Neal Rubin

Lions VP of communications tackles Oxford school board

Oxford High School has hired a basketball coach and an athletic director since Bill Keenist joined the school board last summer, and in both cases, he suggested a question to ask the candidates:

"How do you define winning?"

He's the senior vice president of communications for the Detroit Lions, so when it comes to defining victory, feel free to insert the joke of your choice here. But now that he mentions it, different levels of competition should embrace different goals, and it's a particularly valuable thought coming from someone in a winning-is-the-only-thing profession.

As for his own school board career, Keenist is undefeated. (Note: The next joke goes here.) He was appointed to fill an opening, then swept to victory Tuesday in a race for a one-year term.

Granted, he ran unopposed. (OK, time for the last joke; make it a good one.) He posted a registration fee of $100, and after that, the only thing he paid was dues, as friends at work kidded him about his fierce opponent, Write In.

'Every child has a passion'

Keenist, 51, says he was simultaneously eager to give back to the community and hesitant about committing to the position.

His two sons are Oxford High grads and his daughter is a sophomore volleyball player there, and he's grateful for the opportunities they've had. But given the days-nights-and-weekends nature of his job, he wasn't sure he could devote proper time to the board.

Then it struck him that since he's not going to his boys' football and basketball games anymore, he's practically on a weekly vacation. "I was suffering from withdrawal a little bit," he says.

In the same election where Keenist scored his landslide over Mr. In, voters approved a bond issue that will provide Oxford Community Schools with up to $32.73 million for remodeling, technological upgrades and various other improvements. Some of those are tied to athletics, and Keenist is a predictably huge believer in the value of high school sports -- but he's also big on chess club.

"Every child has a passion. We just have to create the opportunities for them to find it," he says.

Ahead of the game

On the scale of things you want to hear from your school board member, that's right up with "How do you define winning?" "As long as we keep the kids first in any decision we make," Keenist says, "I don't know how people can argue."

He'll soon learn that when it comes to schools, people can argue about anything. But he starts with a cushion of familiarity; in Oxford, population 3,540, most everyone knows him or his kids, and as assistant to the superintendent Pat Bono puts it, "He's one of those people you're glad to see."

Besides, as long as nobody boos or comes to meetings with paper bags over their heads, he's ahead of the game.

nrubin@detnews.com (313) 222-1874