Committing Rookie Mistakes

BOARD-SAVVY SUPERINTENDENT

Much has been written, including in this column, about onboarding new members of a school board once they are elected or appointed. This action, however, does not necessarily mean that the road ahead will be entirely smooth.

Many new school board members find themselves at odds with their fellow board members and/or the superintendent by committing some rookie mistakes, either by design or by accident. While the board chair holds the primary responsibility for ensuring new board members understand their role and responsibilities, the superintendent can stress the importance of airing questions about district programs or operations ahead of time and explaining the complexities of public entities.

One such mistake is to make promises that likely can’t be kept. I’ve observed this with several boards. In one recent instance, when facing competition during a school board election, a candidate promised to “get rid of” a certain book that was a part of the English language arts curriculum. Of course, a single board member has no such power. It resides only in the board as a collective.