Category: Framework

Organizing structure for the collective governance responsibilities of a board of directors

Question #15 – Do Your Goals Focus on Students?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) School systems exist for one reason and one reason only: to improve student outcomes. [They] do not exist to have great buildings…happy parents…balanced budgets…satisfied teachers…student lunches…employment in the country/city, or anything else…None of those are measures of what students know or are able to do…Effective school boards care about these things too – the “how” it all happens – but they know that anytime school boards are focused primarily on the “how,” they have Read More …

Question #14 – Does Your Board Set Goals for the District?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) First, nonnegotiable district goals should be established for student achievement and for effective instruction, which is a necessary condition for student achievement. These goals should be monitored and used as the basis for immediate corrective action, thus moving districts toward the ideal of high-reliability organizations. Second, the nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction should be established through a collaborative goal-setting process that involves key stakeholders. The board should be fully behind the nonnegotiable goals, Read More …

Question #13 – Does Your Board Give Voice to the Community’s Vision for the Future?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the Read More …

Question #12 – Does Your Board Serve as a Strategic Voice for Your Community?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Scenario: Bianca and Sal lingered in the Balboa School District parking lot after a meeting in which next year’s calendar was a hot topic: start and end dates, holidays, the timing of semesters, graduation, etc. In addition, many decisions were made about hiring, contracting for maintenance, and procurement of equipment and supplies. A relative newcomer to the board, Bianca observed that “We never seem to get around to discussing what the community wants us Read More …

Coming Soon: Questions 12-22 (Strategic Voice)

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Over the course of the next several months, questions 12 thru 22 will explore the board’s responsibility to provide a strategic voice on behalf of the community it serves. That voice is expressed through vision and values that guide the organization as it seeks to assure the community’s desires for student learning. Vision is a component of the board’s responsibility to provide guidance about outcomes desired for students well into an extended future. Questions Read More …

Another look at Questions #7-11 of “49 Questions to Ask Your School Board”

Rick Maloney

Strategic approach as a prerequisite for board readiness To be ready to exercise governance responsibilities on behalf of its community a board must take a strategic approach. Governance readiness depends on more than having the right governance mindset. Not only must a board assure that its thinking is strategic, it must also assure that its acting is strategic – developing routines that set the stage for effective work. To be fully ready the board must have the right governance approach Read More …

Another look at Questions #2-6 of “49 Questions to Ask Your School Board”

Rick Maloney

Governance mindset as a prerequisite for board readiness A governance mindset is one necessary component of board readiness, the other being a governance approach. An effective governance mindset has several features, including two elements that make up a servant-leader mindset, and two elements that make up a growth mindset. Davis and Fullan1 describe a governance mindset as something that enables the individual board members to transcend their boardsmanship role to contribute to the governance role of the whole board: The Read More …

Questions 1-11 of “49 Questions to Ask Your School Board”

Rick Maloney

At this point, having reviewed the first 11 questions (the total number will be 49) and having considered at least a partial answer to each, let’s observe their connections, each with one another, and how they combine to illustrate the broader category of board readiness. Questions 1-11 deal with the board’s need to be ready with a foundation of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that enable it to carry out broad governance functions: One perspective from which to view board readiness Read More …

Question #11 – Does Your Board Take a Strategic Approach to Meetings?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The school board meeting is the community’s window to the school system. The public often will assume schools are run the same way school board meetings are run. ― Gemberling et al1 This caution from the Key Work of School Boards reminds us of the importance of treating board meetings seriously. Like policy, meetings have the potential to be truly strategic or merely operational. The board meeting minutes from a $60 million district showed Read More …

“Skills for an Effective School Board Member” Article in the American School Board Journal

Rick Maloney

This article in American School Board Journal is the second in a series of articles about knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed by a new school board member.
Boardsmanship skills include connecting with the community, advocating for students, contributing to board meetings, referring issues for action, balancing confidentiality and transparency, each in appropriate situations, complying with law, etc. Other skills involve contributing to effectiveness in the board’s governance capacity.