Raising the Governing IQ

Dessert’s just arrived, when the president of the Pleasantville City Club, Hank Peters, introduces this month’s guest speaker, school board member Angie Pavlovich. The room quiets down as Angie walks to the podium.

“Good afternoon. Thanks for that glowing introduction, Hank. I’m really pleased to join you for this monthly luncheon meeting of the City Club, representing the Pleasantville Board of Education, which, as Hank mentioned, I’ve served on for the past six years. When I was originally asked to speak at this luncheon, Hank and I discussed my talking about the federal No Child Left Behind act – the impact that it’s had here in Pleasantville and what we might expect under a new administration in Washington. Instead, I’d like to share some thoughts about the Pleasantville Board of Education itself as the district’s governing body – some important steps we’ve taken over the past couple of years to strengthen the board’s governing capacity and a profile of the “ideal” board member, in terms of desirable attributes and qualifications.

Why the change of focus? Well, as you’ve probably heard, three of our seven school board members have announced that they won’t be running for reelection next year, so we’re going to go through some pretty significant turnover in the near future. A couple of weeks ago, my six school board colleagues and I met with Superintendent Merkel and her top lieutenants to discuss what the school board could do to stimulate interest in Pleasantville in running for the open seats next year . We agreed that we – all seven of us – would reach out to the Pleasantville community, telling our fellow residents about the work of the school board and what experience has taught us about the characteristics of effective board members. So here I am. Believe me, we don’t have a smidgen of interest in getting involved in politics, certainly not trying to pick candidates for the board. Rather, we really are committed to the school board’s continuing to be what we call a “high-impact” governing body, and we know that attracting top-notch people to run for the open seats is critical to the board’s effectiveness.

Have no doubt, my friends, that the stakes are high for all of us here in Pleasantville. Our school district is a large, incredibly complex educational enterprise – a public corporation, if you will – that really does demand effective governing. Think about it: 7,500 students; 450 teachers, administrators and other staff; seven buildings; a $30 million budget. That’s not small potatoes! Now, what I mean by “high-impact” governing is board decisions and judgments that produce powerful “bottom line” results that matter to all of us, such as:

Students who are well-prepared to continue their academic work at the postsecondary level if they so desire, to succeed in the workforce in a rapidly changing, challenging economy, and to function as ethical, responsible citizens
The effective and prudent management of the resources that are provided to the district
Wide community understanding and support for the district’s mission

Making wise decisions that will produce these results isn’t a piece of cake in the best of times, and as we’re all keenly aware, these are far from ideal times. Not only are we always dealing with rapid change – technologically, socially, economically – we’re also now contending with a severe economic downturn that will apparently last quite some time. We really do need the “best and the brightest” candidates for the Pleasantville School Board. We can’t afford less than the best! Now we’ve taken a number of steps over the past couple of years to strengthen the school board’s governing capacity. For example, we’ve put a new committee structure in place that ensure better preparation for our monthly board meetings, and we’ve significantly upgraded the board’s role in strategic planning, under the leadership of our new planning and development committee. But structure alone won’t cut ice, as you all have no doubt learned. A board isn’t a machine, it is people, and who those people are really does make a difference.

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, my six colleagues on the board and I met for a full day a couple of weeks ago with the district’s senior administrators to discuss how we could attract top-notch candidates for the school board election. That’s why I’m here with you today. In addition to launching this board “speakers’ bureau,” we also brainstormed a list of attributes and qualifications that we think, based on our experience, describe the highest performing board members we’ve seen over the years. Let me close by describing this ideal board member to you……………..

Not that far-fetched
I know some of you reading this are saying to yourself “fat chance” when you think about you and your current board members making a similar foray into the community to raise people’s governing IQ. But don’t dismiss the idea out of hand. Even though speaking out this way might seem like a stretch for your board, many school board members around the country are reaching out in various ways to educate community members on school governance, as a way to strengthen the school board as a human resource. And they’re doing it without getting mired down in partisan politics since they avoid even the appearance of trying to promote particular candidates (at least when they’re representing the whole board in public forums; unofficially, on their own, some board members always have, and always will, back candidates).

The boards that are reaching out have found that taking the following steps can ensure success:

Make sure that your board’s formal job description – what is often known as the board “governing mission” – explicitly states that the board is committed both to strengthening its governing capacity and to building community understanding and support for the district. By the way, your board should adopt the governing mission by resolution.
Fashion, and formally approve, a profile of the ideal board member, in terms of desired attributes and qualifications (for example: “be a team player;” “be strongly committed to public education;” “have a history of volunteering in the district;” “have the time to devote to both committee and full board governing work”).
Assign a board committee responsibility for overseeing the education effort: identifying appropriate forums; “booking” board members to speak in particular forums; making sure they’re armed with the right materials; and the like.

The good news is that you and your school board colleagues’ taking the time and trouble to educate community members on the critical governing work your school board does and on the importance of attracting qualified, committed people to run for election to your school board will yield a powerful return to your community in terms of higher-impact school governance, and it can be done without compromising your independence or getting you mired down in politics. And the cherry on the sundae is that you’ll find the work not only risk-free, but also enjoyable and even ego-satisfying.