A Conversation With Veteran Board Member Jane Gallucci: Part 2

In the first part of my two-part interview with Jane Gallucci, a twelve-year member of the Pinellas County, Florida Board of Education, Jane described what she saw as the most important leadership challenges facing school board members around the country, and shared her views on board member attributes and qualifications that are essential to meeting these challenges. In this second part of my wide-ranging discussion with Jane, she reflects on those aspects of her work as a school board member that she has found most satisfying, practical ways to keep the working relationship with the superintendent close, positive, and productive, and a mistake she made as a school board member that taught her a valuable lesson. I’ll let Jane speak for herself.

Doug: Jane, you’ve talked about the tremendous governing challenges that school board members face in today’s ever-more-complex, rapidly changing world. Governing a modern school district is obviously not for the faint of heart. You must have found enjoyment and satisfaction in the work to keep doing it for twelve years. Tell me what you’ve liked most about the work.

Jane: Very honestly, Doug, being involved in education is a labor of love for me and has brought abundant joy into my life from the time I began as a guidance counselor through my years of service as a school board member. That’s one reason I love graduation ceremonies and attend as many as I can; after all, those students crossing the stage and moving on to the next opportunities and challenges in their young lives are what we’re all about – our real “bottom line.” Their long-term happiness and success, their capitalizing on opportunities and reaching their full human potential over their lifetimes is our fundamental mission in public education. And being reminded every so often that we really do make a difference in students’ lives re-charges my emotional batteries. A year or so ago, I was walking down the aisle at Sam’s Club when a former student, now a manager, came up to me and said, “Mrs. Gallucci, it’s great to see you; I just have to tell you that I wouldn’t be where I am today without your help, and I really appreciate the advice you gave me.” I left the store walking on a cloud! That kind of affirmation, which comes my way every so often, makes my day and beefs up the emotional “line of credit” that helps me get through some pretty grueling school board meetings.

Moving toward the cooler end of the spectrum, as a school board member I’ve always found deeply satisfying successfully working through complex policy issues that directly impact student achievement, especially when we can get away from the boardroom, both mentally and physically, and – with our cell phones turned off – really dig deeply into an issue. That’s why board-superintendent retreats, assuming they’re well designed and led by a competent facilitator, can be such a productive and truly satisfying experience. For example, the Pinellas School Board and superintendent spent the better part of a day off-site not too long ago, comprehensively reviewing all of the reading programs the district was employing (to our surprise and dismay, there were lots of them that didn’t tie together at all). Discussing the data presented to the Board, it was easy to reach consensus on the programs that deserved to be continued. That’s where the beef is, not bickering about one line-item or another in the expenditure budget!

Doug: Jane, as you well know, the board-superintendent working relationship can erode pretty quickly these days, falling victim to the inevitable stresses and strains at the top of every school district. What has your experience taught you about keeping that precious partnership really solid?

Jane: At the top of the list, in my experience Doug, is detailed agreement between the board and superintendent on your district’s educational and administrative priorities and directions, and you’ve got two powerful tools for arriving at agreement: an annual strategic planning retreat involving the school board, superintendent, and senior administrators, at which you can focus on your district’s vision and long-term strategic goals; and, second, an annual operational planning/budget development process that involves the board intensively in determining operational priorities and objectives. I learned early in my first term on the board that if you aren’t in agreement with your superintendent on what’s really important and what directions you should be moving in, you’re going to have a pretty rocky working relationship.

There are two other important tools for maintaining a healthy board-superintendent partnership. You need to have a well-designed process for annual board evaluation of the superintendent’s performance as your district’s “chief executive officer.” I’m talking about going beyond overall district educational performance, although you should evaluate your superintendent on that, and getting into your superintendent’s “CEO-specific” targets, his or her “value-added,” if you will. And this means getting into how your superintendent allocates time as your chief executive. For example, how much time should the superintendent spend in the wider community, building relationships with key stakeholders like the county commission, versus dealing with internal administrative issues? This is the board’s business, and needs to be discussed. Another tool is pretty obvious: communicate, communicate, communicate – constantly, systematically. Our superintendent in Pinellas clearly understands that the board should always be “in the know” where really serious issues are involved and never be caught off guard.

Doug: I don’t want to end on a downer, Jane, but can you think of a mistake you’ve made as a school board member that has taught you a valuable lesson.

Jane: You don’t mean to suggest that I make mistakes, do you Doug? Just kidding. I made my biggest mistake, and learned my most valuable lesson, when I first joined the Pinellas County School Board twelve years ago. I started my board career, I’m sorry to say, as a single-issue gal, and I came to my first few board meetings with a pretty big chip on my shoulder. My style was modeled after Genghis Khan, hammering my points home, talking a lot and listening much less, and, very soon, alienating the superintendent and my colleagues on the board. By the way, it wasn’t that my issue was unimportant, but my style was, to put it mildly, counterproductive. The good news is that I learned my lesson pretty quickly, before permanent damage was done. My advice to new school board members is to park your specific issues at the door, spend lots of time learning and listening, and recognize that governing really is a team sport.