Facilitating Effectiveness with Your School Board Team.Have you ever encountered a school board member who was belligerent, talked too much and had solutions for all the problems of the district or a board member who refused to read the board policy manual, discussed executive session matters with constituents or backstabbed a fellow board member? Have you ever watched a board member take a stance on an issue in public, then vote differently without giving any advance notice or one who openly criticized a board decision when his vote was in the minority? Explicit Ground Rules The answer for our district was a board team effectiveness workshop to help board members fulfill ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. their roles at a time when they are challenged to accomplish more with fewer resources. Such a workshop can be used to assess current effectiveness of the board team, define practices to improve team effectiveness, develop or revise a board mission statement and define specific goals for the board and schools. The workshop should be about two days in length, preferably at a location other than where board meetings are held, to facilitate relaxed discussion and concentrated work. Our workshop was facilitated by an outsider Outsider often refers to one identified as on the periphery of social norms, one living or working apart from mainstream society, or one observing a group from the outside, as used in:
The workshop must follow strict ground rules: each participant is expected to contribute, participants are not to compete with one another, no wrong questions or invalid answers exist, whatever the board team decides constitutes the answer, and answers are based on state and federal law, regulations and policy. Board members need to agree on some basic principles: focus on the situation, issue or behavior, not on the person; maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of others; maintain constructive relationships with employees, peers and managers; take initiative to make things better; lead by example; agree to disagree Agree to disagree or "agreeing to disagree" describes or refers to a situation where two or more people or groups of people resolve conflict by reaching an agreement whereby both sides tolerate but do not accept the views, opinions or position of the other side. agreeably a·gree·a·ble adj. 1. To one's liking; pleasing: agreeable weather. 2. Suitable; conformable: a practice agreeable to the law. 3. ; and support the majority decision. Code of Conduct Adopting a formal code of conduct can be a method for keeping your board on track and functional. Based on a decision made at our effectiveness workshop, the board agreed to a list of conditions that would help theta Theta A measure of the rate of decline in the value of an option due to the passage of time. Theta can also be referred to as the time decay on the value of an option. If everything is held constant, then the option will lose value as time moves closer to the maturity of the option. work together better. In this written contract, the board members stated, "We do publicly commit ourselves collectively and individually" to the following 10 items: 1. Abide by the code of ethics Code of Ethics can refer to:
2. Strive sincerely to build better relationships with one another and with the superintendent. 3. Vote our individual convictions and do what we can to destroy factionalism fac·tion 1 n. 1. A group of persons forming a cohesive, usually contentious minority within a larger group. 2. Conflict within an organization or nation; internal dissension: on the board. 4. Refuse to become involved with micromanagement This is about the management style. For the computer game strategy, see Micromanagement (computer gaming). In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of their employees, generally used as a pejorative term. . 5. Emphasize planning, policy making and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most , rather than management of schools. 6. Prepare ourselves carefully before each meeting so when we have the floor we can make comments that are concise, organized and clear. 7. Listen carefully and with courtesy when other people have the floor and are speaking during board meetings. 8. Set clear goals for the superintendent. 9. Support the superintendent and help him or her be as effectual ef·fec·tu·al adj. Producing or sufficient to produce a desired effect; fully adequate. See Synonyms at effective. [Middle English effectuel, from Old French, from Late Latin as possible as long as he or she is the superintendent. 10. Establish goals for our school district and make sure the community is aware of these goals. In addition, board members agreed to speak with colleagues who violated vi·o·late tr.v. vi·o·lat·ed, vi·o·lat·ing, vi·o·lates 1. To break or disregard (a law or promise, for example). 2. To assault (a person) sexually. 3. any portion of the agreement. If after such a talk, consensus was not reached, the issue would be brought to the entire board for review. Under this agreement, board members who find themselves in the minority on an issue are expected to fully support the decision of the board or fully support the process and respect the decision of the board. To be successful school board members, the two most necessary characteristics are a willingness to discuss an opposing point of view in a respectful re·spect·ful adj. Showing or marked by proper respect. re·spect  ful·ly adv. manner and the ability to support a decision on which
they voted in the minority.
Establishing Trust The board effectiveness workshop is designed to root out the underlying problems. These typically deal with communication, leadership or trust. Communication problems often are at the root of ineffective school board teams. The symptoms of communications problems arise when board members fail to be open, come to meetings unprepared, surprise each other or make inappropriate public statements. Leadership problems occur cur cur a derogatory term for a mongrel dog. when board members take political stances, fail to give or follow directions, lack management skills, fail to set goals or work to achieve goals and fail to present or accept alternatives. A lack of trust arises when someone's confidence is breached, an action is based on a hidden agenda, a team member fails to show loyalty or support to another or someone's authority is circumvented. The superintendent can help by showing no favoritism among board members, keeping the board completely informed, distributing timely and relevant information, supporting board decisions, being open and honest with the board and presenting alternatives objectively. Dealing With Conflict When conflict inevitably arises, avoid getting visibly angry. Do not argue with the board in public. If necessary, ask the board to table an issue. Remember that nobody is perfect, and everybody makes mistakes. The key is to recognize them, apologize a·pol·o·gize intr.v. a·pol·o·gized, a·pol·o·giz·ing, a·pol·o·giz·es 1. To make excuse for or regretful acknowledgment of a fault or offense. 2. To make a formal defense or justification in speech or writing. for them and move on. Avoid putting board members on the defensive. Recognize that asking for more information is one way to approach an issue without escalating conflict. Do not hold grudges as your continued work with the board directly affects the students in your district. Craig Bangtson is the superintendent of Grayson County Grayson County is the name of three counties in the United States:
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