Question #47 – Does Your Board Set Criteria for Measuring Board Member Success?

Rick Maloney

(49 Questions to Ask Your Board)

  • Come to meetings adequately prepared.
  • Speak only when recognized.
  • Not interrupt each other.
  • Not engage in side conversations.
  • Not repeat what has already been said.
  • Not “play to the audience” or monopolize the discussion.
  • Support the Chair’s efforts to facilitate an orderly meeting.
  • Communicate openly and actively in discussion and dialog to avoid surprises.
  • Encourage equal participation of all members.
  • Practice respectful body language.
  • Place emphasis on building consensus among members.
  • Seek the input of the Superintendent as issues are discussed and decisions made.

― Horry County School District1

Board member performance is, in a word, boardsmanship. The first step in improving boardsmanship is identifying and communicating criteria that will be used to monitor board member performance and determine board member success. The above policy language is found in a protocol adopted by a school board, describing its expectations for board meetings and identifying how individual board members can contribute to or detract from effective board meetings.

When the whole board develops these protocols board members are put on notice that their colleagues are committed to regular review of individual members’ meeting behavior and enforcement of agreed-on criteria for success. When boards set expectations of their members, they impose a discipline in their work that supports effective governance, and in turn supports better results for students. The following excerpt from a board’s code of conduct is an example set of such criteria:

  • Focus on issues rather than personalities.
  • Respect decisions of the full Board.
  • Exercise honesty in all written and interpersonal interaction, never intentionally misleading or misinforming each other.
  • Criticize privately, praise publicly.
  • Make every reasonable effort to protect the integrity and promote the positive image of the district and one another.
  • Never embarrass each other or the district.

– Lake Washington School District2

Research-supported boardsmanship practices positively impact student learning. A study of video-recorded meetings by researchers David Lee and Daniel Eadens reported significant positive correlation between board members exhibiting the following characteristics and student achievement in their districts.

  • Board members listen respectfully and attentively to the person speaking.
  • [No members] seem to advance their own agenda [like grand standing and wanting to look good in public].
  • Board members and the superintendent seem to have a good working relationship.

– David Lee & Daniel Eadens3

John Carver says that a governance model, no matter how well designed, cannot automatically “make a bad board good.” Similarly, a board cannot make a bad board member good, but it can establish boardsmanship criteria to be used in pointing out errant behaviors and in the process shaping future behavior.

Scenario: Harold was an experienced board member whose spouse also happened to be a teacher. He was known to always support teachers, voting regularly on their behalf. He might hear both sides of argument(s) related to teacher interests but felt compelled to “follow his heart.” During the previous summer’s negotiations, the media widely reported how school board member Harold was marching with the teachers during demonstrations against his own district. The superintendent noticed how the union negotiating team always seemed to know what the superintendent could or could not agree to, and suspected Harold of “leaking” executive session bargaining information to teachers. As an elected school official, Harold regularly told colleagues he only answered to those who had elected him, not the Board of Trustees. As much as the other board members disagreed with Harold’s behavior, they felt powerless to make him take a more neutral stance, because they had repeatedly avoided discussing these kinds of uncomfortable matters.

In the above story, Harold is an example of the fact that in a democratically run society, waiting for the next election may sometimes seem like the only fool-proof way to get decisive corrective action from the voting public. But boards need not remain powerless. Declaring criteria for boardsmanship success is the first step toward empowering the board.

Many collections of boardsmanship best practices exist. Vermont School Boards Association suggests a code of conduct that sets the board’s criteria for assessing individual board member success:

  • Attend all regularly scheduled board meetings, insofar as possible, and review advance materials about the issues to be considered on each agenda.
  • Maintain confidentiality of information and discussion conducted in executive session.
  • Review essential facts, consider others’ ideas, and then present personal opinions during board deliberations but, once the board vote has been taken, support board decisions regardless of individuals positions.
  • Act only as a member of the board and do not assume any individual authority when the board is not in session, unless otherwise directed by the board.
  • …a board member’s responsibility is to see that schools are well run, but not to run them.
  • Refer complaints, requests, and concerns to the superintendent or other appropriate staff...
  • Avoid…commitments that…compromise…decision making ability of the board or administrators.
  • …members shall not give directives to any…administrator or employee, publicly or privately.
  • Consider the needs of the entire community and vote for what seems best for students.

– Vermont School Boards Association4

The effective board is knowledgeable of performance measures that can be used to judge board member performance. The board publicly commits to these measures as its expectations. These commitments are reinforced by the knowledge that the board will monitor board member performance in meetings and between meetings.

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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