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Posts Tagged ‘school board’

The School District Triangle of Success

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , , , on February 27, 2023| 6 Comments »

So, you want to be a high functioning school district?

Don’t we all.

As I look around at districts I admire for their consistent strong leadership I almost always find a district where the team of the Board Chair, Superintendent and Secretary Treasurer have an excellent working relationship.  While I see this in my life every day, it is also backed up by the literature.  In particular, there is a lot of research linking the success of school districts to the superintendent and board relationship. As Elizabeth Zagata references:

Superintendents and school boards play a pivotal role in the success of any school district. Research shows that districts with effective governance and a positive relationship between the school board and the superintendent consistently have better student outcomes. Indeed, the dynamic of that relationship can either hinder or help a district achieve its mission.

While not as often referenced in the literature, and while the superintendent is the sole employee of the Board, I would include the essential nature of the relationship with the secretary-treasurer (the CFO in a school district) to this conversation expanding it from a two-way to a three-way partnership.  It is the Board Chair who leads a Board in setting a strategic plan.  Then, it is a superintendent who leads a staff in bringing this plan to life and a secretary-treasurer who ensures resources are aligned to make it all happen.

My context is very unique.  I was appointed superintendent in the fall of 2009 and our current secretary-treasurer moved into that position in 2011.  And our current Board Chair joined the Board also in 2011, and assumed the Chair position in 2014.  We are in our ninth years together in these roles.  This continuity is very helpful.  Now, I am sure if we didn’t communicate well with each other, have a clear common vision or engaged in ongoing power struggles, the time together would be of little importance, but fortunately we haven’t had these challenges.

So, what are some of the things I think we do well?

We have clearly defined roles.  We don’t shy away from the conversations about responsibility but we are rarely stepping over each other.  For us, it starts with policy.  The Carver Model of board governance we have held for my time in the district keeps us honest in ensuring everyone is clear in their responsibility.

We have a shared vision.  In some districts, the secretary-treasurer is not a part of the education conversations; not in our district.  She is invested in the educational vision.  And it all starts with our Board’s Strategic Plan that we review and set (or update) during the first several months of the term.  The Board sets the high level direction and the superintendent builds strategies and structures to meet these goals.

There are no surprises.  We talk regularly.  In many cases, it is the superintendent with the board chair and the superintendent with the secretary-treasurer, and there is always efforts made so each of us shares all the information we have with each other.  We never walk into a meeting and are surprised with information any of the rest of us have or share.

We support each other.  It is crazy what I have seen in other districts.  In some places, the board chair sees their job to challenge the superintendent and secretary-treasurer, often in public rather than work with them.  And some superintendents withhold information from board chairs, and use it as power in their relationship.  And secretary-treasurers see their work as the “Culture of No” in slowing or stopping the educational goals of the Board and superintendent.  It is not hard, know what each other are tasked with and help each other be successful.

A simple question guides us.  Our Board Chair will often say, “Is this good for students?” and this drives our work.  When the answer is yes, this moves me to operationalize it and our secretary-treasurer to determine the financial implications.

I am lucky.  I have worked with four excellent board chairs and two strong secretary-treasurers.  And for the last 9 years, having the three of us in these same positions has been good for our school district community.  Continuity helps build trust, and trust helps make things happen.

The most important thing a board does is hire the right superintendent, and the most important thing a superintendent does is hire the right secretary-treasurer.  And the most important thing the three of them do is build a powerful team.

I have written previously on board governance and they may be useful prompts for others:

Board Governance – Small Things Can Make a Big Difference

How the Board and Superintendent Support Each Other

Doing Small Things to Improve Board Governance

The Impact of Boards on How Superintendents Spend Their Time

 

 

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Keep Being Passionate After This is Over

Posted in Change, Health, tagged , , , , on November 30, 2021| 9 Comments »

This is one of those dangerous posts to publish.  I know people will take parts of it out of context and repurpose it for their own benefit.  I am not new around here, I know that is what people do to superintendents and what people do in the age of outrage on the internet.

I have been getting a lot of phone calls and emails lately.  I am not sure of another time in the last decade when there have been so many.  I know I get a lot during job action, or when people think I have made a bad decision on calling or not calling a snow day, or when there are budget challenges.  This is different.  From mask wearing to vaccinations, COVID has brought people to the school district. 

Of course, it is not only a local issue, there are lots of videos circulating on the internet of school board meetings, particularly in the United States, of name calling and sometimes violence over COVID protocols.  Even Saturday Night Live noticed, and did a sketch (HERE) earlier this season on the growing phenomenon.  While more subdued in Canada, my colleagues tell stories of protestors at their doors, fights between parents in the parking lot over vaccinations, and name-calling and threats towards school officials.   And this is not a “don’t worry, it is just happening somewhere else” issue, our teachers and principals are seeing increased tensions and short-tempers regularly.   

My first thought is we need to be better than this.  Our kids are watching.  I appreciate there is great anxiety and frustration.  And I also know that school boards – staff and elected officials – are often more accessible than other government officials and thus an easy target.  Many of us spend our careers in education helping students see nuance, and trying to engage with challenging topics or those with whom we disagree in thoughtful ways – unlike all these images we are seeing.  I have yet to meet anyone in health or education who is not going above and beyond right now to do what they think is best for students.  

I also think about a post I wrote on “the hat rule” a few years ago.  We love topics that are easy to think about.  Masks are either good or bad, same with vaccinations.  When I listen to the health experts each week, I feel their frustration as they try to tell a far more detailed and nuanced story, but we do love to jump to things that are simple to think about.  Keeping kids safe in schools and providing rich opportunities for learning in our times of COVID is complicated and “hat rule” conversations are easy but incomplete.  What we love about these binary topics is that you are either with us or against us – it is like supporting your local sports team and uniting with everyone wearing the same coloured jerseys.

And finally, when this is over, I hope people stick around.  Those who have spoken to me about masks, ventilation, hand sanitizer, or vaccination,  don’t stop being engaged in schools.  Regardless of whether you have been happy or unhappy with the health guidelines, please keep holding me and others accountable.  Hold us accountable for ensuring that all students by grade 4 can read, that students of Indigenous backgrounds are succeeding at the same levels as all other students and that graduates have opportunities for post-secondary and other options after grade 12.  And hold us accountable for ensuring students are learning the skills and attributes of engaged citizenship.  This is our work and the success of all students in the community should be a concern for all of us. 

I realize it may seem far more important to a parent that all students in their child’s class are wearing a mask or are vaccinated than it is that they can read or socialize with others.  I get it.  COVID is scary.  The last 18 months have reminded us of the importance of school and the importance of collective action.  I do hope we show some of the same engagement and passions for the collective well being of all students – as I know it does not feel as immediate and personal as COVID, but we should all want all of our learners to be successful.

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