Making a good board better.

Every superintendent has a clear choice. You can merely inherit the school board of the past in terms of its governing design, role, structure and processes. This is the path of least resistance and minimum pain, but it ensures the board can't get much better at doing its critical governing work.

The alternative that I recommend--and the option taken by Washoe County Public Schools in Reno, Nev.--is to develop the board's governing capacity by drawing on advances in the rapidly changing field of public and nonprofit governance.

The least effective way to develop your school board's governing capacity, in my experience, is to put the board through some training program while leaving current structure and processes in place. Not much better is to hire a consultant to fashion recommendations for improving your school board's structure and processes and then attempting to sell the board on the improvements.

By far the most effective approach is to create a task force, consisting of board members and the superintendent, to devise practical steps to strengthen the board's governing capacity.

Washoe's Experience

The story in Washoe County is all about turning an already solid board consisting of dedicated trustees into an even higher-impact governing body, primarily by clarifying the board's role and functions and putting in place a structure of three standing committees of the board: governance, ways and means and performance monitoring/external relations. These and other governing improvements are included in the action plan developed by the board's "High-Impact Governing Task Force" over the past six months.

* The task force was formed in September 2005, and a consultant was hired to assist in developing an action plan of concrete steps to strengthen the board's leadership and the board-superintendent partnership. Rather than designating two or three board members to serve on the task force, the board decided all seven members would participate with the superintendent from beginning to end. Key steps in the process included:

* The consultant interviewing all trustees, the superintendent and several members of the superintendent's executive cabinet, reviewing substantial district governance documentation and preparing for the kickoff work session of the task force;

* A full-day work session at which the task force familiarized itself with significant developments in the rapidly changing field of nonprofit association governance; reached agreement on the design principles to guide the task force (for example: "The action steps are intended to be practical, relatively easy to implement over the course of six months without major distraction, and affordable in the sense of not requiring an extraordinary commitment of either time or money."); identified the major governance issues to be addressed (for example, the absence of a contemporary structure of board standing committees); and explored practical approaches to developing the board in its governing work, structure and processes;

* A second full-day work session one month later involving members of the superintendent's executive cabinet and all trustees, at which the task force reached firm agreement on the action steps to be taken in 2006 to strengthen the board's leadership. These included adoption of a formal school board governing mission to serve as a high-level description of the board's primary governing functions; creation of a structure of three board standing committees and adoption of a set of guidelines to ensure effective committee operations; and amending board bylaws to implement the action steps.

Early Progress

Washoe County's school board has taken its leadership to the next level as a result of the High-Impact Governing Task Force. The action plan isn't sitting on a shelf gathering dust. Its key recommendations are being put into practice and making a real difference in district affairs. Three factors appear to have been critical to the success of the initiative.

The involvement of all seven trustees from beginning to end contributed to deep understanding of advances in organizational governance and issues needing attention in the district. This whole-team approach also fostered the kind of board ownership that ensured consensus on the recommendations of the task force.

As Washoe's board president, Lezlie Porter, observed: "Transforming our board into a really high-impact governing body was a top priority of everyone's, and we weren't about to delegate the board development process to a staff member or consultant. We recognized that detailed involvement in the process was a concrete sign of our commitment to top-notch district governance."

The superintendent, Paul Dugan, was anything but a bystander. As a task force member, he was involved in all deliberations, and he ensured his cabinet members were an integral part of the process.

"Even before the ink was dry on the task force action plan, my executive cabinet and I were engaged in intensive work sessions, planning for the successful launch of the new board standing committees," Dugan said.

Doug Eadie is president of Doug Eadie & Co, 3 Sunny Point Terrace, Oldsmar, FL 34677. E-mail: [e-mail]