Board-Superintendent Involvement in Innovation/Change Management
Implementing is a Far Cry From Authorizing in the K-12 Governance Business
One of the more egregious errors I made early in my career as a K-12 governance consultant and coach was allowing myself to be pressured into facilitating a daylong board capacity building work session involving all board members and the …
Innovators-in-Chief in Action: Disney’s Robert Iger and Iowa City Schools’ Steve Murley
“What can I do to get my board meaningfully engaged in leading innovation and change in my district?” I hear variations of this very important question quite often from superintendents in my one-on-one governance coaching sessions and educational workshops. There’s …
Collaboration Trumps Conflict in the Shaker Heights Schools
This article featuring a podcast by then-superintendent of the Shaker Heights (Ohio) Public Schools, Gregory Hutchings, and John Morris, President of the Shaker Heights Teachers’ Association, was originally posted in September 2015. We are re-posting it not only because it …
Thoughts on True Humility and Senator John McCain
Thinking about Senator John McCain this morning – along with millions of my fellow Americans and admirers around the world – reminded me of the critical role that character plays in leadership. Whether one agreed with Senator McCain on one …
Superintendent Luvelle Brown: Leading From the Heart as Well as the Head
Our colleague Dr. Luvelle Brown is an extraordinary educational leader who values the learning culture in the Ithaca City Public Schools at least as highly as up-to-date educational facilities, technology and methodology. His commitment to what he calls the “culture …
Getting Your Board-Superintendent Retreat Right
Retreats have become a popular vehicle for involving school board members, their superintendents, and senior administrators in accomplishing high-impact governing work that could not be accomplished – at least not as well – in regular board business meetings. Updating a …
The Miami Lighthouse Partners With the Miami Dade County Schools in the Pre-K Arena
Virginia Jacko and I tell her incredible true story in our book The Blind Visionary (www.GovernanceEdge.com): losing her eyesight while serving as a senior financial executive at Purdue University; starting all over as a vocational rehabilitation student at …
The Demand Side of Succession Planning: Ripe for Board Involvement
What a great week it’s been! I was privileged to spend four hours Tuesday morning in Nashville, presenting a workshop (“The Board-Savvy Superintendent”) for – and interacting with – participants in AASA’s National Superintendent Certification Program. I can’t recall having …
Policies Transform Culture in the Ithaca (New York) City Schools
Wearing my governance consultant hat, I’ve read through hundreds of board policy manuals over the years, and I have to say that they don’t make for scintillating reading. After all, policies are essentially rules that govern your district’s academic and …
Two Preeminent Board Development Change Champions
The last post at this blog talked about the all-too-common resistance among board members to change on the governance front, often the result of fear – of losing influence, experiencing discomfort, failing at doing something new, and the like. I …
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