of a career: Retired Perrysburg board member reflects on 20 years |

“The most important thing is to do it because you love public education. Don’t do it because you have a political agenda,” Downs said. “The reason is to run is because you truly, truly think that public education is important. I myself believe it is public education that has made the United States great.”

A key component of that is it should be free through the 12th grade.

“I think without public education we would not be a world leader as we are,” Downs said.

She nearly fell to tears when given the proclamation from Perrysburg Mayor Tom Mackin, noting that Dec. 20 was Gretchen Downs day. She also received a Leadership Award from the district, for her 20 years of service. In 2016 she was awarded Outstanding School Board member by the Ohio School Board Association for the Northwest Ohio area district. In 2017 she received a 2017 Milestone Award from the YWCA in the education category.

Downs began her life in education as a teacher.

She taught elementary school for 10 years, primarily first grade, starting in 1967 and taught until 1976. She taught in Deshler, then in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then returned to Ohio to teach in Galion, followed by Anthony Wayne.

“When I taught, kindergarten really was play time. It was primarily acclimation to school,” Downs said. “So when I got my children they were almost all non-readers and the transformation from a non-reader to a reader is just really exciting. It’s the most fun you can have.

“There’s many a sleepless night as you are nearing the end of the year and some of your children are not performing. It makes you really nervous,” she said. “Most of them magically become readers.”

She is an advocate of science and advancements that have taken place in teaching methods.

“In today’s world, there’s been a lot of research and a lot of science in teaching reading, and it’s, I’m sure much, much better at teaching readers than in my day,” Downs said.

She credits her husband’s support for her early electoral success. Tom Downs was a Perrysburg dentist. He died in 2017.

“He’s probably the main reason, the first time I ran, that I was the biggest vote-getter. I think it was because he was so well liked,” Downs said.

While she taught at Anthony Wayne, the family lived in Perrysburg.

She has two daughters, one in Perrysburg and the other in Chicago, with six grandchildren, ranging in age from 25 to 6 months.

“I was very active in parents associations and levies,” Downs said of her early work for the district.

But it was the formation of a Schools Foundation, by then-Perrysburg superintendent John “Joe” Bailey that really spurred her interest. She started on the foundation the second year, served a total of nine years and moved from there to the school board.

Downs believes in strong leadership from a school superintendent, which she saw first in Bailey.

“He was just this mythical person, much like Tom Hosler,” Downs said. “He just was a great person. He was very instrumental in a lot good programs for Perrysburg and well liked by the whole community.”

After his retirement, Downs said there was some “shuffling” with other leadership.

“Then, miraculously, that’s one of my best accomplishments on the school board, was the hiring of Tom Hosler,” Downs said. “He is, without a doubt, the most amazing person I’ve ever worked with. Everything about Tom Hosler, his ability to talk to people of differing opinions, and his ability to always get back to you is just phenomenal. He hires first-rate people, and he’s just a natural born leader.”

“When I went on to the Perrysburg School Board, my goal was just to make every decision that was good for the kids,” she said. “My later goal was all-day kindergarten, at no cost, and I was never able to accomplish that. That is indeed a disappointment to me.”

She cited money as a perpetual issue.

“You always try to spend your dollars in the wisest way that you can,” Downs said.

“To me, it’s a matter of equity that all children should be able to have it. Right now, what happens is we scholarship a lot of children, but it’s the children that are in between,” she said. “That has always seemed unfair to me.”

She said that those “in-between” get only a half day of kindergarten, because the state provides some of the funding for half day and it doesn’t require full day. Some districts have been able to fund it with Title 1 funds, which Perrysburg does not receive.

“I still hope for it and I will still advocate for it,” Downs said.

She is a lifelong registered Republican, but she has never had the party involved in her campaigns, nor has she sought support from the party.

“I think that is a good thing,” Downs said.

“One thing that has changed tremendously is that it has become political. It is a non-partisan office. I think it’s really unfortunate that we have allowed the school board to be political,” Downs said.