Category: School Board

Contributors: Dr. Laura Barron (MT), dr. Martin Brooks (NY), Dr. Eric King (IL), Dr. John Erickson (WA), Dr. Ruben Alejandro (TX), and Dr. Frank Hewins (WA). Edited by Dr. Jack McKay, Executive Director of the Horace Mann League of the USA. Students 

1.    What is the percentage of students regularly engaged with their teachers for each school during the shutdown? 

2.    How are the teachers following up on students that are not engaged in learning activities? 

3.    What are some of the strategies that the teachers have found to be effective in having students engaged in learning? 

4.    What are some of the successes with remote learning? Why are they successful? 

5.    What long-term strategies are you thinking about to lessen the loss of learning for students during the next couple of months? Any sense of what strategies will be most effective? 

6.    What are some alternatives to carry out the graduation ceremony for the seniors? Who is involved in the planning? 

7.    What does you school board anticipate to be the major issues facing students for the remainder of this school year? How is your school board dealing with those significant issues? 

8.    What are some anticipated and unanticipated challenges your school board are facing during the shutdown of the schools? What is being done to resolve those challenges? 

9.    What percentage of your students have internet access at home? Of those who have internet access at home, what percentage have a device capable of assisting them with online remote learning? 

10. Is your district providing devices to students who do not have one? If so, how many devices have loaned to students, and what percentage of the student population does this represent? 

11. The literature continues to highlight a concern for addressing the needs of special populations during these times of remote learning. Has your district had any of these challenges, and what is your school board doing to resolve them? How does your school board plan to make sure that the transition to a new normal? 

12. What steps are in place to sustain the level of hygiene expected when school reopens next fall? 

 Teachers?

1.    What strategies have your school board used to follow-up on the level of success of remote learning? What evidence is your school board using to measure success? 

2.    Of all the variabilities that impact on student learning, particularly during the shutdown, what seems to be the most challenging to resolve or reduce? What additional resources need to be available to reduce the impact of that particular variable? 

3.    What are some of the major issues facing the teachers during the shutdown? How is youir school board planning on mitigating those issues? 

4.    How have teachers in your district addressed the needs of classified students whose educational programs are guided by IEPs requiring specific services? 

5.    How are teachers trying to balance asynchronous learning with synchronous lessons with students? What method works and why? 

6.    Have there been any benefits to remote learning? For example, some teachers have reported that it has been more comfortable for them to differentiate lessons for individuals or small groups of students? 

7.    What changes, if any, does your school board anticipate teachers will make in their instructional practice as a result of this experience?  

8.    What percentage of your teaching staff is working from home? With social distancing, how are you continuing to meet with staff and provide them support regarding remote learning? 

9.     How are teachers in your district dealing with equity, poverty, and access to the technology required for distance learning? 

10. How will your district be serving your students with disabilities and other individual needs? 

11. How will teachers in your district be evaluated during the shutdown? What criteria will be used to measure performance?

12 During the school shut down, what are the guidelines for teacher engagement with students for the different grade levels? Do those guidelines or expectations require a negotiated and amended agreement with the teacher’s association? If so, does the negotiated agreement about guidelines or expectations for engagement require your school board’s approval? 

Parents and the Community

1.    What methods of communication will your school board consider to reduce the anxiety of students and parents during the shutdown?  

2.    What methods has your school board used to communicate with parents, and to what level have they been effective? 

3.    What methods has your school board used to communicate with citizens, and to what level have they been effective? 

4.    What impact, if any, will the school shut down experience have on the role that parents play in the education of their children going forward? 

5.    How will your school board maintain parent communication and involvement? 

6.    How will your school board be communicating what teachers are doing to continue student learning to combat the rumor that teachers are getting paid, but there is no school?  

Superintendent 

1.    What are the challenges is your school board facing now and in the next couple of months? How is your school board trying to solve them? 

