Connections

The Makings of an Effective School Board

Volume 6 / Issue 2 / Winter 2006

Despite increasingly stringent federal regulation of public education, the individuals who influence children’s education most directly may be local school board members. As elected officials, they represent their constituencies at the grassroots level, balancing their districts’ needs against state and federal regulations and setting the tone for public schools throughout urban and rural school systems all across America.

Effective school board members put the needs of children first. A school board’s primary functions are to establish local policy within state and federal guidelines and to monitor and evaluate the local system’s progress. Successful school boards

• gear policies toward a specific vision that focuses on children’s educational needs;
• clearly articulate that vision to superintendents, employees, and constituents; and
• secure the funds necessary to realize the vision.

Toward those ends, school boards hire, work with, and evaluate superintendents; allocate funding for facilities, technology, supplies, and personnel; ensure the safety of students and employees; and set a positive tone of operations systemwide by modeling the respectful, courteous, and cooperative behavior they expect from employees, children, and the community.

A school board’s ability to work effectively with a superintendent requires a clear understanding of the responsibilities of each party. According to Heidi Carter, a board member in Durham County, North Carolina, “It is the responsibility of the school board to decide what the goals of the district are; it is the responsibility of the superintendent and [the] administration to decide how to achieve those goals.”

A school board seldom functions effectively if it takes on or micromanages the administrative responsibilities of the superintendent or other system employees. It is equally ineffective if it becomes sidetracked by personal issues and loses its ability to “separate substantive issues from self-serving and frivolous ones,” according to Dan C. Wertz, superintendent of the Okemos Public Schools in Okemos, Michigan. Wertz also stresses the importance of advisory groups, which reflect the various concerns of the community. “Listening hard to those addressing the board, knowing who brings wisdom to the boardroom, and taking time to consider alternatives are important elements in making quality board decisions.”

Ultimately, a successful school board functions as a team, relying on the strengths of individual members while pursuing a collective, child-centered vision and working together to translate it into a reality. As Carter notes, “It is helpful to have board members who are consensus seekers.” In the stressful process of budgeting, establishing policy for everything from safety to the use of technology, and withstanding political pressure, differences of opinion will arise. An atmosphere of respect and collaboration, however, allows for the airing of those differences, discussion of alternatives, and progress toward a common goal—the best educational opportunities possible for all the system’s children.

While a successful school board is more than the sum of its parts, the quality of its individual membership determines the board’s character in the end. Left unchecked, a few “big personalities” can quickly dominate discussion and drive the board off course, causing it to splinter into contentious groups that lose sight of the overall vision. Once this happens, it “is extremely difficult to reverse,” says Linda Hanson, superintendent of Township High School District 113 in Highland Park, Illinois, and a superintendent-search consultant. “When boards are on a downward path,” she adds, “individual board members often display unproductive or outrageous behavior rather than moving the board’s collective vision forward.”

According to Hanson, a successful school board is composed of individuals who are committed to establishing and maintaining a “trusting, positive atmosphere of mutual respect” and who properly and consistently initiate new members into that atmosphere. The willingness to listen to all viewpoints and the ability to recognize and differentiate between personal agendas and systemwide benefits for all students are essential characteristics of an effective school board member, as are the patience to disagree with other positions respectfully and the professionalism to support collective decisions.

As an elected representative, a school board member walks a fine line between the special interests of constituents and the educational welfare of children systemwide. Astute board members stay in touch with their constituencies, listen to their concerns, value their insights, and communicate the board’s collective mission, but they refrain from making promises that require full board approval. They must discern that the “squeaky wheel” does not always represent the majority opinion. Board members must never lose sight of the enormous responsibility entrusted to them by their local communities: the educational welfare of their children.

During school board election, it is important for community members to look at the issues and at the characteristics of the persons they wish to represent them. Effective school board members put the needs of children first and commit themselves to maintaining an accessible, cooperative, professional board environment that directs its business toward a child-centered vision. They rise above politics to ensure the best, most accessible, most appropriate education for all the children in the district.
—Sarah Boone, MA

Sarah Boone holds a master’s degree in teaching and is certified in gifted education. She teaches at Meredith College.