Great Boards – The Time is Now!

Marty Schafer Consultant/Coach Franklin Covey Education

The future of Public Education is in the balance and the weight of its success falls largely on the school board and superintendent relationship. In fact, we may be in one of the most challenging times to be in education - either as a student, parent, educator, board member or superintendent. Step back and take an assessment of the current landscape impacting your students, staff and community. School districts are facing the ongoing impacts of a global pandemic, financial uncertainties, societal unrest, the advent of Artificial Intelligence and political polarization. Again, not an assignment for the faint of heart.

There is far more scrutiny into the work and risks associated with being on a school board. There are many instances of unproductive and even volatile public board meetings. Political lines have been stronger in some communities, and in some situations, the impact of the current climate has made those serving on boards of education vulnerable to derision, loss of their position or worse.

Superintendents are stepping away from their careers because it is just too exhausting. We are at a historic level of both superintendents and board members exiting their positions; the same people most likely to lead a district through these rough times. Therefore, great leadership must continue to emerge if public education and the structures of locally controlled school boards are to survive.

It is interesting to note that Americans still see schools as the hub of their communities. The more citizens feel fragile or lose confidence in their community, the more suspect they tend to be of their schools. As board members we are often reminded that property values are influenced by the reputation of local schools. Everyone wants a supportive and healthy learning environment for their children.

Jamie Vollmer’s book, Schools Cannot Do It Alone, chronicles the community’s cry to have schools meet all of the needs of children and then of course blames the district for the inevitable failure to do so. I believe that the premise of the book is correct. Indeed schools cannot fix all of the breakdowns associated with commu- nity, nor should they be expected to. What we should expect is that community voice will be factored into the solutions connected with educating students. Great leadership works to understand the problem and build relevant solutions.

The structure exists for collaborative problem solving and hearing the concerns/voice of our communities through the model associated with school boards. The current structure of school boards consisting of members of the community to serve as liaisons to the district makes sense on paper. It certainly provides for the voice and leadership needed. It does not seem to be a structure problem, but a relational and behavioral problem. As board members and superintendents we must ask ourselves, “Do we know what a GREAT BOARD looks like…and the impact it could have on our students, the district and our community?”

I believe that we can answer the first question with an accurate yes…a great board looks like transformational leadership amidst the whirlwind. The board becomes great by creating a cohesive team that begins with the board chair and superintendent.

As far as the second part of the question goes, the impact and outcomes are in direct correlation to the strength of the board and superintendent team. When it comes to transformational leadership of a school board, connectedness equates to effectiveness

A fragmented team is considered dysfunctional. In years past where the whirlwind was less prevalent, superintendents could often manage to navigate the ineffectiveness of a fragmented board. Those days are gone along with the three ‘Rs’ (seriously ask kids today about the three ‘Rs’ and they will most likely say, “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle).

Building a cohesive team between the superintendent and the board chair is the first step toward creating a high functioning board. If we want to be a great board then we believe that Great Boards must get four things right: clarifying roles between the board and superintendent, creating a shared vision around student success, aligning board and district initiatives, and increasing community engagement and confidence in the district

See GREAT BOARDS page 12

Great Boards

(continued from page 11) and education.

We could assess our current board practices by addressing these two questions:

“Who is managing the Board?” and “Who is managing the district?”

Board chairs may get some training in chairing meetings; however, professional development directed at leadership to build a cohesive team is vital. The same is true for superintendents who have to learn how to manage a district in one of the most complex seasons of public education, while working with new board members who may have personal agendas that are not student centric. Successful boards will be cohesive teams who understand the complex and holistic needs of the children/students in their communities.

Dr. Marty Schafer of FranklinCovey Education and Nick Caruso of CABE will present best practices on this topic in a pre-conference workshop as part of the Leadership track at CABE’s New Board Member Orientation/ Leadership Conference on December 6, as well as will co-present a webinar on Great Boards in October around co-constructing strategies in the following areas:

1. Creating specific strategies to build a more Cohesive Team

2. Developing Board Initiatives around a holistic view of Student Success

3. Defining ‘One Voice’ - understanding the power of a shared voice.

Join us as we provide a collaborative space for Board Members, Board Chairs and Superintendents to become a more cohesive team!

FranklinCovey Education is a CABE Business Affiliate.

Artificial Intelligence

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Notes were once utilized by desperate and/or lazy students; at least that’s what I’ve heard. While these “notes” had an intended purpose to assist students, it was easily misused when students simply copied their chapter summaries, without attributing the source, to fulfill an assignment. The poor student who had a teacher wellversed in these tools. Plagiarism in the 1970s is still plagiarism now. If students use ChatGPT or other AI related tools, they must be instructed on their responsible use and how to properly attribute them as sources.

In addition, policies can provide general guidelines to support respon-

See You In Court

(continued from page 4) access here to the records concerning Tom Teacher’s personal day request. However, the documents related to his grievance are public records accessible to anyone under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Second, Nancy Newshound properly exercised her right under the FOIA to presume that Nellie was denying her request for records concerning Nellie’s office hours and follow-up. Some of those records may contain sible use, such as to use AI programs as smart search engines that present information in ways that are easy to understand, ask for clarification or explanations when you need help, or generate ideas, topics, and writing prompts. Irresponsible use would include using AI programs to avoid doing your own work, copying text and images without proper attribution and using AI without fact-checking, Responsible Use policies can provide guidance that would easily include advancements in AI. Teachers should be encouraged to lay out potential risks and describe what responsible use looks like, to caution students on the dangers of sharing personal and private information/data with AI bots, as well as using them to invade other’s privacy. Students should also be informed that AI can have implicit bias and present incorrect information and, therefore must always think critically and be sure to fact check using primary sources.

FERPA-protected information about students, and they would be subject to redaction. But in general records created by board members acting as such are public records, and Nancy will be able to obtain such records one way or the other.

Attorney Thomas B. Mooney is a partner in the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin who works frequently with boards of education. Mooney is a regular contributor to the CABE Journal. Shipman & Goodwin is a CABE Business Affiliate.

The new school year will, to some extent, be acknowledged as the year schools are faced with a technology that will require educators and leaders to change the questions we ask, the lessons we teach, and tasks we assign. With a little forward thinking, deliberate planning, open and enlightened discussion, and common sense, we’ll be able to successfully manage this and other disruptive forces that have the opportunity to improve practice. All the best in the New Year!