2.    What do you see as ways that your school board could and should help during these days and weeks of the shutdown? 

3.    Is your school district providing breakfast and/or lunch during school closures? If so, what percentage of students have taken advantage of breakfast? If so, what percentage of students have taken advantage of lunch? If so, how is the district funding these meal services? 

4.    Are there any aspects of remote learning does your school board intend to carry over once schools reopen? 

5.    Has this experience made your school board think about changing some of the norms and structures embedded in the culture of your district – e.g., homework, bell schedules, grading, reporting to parents, discipline, the role of student voice, etc.? 

6.    An entire education system, thought to be monolithic and immovable, was transformed in a matter of weeks. What lessons did your school board learn about change and leadership through this experience? 

7.    With social distancing, how is your school board ensuring the business of the district continues with communications with the board and business meetings with the board? How is your school board ensuring public access to these meetings? 

8.    What is your school board doing right now to prepare for a new year after COVID-19 has passed? 

9.    COVID-19 has, in a sense, revolutionized education as we know it. Who are the stakeholders that your school board will bring together to develop a Strategic Plan to address a new way of providing instruction? 

10. What strategies is your school board using to ensuring that citizens without children in school (about 75%) are being kept up to date about how their taxes are being used to sustain student learning? How effective are these strategies?

Written by Jeremy Barlow

Taking good meeting minutes at a board meeting is an important and fulfilling role. Board meeting minutes are more than a general accounting of board discussions; they serve as an official and legal record of the meeting of the Board of Directors. Minutes are used in a variety of ways including tracking progress, detailing future plans, and serving as a reference point. Among other things, your meeting minutes should reflect a record of motions, votes, and abstentions.
Taking Board Meeting Minutes – Step by StepIn your role as secretary, you’ll essentially have four steps involved with recording effective meeting minutes. You’ll need to spend a little time planning before the meeting, take notes during the meeting, and write a formal report after the meeting. You’ll also be responsible for filing and sharing the minutes of each meeting.
1: Preparation for the Board MeetingEvery organization records their minutes a little bit differently. Have a discussion with the board president about any current or expected formats that you are expected to use. Review past meeting minutes to use as a template. Ask the board president for a copy of the meeting agenda, including the names of all attendees, including guests or speakers.
2: Taking a Record of the Board MeetingUnless your organization requires you to type notes at the meeting, you can either type them out or write them longhand. The two most important things to know when taking the record of the meeting is what information to record and how to present it.Meeting minutes should include:

• Date of the meeting
• Time the meeting was called to order
• Names of the meeting participants and absentees
• Corrections and amendments to previous meeting minutes
• Additions to the current agenda
• Whether a quorum is present
• Motions taken or rejected
• Voting-that there was a motion and second, and the outcome of the vote
• Actions taken or agreed to be taken
• Next steps
• Items to be held over
• New business
• Open discussion or public participation
• Next meeting date and time
• Time of adjournment 

How you detail the discussions during a board meeting is as important as making sure to include all of the information in the bullets shown above. For each agenda item, write a short statement of each action taken by the board, along with a brief explanation of the rationale for their decision. If there are extensive arguments, write a succinct summary of the major arguments.
Record discussions objectively, avoiding inflammatory remarks and personal observations. A good way to do this is by avoiding adjectives and adverbs whenever possible. Check your language to be sure that it is clear, unambiguous, and complete.
As noted earlier, minutes are an official and legal record of the board meeting. In a legal arena, meeting minutes are presumed to be correct and can be used as legal evidence of the facts they report. Document board discussions to accurately reflect the actions and intentions of the board directors. Boards have legal liability, so keep information basic and language simple to avoid any legal complications that place the organization at a disadvantage in any legal proceedings. Use names only when recording motions and seconds.
After the meeting, you will want to write the formal record when everything is still fresh in your mind, so prepare the record as soon after the meeting as you possibly can.
3: Writing the Official Record of Board Meeting MinutesReview the agenda to gain the full scope of the meeting. Add notes for clarification. Review actions, motions, votes, and decisions for clarity. Edit the record so that the minutes are succinct, clear, and easy to read.It’s better to attach meeting handouts and documents that were referred to during the meeting to the final copy, rather than summarizing the contents in the minutes.
4: Signing, Filing, and Sharing MinutesOnce your meeting minutes are fully written, you are responsible for making them official by having the board secretary sign them. Your organization may also require the president’s signature.Follow your organization’s by-laws and protocols for storing minutes. It’s a good idea to have back-up copies either in print, a hard drive, or (best case) a board portal.The secretary also has the responsibility for sharing minutes. Make sure the president has approved the minutes before sharing in print or online.Helpful Tips for Taking Board Meeting Minutes

