(49 Questions to Ask Your Board)
This program first provided a solution by bringing the district together under a unified goal, our communities’ health. During regular monthly meetings, members discuss new and innovative ways to provide health education to students, families, and staff…Initially, there was pushback by the community, but with more education provided, the community began to understand the importance of this issue. They also began to understand that they were able to make the transformation…the committee solicited help from the staff. This meant eating and drinking healthier snacks, especially in front of students…coming up with other ways to reward students besides candy. The committee has also utilized the district webpage to provide the community with ideas to make changes in the classroom and at home. ― Blue Ridge School District
The above narrative is from an NSBA Magna Award-winning entry in the category of Community Engagement. If the board maintains an ongoing connection with a wide range of community partners, it will be in a better position to reach out, solicit, and acquire the community’s wisdom and its values.
Scenario: The board president opened a special meeting of the board by announcing its purpose: to conduct a listening session with a cross-section of invited community members convened to review and update the board’s values. Board members began by describing the values and principles expressed in various district policies. Then groups were formed around the room at round tables, discussing those values and suggesting revisions that more closely reflect the community’s values.
The board establishes and maintains a connection with community members in a way that resembles a subordinate who reports progress to the boss and receives the boss’s guidance. When expressed in terms of broad values and principles-laden language such guidance will endure long into the future.
Reflecting on a community engagement activity his board conducted, a board member noted:
To ensure your school district “works for all students” may sometimes mean you will be called on to touch base with local businesses and post-secondary institutions, just to see how your graduates are doing. This may sound a bit boring, but it can also be quite entertaining. I remember our board holding a rather formal dinner one evening for 10 or 12 local college and technical school admittance officers. We asked them what they thought of our students. They all agreed our students were just fine; it was our parents, hovering over their college-student children, that they didn’t like. I’d never heard the term ‘helicopter parents’ before that meeting.
Bob Hughes1
The effective board connects with the community in order to listen. As the community’s primary link with the district, the board pursues frequent opportunities for board-community interaction. It regularly reports to its community, recognizing that it is the community that is the boss. The board reaches out to the community for input. It listens to community members to get a sense of their interests, priorities and values. It translates what it hears into principles applicable to the school district, community values expressed in broad language that is useful in a wide variety of situations.
NOTE: Please feel free to comment. The opinions expressed in these blog entries are informed by references cited herein, and the experiences of the author. Your comments are welcome additions to the conversation.
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Excerpt from:
- A Framework for School Governance (2017), Rick Maloney
Additional References:
- 1Personal communication (2017) Bob Hughes
Next: Question #21 – Internal Voice Does Your Board Reflect Vision and Values Through Policy