Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 1

14 identification of areas for improvement and celebrations of what the board does well. The three topics/activities included below are examples of what a board might use to begin the process of self-reflection and board development. Board Training Activities Brian Carpenter wrote, “In order to be effective, a charter school Board has to evaluate everything for which it is accountable. To accomplish this, I recommend that Boards formally evaluate the following three things annually as agenda items” (meaning that it constitutes official Board action) (Board Wiser #10): 1. Progress toward charter goals/review 3. Performance of the Board 2. Performance of the school leader Topic 1: What we talk about signals to our stakeholders, including the Director, what’s important LEADING QUESTION: If an outsider was trying to determine your Board’s priorities by sitting in meetings or reading its minutes, what would he or she conclude? THOUGHTS: Board Wiser #2, The Board takes into account the school’s ends as it considers issues, makes decisions and creates policy. Management’s responsibility is to make the school perform and the Board’s responsibility is to make sure it performs. (Broadly defined, charter school performance is accomplishing the outcomes for which the school was chartered within all applicable statutory, regulatory, and financial parameters.) I summarize this distinc- tion in responsibilities using what I call the two e-words: executing (what management does) and ensuring (what the Board does). The two words are worth memorizing. Ensuring is about making sure that everything gets done right: A Board should regularly ask what I call how-well questions. So, does your Board spend most of its time in meetings on governance or management matters? By definition, almost every how-will discussion is a manage- ment matter. Such information may be nice to know, but it’s not usually information the Board needs to know in order to perform its governance responsibilities. ACTIVITY: Go through three Board meeting minutes and discuss what the how-will issues were and what the how-well issues were. Topic 2: Performance of the Board LEADING QUESTION: Is the Board a team of involved and committed individuals and is there a clear understanding of the Board’s responsibility for leading and guiding the school into the future in contrast to a passive caretaker mentality or overzealous management team? THOUGHTS: Board Wiser #12, since the success of a school hinges on the effectiveness of an interdependent relationship between the Board and management, it is imperative that a Board also evaluate its own performance. I recommend that it do this at the same time it evaluates the school leader, to make sure that the Board or its members are not adversely impacting operations. This evaluation should focus on how well the Board is maintaining its moral integrity to govern, meaning that it adheres to sound governance principles and practices, as well its own bylaws and policies, etc. This is critical, because without integrity, authentic leadership by the Board is a mere pretense and the Board’s claims to school excellence are counterfeit and hypocritical. ACTIVITY: Does your Board exhibit any of the actions, deci- sions, or characteristics listed below: 1 The Board did not understand the difference between governance and management; thus, Board entanglement in operations was common. 2 The Board did not consistently focus on student outcomes in its meetings. 3 The Board failed to prohibit individual Board Members from interfering in school operations. 4 The Board’s Meetings were often argumentative, long winded, and packed with minutiae, and sometimes dominated by one or two overbearing individuals. 5 The Board ended up in an adversarial relationship with its authorizer. 6 The Board deviated from its bylaws and charter, or failed to comply with various legal and regulatory requirements. Brian Carpenter wrote, “In order to be effective, a charter school Board has to evaluate everything for which it is accountable...” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13