• Use a template
• Check off attendees as they arrive
• Do introductions or circulate an attendance list
• Record motions, actions, and decisions as they occur
• Ask for clarification as necessary
• Write clear, brief notes-not full sentences or verbatim wording
• Maintain the same verb tense

Common Mistakes in Taking Board Meeting Minutes

• Failure to document a quorum
• Ambiguous description of board actions
• Including information that could harm the board in a legal sense
• Lengthy delays in providing minutes after a meeting
• Delays in approving minutes from past meetings-missing mistakes
• Failing to file and manage documents
• Failing to get documents signed so they serve as an official and legal record

Always be mindful that the purpose of taking meeting minutes is to reflect the true intentions of the board and that they are an official and legal record. Given the breadth of detail and complexity of process associated with proper documentation of meeting minutes, many organizations find using a tool, such as board portal software, helps make this work easier and more efficient, and can ultimately elevates organizational performance. As serious as the job is, the task of taking and preparing minutes is a rewarding and edifying experience. 

The Superintendent’s Priorities for a Typical Week by some Outstanding (former) Superintendents

Edited by Jack Mckay

What started out as a suggested list for a school superintendent should do during a typical week has turned into an interesting variety of good ideas.

Here is the original list:
If I am the school superintendent, here are five things I would do each week:
1. Each week, visit at least one classroom, interact with the students and teacher, and followed up with a “thank you” note and some photos taken while visiting.
2. Each week, on Facebook or Twitter, write a brief article about something good happening in the school or classroom.
3. Each week, visit a principal or supervisor and ask how things are going and how you can help them and they can help you.
4. Each week, visit with the leaders of the parent and employee groups and ask how they think things are going and how you might help to resolve those issues.
5. Each week, visit with the school board members as ask them what their concerns are from their perspective.

The last suggestion, “visiting with individual school board members.” Don Thomas, former superintendent of the Salt Lake (UT) Schools suggested that a superintendent should not be meeting with individual school board members, but rather have them respond to your weekly “notes to the board” if they have questions. 

Dr. Thomas went on to write “I sent a review of district activities and future items to be discussed to each board member. Their opinions were requested. Some called, others wrote about a particular item. I received their opinions, but I never met with individual board members.”

Others have suggested meeting weekly with only the board president to get feedback on how things are going. 

Dr. Bill Mathis, former superintendent in Vermont had these words of wisdom.

1. Buy a packet of gold stars and stringently pass them out for exceptional work — as if they were the Medal of Honor. Meanwhile, lavish ecumenical praise on leaders and staff for less exceptional work. Do not leave any group feeling left out.
2. Be visible. Attend funerals even if you didn’t know the honoree. Go to road races, football games, painful music concerts, etc.
3. Practice Zen and the Art of School Administration. Think macro, carefully and wisely. 4. Hire good people and give them latitude. This multiplies your effectiveness.
5. Be the learner. Be the lighthouse. Write for both the NY Times and the weekly shopper, study, read, speak and convey the most important and significant research and knowledge about education. 
5. Be the leader. Be active and visible in a professional venue(association, politics, etc.). 
6. Avoid in-service programs about “leadership.”
7. If the state aid formula harms the poor, don’t whine about it — Sue the bastards!

