Effective Board Development for Public School Districts

Citizens’ authority in local government is basic to our democracy. Boards of trustees for public school districts are no exception and have been in existence since the 1700’s. Their commonly accepted purpose and roles include: establishing a vision; maintaining an effective and efficient structure; ensuring accountability; and providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools. (California School Boards Association) Membership ranges from three to nine or more people, elected by the public voters. According to CSBA documents, nearly 100,000 citizens serve on school boards across the United States.

Boards can and do have a great impact on many aspects of school districts. They influence the culture, levels of trust, conflict or lack thereof, confidence in the organization, and district values and direction, among other factors. Requirements to run for the board are virtually non-existent. There are rarely, beyond citizenship and residency, criteria to become a board member. Yet, we entrust our children’s education to these elected officials. Given the level of influence they can have, the lack of criteria poses a major dilemma in the public school system.

It seems critical to the creation and effectiveness of school systems to do something about developing quality boards of trustees. The costs of ineffective boards which create conflict, are not doing fulfilling their appropriate roles in the best interests of students, or are not willing to work as a team are very high.

Effective School Boards

So what are the characteristics of effective boards? Various sources suggest some common practices and beliefs of boards that provide effective district leadership. In addition to CSBA documents, Getting There from Here, Five Habits of High-Impact School Boards, and Boards that Make a Difference provide insights into what boards and their members can do serve their communities and students well.

Effective Practices and Beliefs

1. Understand and practice their roles as a governing body, not as managers of the district
2. Work as a team with the superintendent
3. Have all children’s education as a priority
4. Communicate effectively with each other, the superintendent and their constituents
5. Create a vision for the district
6. Create the structures and conditions which allow the superintendent to be the CEO
7. Act as liaisons between the school district and the community
8. Build a strong relationship of trust with the superintendent
9. Focus on the policies of the district
10. Commit the time, energy and knowledge to their board role

While these are not the full extent of effective boards, they are often cited most commonly in materials related to board development and improvement. The NESDEC study, Getting There from Here, suggests, for example, that effective board members would serve for longer periods of time than one term, individual board members would not use this role as a stepping stone for future elected positions, and that members not be single-issue proponents. These might be ideal, but it would be hard to ensure them given the more political nature of our world today.

Ineffective Practices and Beliefs

Getting There from Here suggests some practices that make for troubled boards, often in often poorly run districts. Reading the list of effective practices indicates that the opposite practices/beliefs would make for ineffective boards, but it is helpful to review the behaviors seen in these kinds of boards.

1. Disregard the agenda process and chain-of-command
2. Confuse their roles with that of superintendent and staff
3. Nit-pick
4. Micro-manage
5. Play to the media
6. Focus on their personal interests
7. Have interpersonal conflict with other board members or staff
8. Commit limited time or energy to improving governance
9. Do not respect the leadership of the district

Board Development

What board development is available to assist board members in becoming effective? A number of options are available in California, with the most common being CSBA’s Masters in Governance program. Districts can choose to participate in this and board members sent by their districts participate in eight sessions. The topics include boardsmanship, vision, human resources, policy, curriculum, finance, collective bargaining, and community leadership.

These sessions are generally taught by current or former school boards and superintendents, who have been trained by CSBA. Each session lasts for a day and the program typically takes a year to complete.

Organizations, such as Pivot Learning Partners, also provide board development and training through their consultants. Individual private consultants and executive search firm members also work with boards and superintendents on the governance practices.

Obviously, the big problem with this is that it is voluntary. No assurance exists that board members who attend or participate will take it seriously or that they will adopt the practices promoted in the training or workshops. Additionally, not all superintendents have been trained in systems like CSBA, nor are they necessarily strong in the follow-up to the various ideas.

One large handicap to a system like CSBA is that it is one-time training. After it is done, board members may or may not participate in other training specifically focused on effective governance. They may attend conferences where they gather information and ideas, but they may not continue to revisit the role of the board and examine ways to be more effective.

Some of the literature around effective board, including Eadie’s work, strongly suggests that the development must be on-going in order for boards to provide the best leadership for their district. Reasons for the on-going work and training are that board members change, superintendents move on or retire, citizens may run for the wrong reasons and not be focused on student learning, and boards must remember that they are models for the district and community.

Quality On-Going Board Development

If we assume that training such as CSBA Masters in Governance and participation in school board conferences is valuable, then what else should public school districts do to develop highly effective school boards and cultures in school districts that sustain those practices and beliefs over time?

In considering this topic through a review of research and literature, and through discussions with superintendents and board members, several common methods emerged. The focus is around the governance team, made up of the superintendent and the board members. The following are strongly suggested for school districts and their leadership:

1. Establishment of governance protocols and norms for how the team will operate when they are working together
2. System of response when protocols are not followed by members of the team
3. Revisiting protocols for possible revisions
4. Setting meeting norms
5. Determination of long and short term goals
6. Regular review of practices and accountability for the practices
7. Effective evaluation of the board and the superintendent
8. Understanding of effective team behaviors
9. Retreat opportunities for the governance team to discuss big ideas and revisit their beliefs and practices
10. New board member orientation to the district and the board operations
11. Review of board policies on a regular basis
12. Regular professional development for the superintendent and board around important topics
13. Training for board presidents in managing meetings
14. Communications protocols for board members, especially in times of crisis
15. Regular updates from departments such as business, human resources, and educational services
16. Budget processes and procedures
17. Legal updates as needed
18. Student achievement discussions and focus

A strong emphasis in these 18 items is on protocols and norms, the reinforcement of them, and the monitoring and accountability when they are not adhered to.

How these development opportunities would be provided must vary according to the needs and resources of the school district. County offices, outside consultants, superintendents, etc. can deliver and support these efforts. The writer is aware of at least three districts, in the San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Bay area, where the boards are high functioning and they incorporate many of these practices in their work. They utilize outside facilitators as part of this, plus they hold themselves accountable for their behaviors.

However, it is clear that much of the work for board development must rest with the board members themselves. Are they willing to spend the time to improve? Are they in this role on behalf of all children? Do they want to work as a member of the team? Are they committed to a long-term role in the district? Do they trust and understand the superintendent? Are they willing to continually assess their own behaviors and how they are impacting the governance team?

Even if the answer is no to all of these, we would argue that these activities must occur. While we often hear about the dysfunctional board members, it is probably the case that most (90% plus) people in these roles come from the best of purposes and we must help them to improve. Eventually, the board member who would say no to the questions above will stand out for their lack of responsibility and maturity.

We can always hope.

Resources:

Carver, John, Boards that Make a Difference, 1990, Jossey-Boss Inc.

Eadie, Doug, Five Habits of High-Impact School Boards, 2005, Scarecrow Education.

Eadie, Doug, Eight Keys to an Extraordinary Board-Superintendent Partnership, 2003, Scarecrow Education.

Goodman, Richard H., Fulbright, Luann, Zimmerman, William G., Getting There from Here, 1997, New England School Development Council and Educational Research Service.

California School Boards Association, Masters in Governance documents.

Townsend, Rene; Brown, James; Buster, Walter; A Practical Guide to Effective School Board Meetings, 2005, Corwin Press.

Townsend, Rene; Johnston, Gloria; Gross, Gwen; Lynch, Peggy; Garcy, Lorraine; Roberts, Benita; Novotney, Patricia; Effective Superintendent-School Board Practices, 2007, Corwin Press.