Worthington’s first openly gay school board member values ‘a strong community’

WORTHINGTON – Along with 420 other recently elected citizens, Eric E. Parrish is taking a seat this month on a Minnesota school board.

At his inaugural Independent School District 518 school board meeting next Tuesday in Worthington, where about 20% of the roughly 3,300 enrolled students are white, Parrish will begin a four-year at-large term.

Unremarkable, but for the fact that Parrish, 44, is the first openly gay school board member to be elected in a conservative county where Donald Trump collected 66.9% of the November 2024 vote to Kamala Harris’ 31.41%.

“I value having a strong community,” said Parrish, an 18-year Worthington resident who teaches music and theater at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, “and when I can offer something to help make this a better place for everybody, I’ll step up.”

Parrish’s personal experiences and nearly two decades as a postsecondary educator boost his desire and confidence to elevate those whose interests aren’t always seen.

“One reason I returned to grad school in 2020 was to figure out where I, a gay white man in his early 40s, fit in as an artist and community member,” said Parrish, who earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Gustavus Adolphus College in 2003 and a master of music in vocal performance at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., in 2006.

“At Minnesota State University, Mankato, where I’m completing a master of fine arts degree in directing, Dr. Heather Hamilton emphasized that it’s about identifying the voices of those who aren’t sitting at the table and lifting them up so they can have opportunities to be heard,” he said.

“That’s had a profound impact on my teaching, art, community and understanding of what my role is.”

Bruce Jones, a Minneapolis lawyer, playwright and adjunct faculty member in the MSUM theater department, remembers well Parrish’s semiautobiographical output for Jones’ spring 2023 playwriting class.

“It concerned a very busy gay man who was recently married and, while trying to finish a graduate degree, was encouraged by others to run for office,” said Jones of Parrish’s play, “No Time to Spare.”

“In that case, the man was aiming for Congress, with content focused on how torn he was between his commitments and yet how strongly he felt that certain voices should be represented at various governmental levels.”

Jones found Parrish’s energy impressive. In early 2024, for instance, Parrish was traveling between Mankato and Worthington thrice weekly, maintaining his own teaching schedule at Minnesota West, conducting the Worthington Chamber Singers as well as Worthington’s First Lutheran Church choir and singing in a production of “Carmina Burana” at MSUM while simultaneously directing a play — a revival of Jones’ critically acclaimed “Round Trip Ticket,” first penned during Jones’ undergrad years at MSUM in the mid-1970s.

“I was really delighted to hear Eric decided to run for office and that he’d been elected,” Jones said.

“It’s amazing he’d create the time for public service because he could have just kept doing what he was doing. But Eric wants everyone to be involved, to have access to the arts and to discover the beauty and worth he sees in theater and music.”

In fact, last fall wasn’t the first time Parrish expressed interest in school board service.

After a 15-year board member resigned in January 2023 because of a move, Parrish was one of six individuals to submit his name for consideration as a 10-month appointee to complete the term.

Although Parrish wasn’t selected, he began attending as many school board meetings as his schedule allowed.

An unwelcome spotlight shone on the Worthington school system in September 2023 when two flags — a Puerto Rican emblem and a pro-LGBTQ banner — were removed from a gay STEM teacher’s Worthington High School classroom after a parent complained that their child was uncomfortable with them.

Following a heated public hearing, the existing school board ultimately stood by the administrative action. The targeted teacher later left the district for a college appointment out of state.

Parrish said he and his husband have experienced a few incidents of anti-LGBTQ sentiment over the years, but Parrish has always chosen to be open about himself so that, as he put it, “those who wanted to be supportive could but those who weren’t could stay away.”

He’s let his involvement, persistence and contributions define him.

“Last August, I personally urged over a dozen people to run for school board,” said Parrish, mentioning that four seats on the seven-member board were up for grabs in fall 2024.

“They all declined, and it eventually dawned on me that I needed to be that person.”

Significant shifts, Parrish perceives, are imminent; Superintendent John Landgaard retires in June 2025 after a 22-year tenure, two 25-year-plus school board members have moved on, and two key district administrators with more than 25 years of service retired at the end of 2024.

In addition to Parrish’s election, the 2025 board will be majority female — another historical first.

“Worthington generally and the school district specifically will change immensely in the next four to six years,” said Parrish.

“It became a question of who will steward those changes, understand the bigger picture and have the long-term vision and leadership to decide how things will unfold in the next decade and beyond.”

Parrish was somewhat surprised by the support for his candidacy. He garnered 2,611 votes, enough to place third out of six candidates — close behind two Worthington natives.

He’ll sit on the district’s curriculum/instructional, technology, staff development, classified negotiating and “world’s best workforce” committees.

After 18 years as an active community contributor, Parrish epitomizes the truth that it’s harder to demonize someone when they’re known to you, even if their lives and interests diverge from your own.

Similarly, teaching at Minnesota West opened Parrish’s eyes to lives different from his.

“Any given class might have a 16-year-old PSEO student next to a combat veteran, or a single parent returning to school aside a traditional college-age student,” Parrish said.

“I’ve had students who are refugees and immigrants, students who have nothing but are striving for something. Getting to know someone changes the way you view them, the way you walk through life with them, and that can be very humbling.”

That broader perspective provides Medford native Parrish — who has directed 17 Minnesota West productions and seven musicals at Worthington High School — with an informed starting point to understand what students need from their teachers, administration and board.

“Eric has a vested interest in this community,” said Kris Stewart, a Worthington musician and pastor who’s been involved in numerous musical endeavors with Parrish.

“He has a connection with students and a desire for them to have the best experience possible as they go through ISD 518 schools — no matter who they are.”

Added Jones, “Eric is willing to listen to all points of view. He’s generous, open-minded and very knowledgeable about education.”

Though he sometimes questioned why he remained in Worthington when larger, more liberal cities with livelier cultural, artistic and social opportunities have beckoned, Parrish’s spiritual and philosophical reflections reassure him.

“I initially thought maybe I’d stay here three years,” Parrish said.

“But something inside kept saying, ‘You’re not done here.’ And last fall, I really had a sense of, ‘Oh. This is the time, this is the place. This is why I’m still here and what I need to be doing.”