Board President Interview

In my conversation with our school board president about the topic of continuous improvement I asked her to provide answers to the following questions. She stated, “These are my views, which I know would differ from other board members. I would also say my views have evolved as I have been on the board and continually change.” Her responses are as follows:

1. What is the ultimate purpose of the Board of Education? The purpose of the board is to provide the best education possible to prepare students in the district so they can lead fulfilling lives and become active and productive citizens.
2. Are there other areas in which your Board invests a significant amount of energy / resources? To what end? I think a lot of things the board deals with are a waste of time and don’t have much to do with what I believe education should be. This is the fault of myself, the district, the community, and the current state of education. We spend time dealing with personal issues, what bills are over $1000, watching presentations to make use feel good about what we are doing, a lot of time just rubber stamping things. We spend a fair amount of time on salaries and benefits (insurance). Personally, I find this frustrating, or in my terms “a waste of my life minutes.” I understand the board has to deal with the above issues, but I feel we spend too much time on them and not enough time on the education of students. To be more positive here, this is what I wish we spent time on. It would be helpful if we all sat down and decided what the point of education was. We should discuss what students should learn and the best way to determine that (not is WKCE a valid test, but should it be used at all). The board would determine the best way to evaluate staff and how to best retain them. We would spend time deciding how we could provide the best education possible.
3. What is your (the Board's) view on accountability? Who is accountable to whom? In what way? The board is accountable to their staff, students, residents, and society in general. The board needs to provide the staff with the resources and a work environment that allows them to do their job. We need to provide the students the education necessary to lead productive lives, not just the ability to be prepared for employment. We are accountable to the residents, because they provide the money for us to educate the students. We need to graduate well-educated students in a financially responsible way. We are accountable to society, because for our society to continue we need active well-educated citizens.
4. If you were to direct Board PD, what would you include? When I began on the board I was clueless about budgets and how state funding worked. I knew a fair amount about education, but not that much on how it was provided in the district. I was also not familiar with all the policies. If I were in charge of Board PD I would include something on budgeting, state and federal funding, overview of policy, share the vision and summary of the general issues the board was currently facing. It would also be helpful for people to learn how to be active listeners and carry on a debate about the issues without taking it personally.
5. In what ways do school board members seek input from community members to keep them involved/engaged in the school and continuous improvement? When we are dealing with a large issue we run community forums to educate the public on them. We have a general newsletter that is available to the public. There is also a fair amount of interaction between the board and the public, when board members are out and about at the store, etc.
6. Are the programs and initiatives being assessed linked to short and long-term strategic objectives? The only strategic goal of the school is to provide a high quality education to all students. Everything else is about the tactics and methods that can achieve that goal. We are either given mandates from the state or administrators bring us what they want to do. In either case the board is rarely given a detailed explanation of how the decision was reached, what options were looked at, or asked to weigh in with their view of what the best option is.
7. What will our board need to create an ongoing program of board development, planning, and team building? We need a better working relationship with the administrators. The administrators and board should sit down together to decide areas that the board would benefit from knowing more about. The board should be viewed as working with administration to provide the best education possible for the students. We live in a small community, so as the board becomes better educated, the entire community becomes better educated on the issues. The board should be viewed as a partner and not just a group of people that need to be placated. We all need to learn how to handle criticism better and not take our views being questioned personally. We all need to learn how to work on fixing problems and not assigning blame, this would include entire staff relationships.
8. What are the resources in our community that we can draw upon to help us begin to develop a culture of continuous improvement? Most people have a desire to provide students with a quality education; the administrators and board need to help the community decide on how best to do this. We should work closely with the PTO’s, booster clubs, area businesses, and other people in the community that care about the education. We would need to have a discussion on what the community goals for education are.
9. As best you can tell do you think the community members have a good idea of the district's vision, achievements, challenges, and plans for continuous improvement? Most people have vague idea of what the school is doing. They have more knowledge if they have students in the district. 
10. What types of data and information do board members use to help guide them in making decisions as they related to continuous improvement? For budget issues we look at past budgets, the current budget, and figures for the projected budget. We get much of our budget information from DPI. We also get summaries of the testing results. We also get periodic projections of student numbers and occasionally have surveyed staff. We also get antidotal accounts of various things.

Reflecting on this interview, the board president is an incredibly intelligent pro educational person. She is well educated on the current initiatives and works diligently to be a conscience board member. I agree with her responses that:

· Personal issues detract from discussing student achievement.

· Professional development on policy and governance is needed.

· An effort to improve the board and administration relationship is a must.

· We need debate issues without taking things personally.

Her responses have the awareness of governance that the board should make policy decisions, not operational decisions. Yet, most of her concerns are at the operational level where the superintendent or CEO of the district should exercise delegated authority, responsibility, and accountability for day-to- day operations. This, probably more than any other factor, is what has lead to the confusion of roles, charges of micro-managing, wasted time, splintered vision and frustration of the inability to make a bigger difference.

The problem is not that our board resists functioning at the policy level they just need to assess their own performance and consciously discover how board decisions can be made at the broad policy level. They also need to realize it is much easier and frankly more enjoyable for to dabble in the day-to-day affairs of the organization. Creating an organizational vision and identifying long-term benefits for the students being served take more work—and more leadership. But it is the most important work a board can do.