Pub. 3 2013-2014 Issue 2

21 The Job of the Board Chair The Position is About Facilitation, Not Power BY LINCOLN FILLMORE T he chair of a charter school’s board is important. Without a strong and effective chair, your board will flounder. Board meetings will take hours and accomplish very little in the way of governing the school. While the chair needs to be “strong” the position should not be “powerful.” If that’s confusing, allow me to try and explain the difference. During meetings, the chair must be robust in his or her use of delegated authority to keep things on track. The chair should not be afraid to call other members or the public out for veering off topic or not following the rules of public meetings. Outside of meetings, the board should be equally vigor- ous in restraint. Other than the strength that the chair needs to exercise in running public meetings, the board chair has no power beyond that held by any other board member. The chair isn’t the “leader” of the board in the same way that the principal or director is the “leader” of the school. In short, the chairs job can be summed up like this: “Ensure the integrity of the board’s process, facilitate effi- cient meetings and board decision-making, and occasional- ly represent the board and its positions to outside entities.” (You can find a sample Job Description for the position at http://chartersolutions.org/charter_resources.html ) Tip 1: Know the rules To be strong when conducting meetings, the board chair must know the rules for running them - who can speak, when, how often. How motions are made, how the public can comment. Robert’s Rules of Order has very detailed rules that you can find in hundreds of pages or front-and-back formats. But for a charter board of under a dozen members, you might find that simpler rules do fine most of the time. Your board ought to be able to agree on simple rules about how many times a member can speak to a motion, how long they can speak, what public comment looks like, and so forth. As long as those rules are agreed in advance (no matter how complicated or simple they might be) the board chair can and should strongly abide by them. Tip 2: Bring a buddy Remember – the board chair has the same “power” as all other board members: a single vote. While the chair has a facilitation role during meetings, outside of meetings, that authority goes away. People outside the board don’t always recognize that fact, though, so the chair ought to take steps to reinforce it. When meeting with the school director, don’t meet alone. Having another board member along emphasizes that the chair isn’t acting alone. Tip 3: Speak only as authorized The chair occasionally will take on the role of spokes- person for the school or the board, especially if the media is involved. When speaking in that role, the chair should only state positions that have been publicly taken by the board. Here the chair must be cautious. Statements of person- al opinion may be taken as official policy by those outside the school. When speaking in an official capacity avoid stating personal opinions. Conclusion One of the issues that a chair will always be working around is the perception that his or her actions are those of the school. Peoples’ perception and judgment is some- thing the chair can’t control but can influence. Establishing and following clear and simple rules, al- ways acting in concert with others, and carefully avoiding personal statements will help. Plus, board meetings will be more efficient. The job of the chair (and of all board members) will take a little less time and cause a little less stress.