The Relationship's Start: New Board Member Orientation

Board-Savvy Superintendent

Today’s superintendents are a different breed than they were a few years ago. Demands they face never have been greater with funding never lower. And in the crux of the current melee are superintendents.

This crass evolution of public education sentiment also has given rise to another concern for school district CEOs — the informed, or misinformed, school board member. This might be the person recently elected to ensure your school district is operating effectively, efficiently, transparently and inclusively. Or it might be the civic-minded individual without an agenda who is eager to serve. Regardless, almost every new school board member shares one common deficit: They rarely appreciate the complexity of their role immediately upon taking office.

For a superintendent, having to contend with new governing board members on a regular basis is almost like adding insult to injury. In most communities, it is possible the board will seat new members every two years. Regardless, a superintendent’s participation in training new board members is an important step toward building a collegial relationship.

A Symbolic Setup

The following simple example stresses the relationship between boards and superintendents and how important that relationship is to the effective governance of a school district.

Picture your boardroom and the way your board members are positioned at the table in that room. Particularly note which side of the table their chairs are located. Now picture your chair and, above all, where you sit in relation to them. With few exceptions and regardless of whether your board table formation is straight, U-shaped or some other configuration, the superintendent and the governing board are positioned on the same side of the table. More could be said, but the obvious conclusion is in the illustration.

Superintendents understand school operations, curricula, personnel issues, school finance and so on, but school board members only brush against the various disciplines that ultimately converge to provide public education and then only from an oversight perspective. Yet, in a complementary relationship, there is much to be gained from the unique knowledge and perspective each has to offer the other.

The savvy superintendent understands that greater opportunities for building alliances rather than walls exist when school board members understand the reasoning behind administrative decisions and recommendations. That is one reason superintendents should orchestrate and be actively involved in new board member orientation programs as soon as is practical following the seating of new members.

What’s Expected

An effective orientation program prepares new members for their role in the decision-making process and ideally, the program should be a joint initiative with one or more veteran board members. Nothing replaces the decision-making wisdom gained by experience, but since not all important decisions can wait for new board members to acquire experience, helping acclimate board members to their role is vital for the governance health of the district, as well as the sanity of the administration.

Staff introductions, building tours and such are important, but those things are not what new board members need most. Board members need to understand how to prepare for board meetings, how to review their material, what is expected of them at meetings, how to ask questions both in the meeting and outside the meeting.

And don’t forget, a review of the board’s meeting protocol, usually a hybrid version of Robert’s Rules of Order, is always advisable. No one likes to be embarrassed in public, least of all your employer.

Allocating time to equip board of education members for their governance role will help build trust and confidence in the district’s educational leadership and may be one of the most important meetings the superintendent can have in the board/superintendent relationship.

Michael Adamson is director of board services for the Indiana School Boards Association in Indianapolis, Ind.