Full Description
Every student deserves a high-impact, well-qualified, and governance-driven school board. In this helpful book, bestselling authors Ryan Donlan and Todd Whitaker show you as a school board member how to make smart, worthwhile decisions that will lead to positive change in your district.
The School Board Member's Guidebook addresses the challenges of making realistic choices that will truly benefit the school and have a lasting impact. Topics include:
• How to work and communicate effectively with the superintendent during the year;
How to rise above contentious issues, while still showing you care about people's viewpoints;
• How to represent the interests and needs of the community at large;
• How to keep your constituencies focused and informed through strategic planning and structured committee participation; and
• How to host constructive and cordial school board meetings.
Each chapter offers strategies, tips, and sample scenarios. In addition, this timely second edition features a new chapter on the roles and challenges of the board president. With the resources and the practical advice throughout the book, you'll be able to make a lasting difference in the lives of every student in your district.
Contents
1. The Difference Maker 2. How to Find Common Ground 3. How to Maximize Constituencies 4. How to Communicate with and Manage Constituencies 5. What Boards of Education Are Really About 6. How Boards Can Govern More Effectively 7. The Superintendent as Your Shield 8. The Care and Feeding of Community Members 9. Holding Board Meetings 10. Between Board Meetings 11. The Board President: Neither Fish nor Fowl, or is it BOTH Fish and Fowl? 12. Community Caricatures 13. Governing Best: Advancing by Retreating 14. Starting Undefeated
