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New Board Members Need to Know
School Board Members Have an Obligation to: - Know the laws applicable to education in Michigan.
- Know the duties required of school boards.
- Obey the laws.
- Serve the public with the highest fidelity.
- Display such intelligence and skill as you are capable.
- Be diligent and conscientious.
- Exercise discretion not arbitrarily, but reasonably.
- Establish a relationship of trust between the members of the board and between the superintendent.
The Role of the Superintendent - Manages operations in central office and coordinates and oversees efforts of all schools within the district. Works toward meeting district and superintendent goals established by the board.
- Advises board on policy development, need and impact and is responsible for creating and implementing administrative procedures to carry out the requirements of each policy.
- Assists and advises board in creating the long and short-term goals. Based on the goals, establishes strategies for implementation at each school.
- Works with school administrators to develop a draft budget, recommends the budget to the board, makes revisions as requested by the board, and administers the budget adopted by the board.
- Recommends courses of study and texts aligned with district vision, goals and objectives. Provides student assessment data for board analysis.
- Recommends all personnel to be hired; is responsible either directly or indirectly for performance evaluations.
- Analyzes, interprets and communicates the needs of the school system to the board and supervises facility renovations and new construction projects.
- Recommends and implements a program of school-community relations and keeps all stakeholder groups informed about district policies, programs and procedures.
- Provides administrative assistance and facilitation of the boardÂ’s self-assessment process.
The Role of the Board of Education - Recruits, hires and evaluates the performance of the superintendent.
- Establishes policy for the district and shares in policy development.
- The district vision is translated into long and short-term goals. The board establishes the structure to accomplish the vision, and periodically evaluates the results.
- Reviews and adopts the budget submitted by the superintendent and aligns the funding priorities with the district goals.
- Approves recommended curriculum and texts based on standards, goals and policies established by the board. Review and evaluate curriculum as it relates to student assessment results.
- Adopts policies governing salaries and salary schedules, terms and conditions of employment, fringe benefits, leave and professional development and employee evaluations.
- Determines school facility needs and communicates proposed construction plans to the community.
- Adopts policies governing school-community relations, advocates for the public school system and remains responsive to community ideas and needs.
- Evaluates the performance of the board and provides feedback for personal leadership development.
The Nuts and Bolts of the School Board Agenda
The agenda is at the heart of a well-organized, structured and smooth-running meeting. Adhering to the agenda will greatly decrease surprises and disorderly meetings. Items which are usually present on an agenda include the following:
- 1. Consent items: Addresses routine matters such as minutes and monthly expenses, which can be approved together without discussion.
- 2. Action items: The board is expected to reach a decision during the meeting on these items.
- 3. Discussion items: Requiring discussion, but upon which action is not anticipated. (A citizen or board member should be allowed to raise an issue for information, but the issue should be deferred for board consideration until at least the next meeting.)
- 4. Informational items: Require no action or discussion unless a board member asks for clarification.
- 5. Public participation: Board should have policy on: how citizens can request speaking time; when they can speak; how many citizens can speak; and how long they can speak (usually five minutes is the maximum). There should be a procedure for citizens to request a specific concern be considered by the board (usually the request is submitted to the superintendent for inclusion on the agenda.)
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