Tag: school board-superintendent relations
4 Board-Savvy Superintendents on Preparing Superintendent-Aspirants to Take the Helm
A few years ago a really bright and thoughtful superintendent almost 18 months into her first superintendency reached out to me for help. In our first two-hour coaching session, I learned that, in her opinion, she was handling her first …
Superintendent-Aspirants Should Know How to Use Board Spear Carriers
The September 21,2020 post at this blog (https://boardsavvysuperintendent.com/david-schuler-on-preparing-aspiring-superintendents-for-the-top-spot/) features my video interview with Dave Schuler, Lead Teacher of AASA’s Aspiring Superintendents Academy and former AASA Chair, who discusses the mission, goals, and accomplishments of the Academy. Dave and …
Even Superb Performance Won’t Save a Badly Eroded Board-Superintendent Relationship
When I walked in Rich’s office for our weekly project review meeting, I found him slumped at his desk looking distraught. When I asked him what’d happened, he just said “take a look,” handing me a form. It was the …
Superintendent Leadership on the Governance Front: An Emerging New Model
Over the course of my 35-plus years working with superintendents and their school boards, I’ve conducted hundreds of one-on-one interviews with superintendents, preparing for retreats and educational workshops. One of my standard questions relates to processes superintendents have put in …
Governing Is Truly a Team Sport
A little over six years ago I was guilty of an error of judgment that taught me a couple of valuable lessons. I’d been retained by a mid-size Midwestern school district to assist in planning, facilitating, and following up on …
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 …
President Jennifer Adair and Superintendent Talisa Dixon: the Columbus City Schools’ Dynamic Leadership Duo
The Columbus City School District is fortunate to have a dynamic, cohesive leadership team at the helm in the person of Board President Jennifer Adair and Superintendent Talisa Dixon. Among the several reasons why this partnership at 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 …
Recruiting a Really Board-Savvy Superintendent
Experience has taught me – and I’m sure many if not most of this blog’s readers – that the more board-savvy its superintendent, the more effective a school board is likely to be as a governing body and the more …
Welcome to the Frontier!
I opened the video webinar I recently presented for the board and superintendent of a Northern Virginia school division by observing that K-12 governance is frontier territory. Far from being a mature, fully developed field, K-12 governance is characterized by …
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