Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 1

7 Over the past several months, we have enjoyed traveling the State to bring trainings, resources and information to you and your schools. Although many of our trainings focus on new schools and new board members, it’s important to note the valuable training and resources available for seasoned and experienced board members. As an experienced board member, you have donated countless months and years of time in the service of your charter school. You’re passionate about your school’s mission and vision, and you care about your students and staff. You support your administration and make sure your school is following all required State and Federal laws. Your meetings run pretty well. You’ve helped build up and stabilize a really great school. So now what? Where would you like to see your school in the next few years? Do you have a succession plan for when you step down? What steps are you currently taking to ensure new board members receive and retain vital institutional knowledge? We recognize and value our long-term board members. We have several upcoming trainings planned that will benefit both new and seasoned board members. For those getting ready to pass the torch, there is no greater legacy you can leave your school than by ensuring that your board will continue to uphold the mission, vision, principles and ideals that your charter school was founded upon. One way to do this is to have a stellar strategic plan in place. A good strategic plan will ensure you have in place measurable goals and a way to track them and to hold yourselves, as board members for the outcomes and achievements of your school. In an era of data-driven everything, this is more important than ever. This November, our Regional Board and Administrator Trainings will focus on strategic planning. Board members and administrators who attend will walk away with a good outline of the direction they would like their school go. We hope you will join us as we share how to make this process work, what goals are important, how to measure, assess and strategize to ensure that you are staying true to your charter. In February, we hope you can join us, together with national board governance expert, Marci Cornell-Feist, as she provides guidance and direction on the board and director relationship, recruiting and retaining quality board members, and how to run time-efficient board meetings. As charter school advocates and supporters, we encourage board members to vet the various board governance models available and to utilize those that best fit the model of your school. We are thrilled to have Marci join us to share her insight and expertise. Over the past few months, we have received multiple requests for custom board trainings to specifically discuss board culture, best practices and succession planning. We’ve taken your feedback and are thrilled to be hosting a six-part Everlasting Board Culture Training series that will take place once a month, beginning in October and ending in April (we are skipping December – Merry Christmas!). We hope you will take advantage of this free resource. Even if you are unable to attend all of the sessions, the information and tools you receive will be invaluable to you and your school. We encourage new and experienced board members to attend. To cap this all off, our Spring Regional Trainings will bring board members and administrators together to learn how to create an amazing school culture. This training is based on the ‘Creating a Classroom Culture of Success’ session held at last summer’s conference, and received rave reviews. The instructor of this course will discuss how to implement a great culture school-wide. We recognize and value our charter school board members. It’s oftentimes a thankless job. Three of our staff members have served and/or continue to serve on charter school governing boards. We understand the dedication and time commitment it takes. One of the benefits of attending training, that can’t be quantified or measured, is the networking opportunities with board members from other schools. We hope all board members, both new and experienced, will make time to participate and network at our upcoming board trainings. What we do, how we behave and what we accomplish as board members matters in the lives of our students, staff and parents. We want you and your charter schools to be successful and are passionate about providing the best training, tools and resources available to assist you as you continue this important work. For more information on upcoming trainings, please visit www.utahcharters.org/training Charter School Boards – Building on the Best BY DEBBY LLEWELYN, DIRECTOR OF TRAINING, UAPCS; BOARD MEMBER AT MOUNTAINVILLE ACADEMY