Role of the Chairperson

A continuing education report

Dear Friend and Community Member,

Did you know that four of your school board trustees attended the Idaho School Board Association’s annual convention in November? This was the third convention that I have attended, and it never ceases to provide deep and meaningful lessons. I attended several workshops/seminars, but I wanted to share takeaways from one in particular—Leading a Board: For Board Chairs. Based on the many conversations I’ve had with members of our community, the roles and responsibilities of trustees and board positions are not always clear. I hope the below summary of the session increases your understanding of how school boards (should) operate. The board elects officers of the board (chair and vice chair) at their January board meeting, so this share-out is timely!

TLDR: The chair person is responsible to ensure that the board performs well and continually focuses board conversations on improving student outcomes.

Seminar: Leading a Board: For Board Chairs

Overview: This seminar focused on the responsibilities of a board chair person. There are more responsibilities that a chair person has beyond presiding at meetings and signing checks. This session delved into those specific roles. The value of this seminar came as much from seasoned chairmen as it did from the seminar leaders. There must have been centuries of combined board experience in that room, and this session was well attended.

Lessons Learned: The success of a board is dependent on having a chair who fulfills many responsibilities well. While not exhaustive, the key responsibilities the chair holds which resonated with me were:

1. Presiding at meetings

a. Setting the tone

b. Maintaining decorum and focus

c. Encouraging all trustees to participate

d. Encourages discussion

e. Ensuring every board discussion is linked to Mission and Vision, the Strategic Plan, and student success

f. Chair decides who can attend executive sessions

g. Is personally responsible for keeping executive sessions on topic

2. Creating (collaboratively with the board) board norms and SOPs

a. How to make a motion

b. How to access the superintendent

c. How to get items on the agenda

d. How to report interactions with staff to the board

e. SOPs include and ensure compliance with Open Meeting laws

f. How email is used by trustees

g. School visit procedure

h. How to correct policy violations if/when the board violates policy

i. Succession planning for board officer roles

3. Onboarding new trustees

a. Sharing board norms (written)

b. Explaining board Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs in written form)

c. District finance overview

d. Code of conduct, ethics, trustee development expectations

e. Roberts Rules of Order

f. Introduction to the Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plan

g. Clearly explain the roles of chair, trustees, and district staff (super, clerk, business manager)

h. Successful board team building

4. Collaboratively and deliberately create, define, and foster board culture, modeling the culture we want within our schools.

a. Establishing the “shared moral imperative” or common ground which all trustees agree on

5. Board spokesperson

a. Public statements

b. Pushing out information to trustees well before a decision needs to be made

6. A best practice which was brought up that I found interesting is that high-performing boards rotate their chairperson so that every trustee knows how to do the job, and so that every trustee can contribute what they believe are mission-critical improvements to board norms. For example, the chair person may not hold the position for more than one or two years, and can only qualify for the role again after the other trustees have served a term as chair (exceptions made for unusual circumstances).

Application: Our new makeup of the board is that of a young board (new trustees with tenures of 5 years, 2 years, 1 year, and 2 brand new). Now is a great opportunity to formalize roles, norms, SOPs, etc. which reflect the norms which most boards operate against in Idaho (or, for now, at least those that we believe will have the best and greatest impact on student success).

Discussion: Board officer elections come in January. What are the board’s priorities from a chair person? Which responsibilities/norms/SOPs should be prioritized to ensure optimal board performance and community relations? Is the board willing to collaboratively build norms/SOPs over the course of the upcoming year? To help our board mature, what foundation needs to be established early on to ensure the best chances of success for our students?

The next board meeting is this Wednesday at 6:00pm. Until then!

Brad Howlett