Board Capacity Building
3 Quick Fixes That Won’t Corral the Rogues on Your Board
I’ve met more than a few “rogue” board members over the course of my 35 years as a governance advisor. I define these board members as trouble makers who march to their own governing tune at their own tempo, with …
Board Standing Committees Supercharge Virginia Beach City Schools Governance
In the recent video interview I recorded with them, Board Chair Carolyn Rye and Superintendent Aaron Spence of the Virginia Beach City Schools make a compelling case for employing well-designed board standing committees to assist the school board in carrying …
Solving the Board Development Puzzle: the How
Our readers might recall that the March 25 post at this blog dealt with two pieces of the board development puzzle: WHAT does board development mean? WHY is it critical that the superintendent spearhead board development, wearing the Board Developer-in-Chief …
Launch Michigan: MASA Leads Statewide Out of the Box K-12 Innovation and Change
As you’ll learn from the video interview I recently recorded with Board President Andrew Brodie and Executive Director Tina Kerr of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, Launch Michigan is truly what is known as an “out of the …
Solving the Board Development Puzzle: the What and the Why
The half-day Zoom governance workshop I presented a couple of weeks ago for 25-some superintendents of a diverse array of districts included a segment on board development. Early in my career I would have been a trifle worried that the …
Training a Weak Tool for Boosting Board Performance
David Brooks’ column in the January 1 issue of the New York Times, “We Just Saw How Minds Aren’t Changed,” reminded me of a superintendent coaching session I conducted several weeks ago. Brooks, observing that 2020 was a year …
Don’t Unwittingly Turn Your Board Members Into Victims of Poorly Designed Structure and Process
A superintendent called me recently, asking if I’d be interested in presenting a governance training workshop for her school board. She explained that several board members were coming dangerously close to “micro-managing,” and she wanted them to understand the boundaries …
The Retreat as a Board Capacity Building Vehicle
Experience has taught me that a retreat involving your school board and senior administrators can be a powerful tool for building your board’s governing capacity and strengthening the board-superintendent partnership. But – and it’s a really big caveat – you’ve …
Virtual Board Standing Committees: More Than Just a Half-Way House
“Could our five-person school board be realistically divided into two, much less three, standing committees? Wouldn’t a committee with only two board members lack credibility?” I expected the question, which came right after I’d presented my slides on board standing …
Bake Your Board Cake First, Then Worry About the Icing
A sorely disappointed superintendent and I were talking a couple of months ago. She, her school board, and her senior administrators had gone through an intensive weekend retreat a six weeks earlier. She explained that it’d been put together to …
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