Governing Effectively via a Framework for School Governance
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Governing with a systems perspective means understanding not only that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that each of the parts is essential…effective governance flows from understanding and paying attention to all of these elements. – Katherine Gemberling et al1 A systems perspective enables a board to take a strategic view of the whole district before it acts. It ensures that the board considers how decisions targeting one part, Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Boards are powerful. They select; evaluate; and, if they choose, terminate superintendents. They set goals, allocate resources, create policy frameworks, and oversee management and are the bridge between districts and the publics they serve. – Don McAdams1 The above succinctly describes the school board’s role and broadly outlines a strategic approach to carrying out that role. The effective board has a clear sense of its purpose. It distinguishes the strategic work of the board Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) On the most basic level, members have to keep up with continually changing state and federal mandates and laws, something that district staffers generally help with. They also need to keep up with promising initiatives to raise student achievement in and outside their district as well as continually evolving systems for monitoring data and engaging the community in school improvement. New board members especially need training in their roles and responsibilities and in laws Read More …
An article that offers advice on orientation/onboarding of a new school board member, focusing on a foundation of essential knowledge about the job, was printed in the August 2024 issue of ASBJ. Providing newcomers to your school board team with helpful knowledge informs them about serving in their role with knowledge that is critical to their success. It encourages that was take advantage of opportunities for learning and reflection about that foundation of knowledge over time. This article is the Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) I remember often being praised for my intelligence rather than my efforts, and slowly but surely, I developed an aversion to difficult challenges. Most surprisingly, this extended beyond academic and even athletic challenges to emotional challenges. This was my greatest learning disability – this tendency to see performance as a reflection of character and, if I could not accomplish something right away, to avoid that task or treat it with contempt.1 In relating the Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The most fundamental discipline of a board of directors is to direct the organization for high performance. Directing is a proactive discipline, focused on the future. But an alarming problem exists with many boards: they refuse to direct! – Jim Brown1 The above observation is a clear consequence of the fact that, while it is hard enough for individuals to prepare for a leadership role, it is even more difficult for a board of Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. – Robert Greenleaf1 According to Greenleaf, those aspiring to leadership must choose first to serve, then to lead. This Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) The development of a governance mindset in our view is the most important characteristic of effective trustees…Having a governance mindset is understanding the role and responsibilities of the governing board and how individual trustee leadership can enhance the positive, value-added impact of the governance process. – Davis Campbell and Michael Fullan1 It is not enough to acquire knowledge (what to know) or skills (what to do) for governance. Boards must as a first priority Read More …
(49 Questions to Ask Your Board) Board Readiness to govern is a board responsibility that sets the stage for carrying out its more observable responsibilities in three areas: Strategic Voice [giving voice to the community’s values and vision – both an outward (advocacy) voice and an inward (policy) voice]; Operational Guidance [providing policy guidance for the superintendent’s management role, the board’s governance role, and individual board members’ boardsmanship role]; and Accountability [assuring on behalf of the community that the district, Read More …
The August issue of The American School Board Journal is now online. Its Features section includes an article (Oath of Office) in which I describe an opportunity that presents itself whenever a new board member takes the oath of office. The rest of the board can more rapidly onboard that new member if they renew and recommit to their own oath at the same time, following up the oath ceremony with a whole-board discussion on the meaning of that oath. Read More …