Bobby Blount has served on the Northside ISD school board for 27 years, and he has spent every one of them refusing to get distracted from the one thing that matters: whether kids actually have a shot.
In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Bobby Blount, a Northside Independent School District trustee, President of the Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members, and a department head at MITRE who was working in cybersecurity before the word "cyber" meant anything.
Bobby grew up a military kid who attended ten different schools before he finished high school, including years in Mississippi during integration and a stretch in Utah where he was one of the only Black students for miles. He traces how those experiences turned into a single conviction: he had opportunities others did not, and his job was to reach back and create more of them.
He shares the programs he is most proud of, from a third-grade reading competition that logged 11 million minutes across 105 schools to a solar race car event he built in 1996 that now reaches thousands of elementary students. He is candid about how politicized school boards have become, and why the work of running them takes people who know how to stay focused when everyone around them is yelling.
Listen in for a conversation about vision, institutionalizing the things you build so they outlast you, and the discipline of keeping your eye on the ball.
Chapters:👋
01:27 Meet Bobby Blount: 27 years on a school board and a summit asking which way is up
🌍
05:29 Ten schools before high school: growing up a military kid through integration and isolation
🎓
08:34 From the Air Force Academy to doing cyber before anyone called it cyber
💡
11:30 The DJ, the roller coaster, and the day bored kids finally leaned in
📖
14:18 A reading competition with 10,000 third graders and 11 million minutes read
💃
15:49 Dancing with the Stars as a fundraiser, fifteen years running
🎯
17:23 Moving the needle: why onesie-twosie wins are not enough
🏛️
18:48 Why school board seats became a target and what keeps the focus on kids
🔬
23:08 STEM labs, magnet programs, and AI in elementary school
🤝
31:34 Inside the UP Partnership and the Future Ready 70 percent goal
⚾
35:46 Keep your eye on the ball: the manager's line Bobby never forgot
🌱
36:32 Vision, focus, and institutionalizing the things you build so they outlast you
⚽
38:48 Coaching five soccer teams and what it teaches about leadership
🧭
42:27 Parting advice: try everything, work with everyone, and master one thing
San Antonio Area African American Community Fund:
saaaacf.orgReach out to Bobby to learn more about his work building career pathways for kids, from third-grade reading competitions to solar race cars to the Future Ready vision in San Antonio.
Stay strong.
Episode 35