Dr. Terry Grier, former superintendent of the Houston ISD, suggested the following seven points:
1. Each week, I would reflect on what my staff and I did last week to help meet the one or two BIG goals the organization had set for the year.
2. Each week, I would make sure that I took time each day to meditate or engage in a physical workout session.
3. Each week, I would ask key questions of my associates and assistants about their work-progress and roadblocks.
4. Each week, I would visit schools and ask teachers whether the administrative staff was visiting their classroom and providing them with needed support. 
5. Each week, I would review attendance data (especially for the primary grades), and dropout data from middle and high schools.
6. Each week, I would commit not to be at evening events more than two nights. I’d delegate attendance at others to staff (putting the job ahead of family and faith will cause you to lose both). 
7. Each week, I would meet with the board president and hold a separate meeting with another member of the board. It would be a breakfast meeting to save time. I would always end the meeting with the question, “How do you think I’m doing?”
What do you think? Any other suggestions? Send them, Jack McKay. Your comments will be appreciated. 

Some of my favorite school leadership quotes:

“Don’t tell me what you value. Instead, tell me what you do and I will tell you what you value.”

“Friends come and go, but enemies seem to accumulate.”Corollary: You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

“From the perspective of a visitor, sometimes it may be hard to tell if you are leading the parade or being run out of town.” 

By Richard E. Mayer/School Administrator, August 2015

The school board meeting is off to its usual start: roll call, pledge of allegiance and announcements. The agenda then calls for public comment — a period when anyone in the audience can fill out a card and come forward when called by the board president to talk for up to three minutes on any issue not on the agenda. Today, there is just one card.

The president reads the name on the card: “Betty Burlmore.” Everyone knows from past experience that Burlmore tends to engage in nasty tirades. She begins: “I come before you to ask why you waste the taxpayers’ money on a top-heavy administration. Look at everyone sitting up there. Why do we need so many assistant superintendents? Can’t the superintendent handle the job?”

She asks the board to get rid of the assistant superintendent for special education and let the assistant superintendent for instruction to handle her duties.

One board member has had enough. He interrupts to educate Burlmore about the role of administration.“May I just point out, Betty, that our district has a much lower administrator ratio than other districts our size. According to statistics from the state school board association, we should have two additional administrators. Our current administrative staff is working very hard and doing a fine job for us but they are stretched thin already,” he says.

The explanation only makes Burlmore angrier. “I can see we have a board that wishes to continue wasting the taxpayers’ money on unneeded administrators. Reducing central-office administrators is just the start. We also should fire some principals. Can’t two schools share one principal?”

“Betty, your time is up,” the board president quietly chimes in.

Betty’s reply is sharp and loud. “Oh no it’s not. I was interrupted, and I should have a chance to respond. That makes me think of lots of other ways to cut the administrative fat.”

Listening Time

This episode has the potential of spinning out of control. By challenging the speaker, the board member not only provoked the speaker to make even more outrageous comments but also prolonged the meeting, increased the chances that the board president will lose control of the meeting and violated the board’s procedural rules.

What the board member said was factually correct and relevant, but the public comment portion is a time for the board to listen to community members. Board members have plenty of chances to express their views. When board members take on the role of the truth police during public comment periods to correct factual errors, they neglect their role as respectful listeners.

The superintendent also has a role in preventing poor boardsmanship. The superintendent could exercise a little emergency First Aid at the instant the board member started challenging the speaker by saying, “I will be glad to make that information available on our district website.” Or the superintendent may need a more direct comment: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but the board can’t discuss this issue because it is not on the agenda.”

Exercising Restraint

Dealing with a bully during public board meetings can be unpleasant, such as when a speaker uses a public meeting to make inflammatory statements. However, rather than engaging in conversation with the speaker, board members should be reminded they will get a chance to talk later. The only exception to using such restraint is when the speaker slanders an employee or endangers the privacy of a child or the like. In this case, the superintendent or board president must interrupt and get the speaker back on track.

A long-term solution is to ensure the board has an adopted procedure and in-service training on the conduct of board meetings. Through board workshops or individual discussions with board members, the superintendent can help the board develop a tradition of exercising respectful tones at meetings.

Of course, the superintendent and cabinet also can model this at meetings. An unlisted part of the superintendent’s job description is to help prevent members from behaving badly at board meetings.

Richard Mayer, a school board member in the Goleta Union School District in Goleta, Calif., is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He adapted this column from his book, How Not to Be a Terrible School Board Member(Corwin Press). E-mail: mayer@psych.ucsb.edu.

by NICHOLAS D. CARUSO JR.

During the public comment period of a school board meeting, a district employee, concerned with community activism against a building proposal, said she believed the anti-referendum momentum was fueled by racism. An audience member (spouse of a board member) who was part of the anti-referendum movement shouted out, calling the teacher an obscenity.

Immediately afterward, the superintendent sent a letter to the offending member of the public requesting she refrain from using coarse language, that she apologize to the staff member and that she no longer would be allowed to address any school district employee except through the superintendent’s office. Failure to comply could lead to a ban from future school board meetings. During the public comment period of a school board meeting, a district employee, concerned with community activism against a building proposal, said she believed the anti-referendum momentum was fueled by racism. An audience member (spouse of a board member) who was part of the anti-referendum movement shouted out, calling the teacher an obscenity.

The anti-referendum group immediately responded with a statement requesting the staff member be held accountable for “insulting” community members.

Banning Offenders
This story raises several questions. First, the superintendent took it upon herself to discipline the offending person and offer an ultimatum. Exacerbating this, the individual in question was a board member’s spouse. The superintendent also threatened to ban the person from future board meetings and school grounds and ordered her not to approach staff members.

A final issue was whether the staff member had the right to comment during a public meeting.

While statutes differ among states, I don’t know of any place where the superintendent has the authority to send such a letter. The board of education is the corporate entity holding a legal meeting in its governance role. The superintendent should discuss this issue with the board chair and remind him of the obligation to control the meeting. In many states, a person who disrupts a public meeting can be forcibly removed (via police, preferably). Of course, I would recommend extreme action only in an unusual case. Often, a judicious use of the gavel by the chair is enough to stop this in its tracks.

The superintendent enforces board policy. She should review board policies and bylaws regarding public participation and meeting norms to see whether those polices are enforced fairly. If not, she needs to ask the board chair to make sure he knows the laws and how to best enforce them at meetings. The chair is responsible for meeting control, not the superintendent.

In my state, you cannot permanently ban someone from a public meeting or a public place. Most states presumably have similar rules. You have the right to expect certain behaviors of public visitors at a school or meeting but must treat all equally. You can restrict access to school property only as much as you would any other citizen. Attendees can be removed if they become disruptive, but doing so may cause more serious problems. I suspect if the errant member of the public had been admonished by the chair, it would have sufficed.

Expectations for public access to schools should be incorporated in your policy manual. I also recommend these policies be run past the board attorney before enacting anything. Some states’ laws may preclude an action of this sort.

Legally Entitled
I also can’t see where you can keep a citizen from approaching a staff member. You certainly can expect staff not to communicate with members of the public during the school day unless it is work-related, but after hours a staff member is out of your jurisdiction. If a person harassed them outside of work, they would have legal rights to explore on their own behalf.

The superintendent did raise the question of the teacher’s public comment, including the comments about racism in the community, with the board attorney and was told the teacher had not violated any policies through her speech and no discipline was warranted.

Lastly, in this case it appears the board member whose wife made the improper outburst did not get involved personally in the situation. If he had, I’d strongly recommend the superintendent work with the board chair to ensure the board member did not improperly interfere with your work. The superintendent’s employer is the board (not the chair) and issues involving your working conditions are a board problem.

Nick Caruso is senior staff associate for field service and coordinator of technology with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education in Wethersfield, Conn. E-mail: ncaruso@cabe.org. Twitter: @gibsonjunkie