Board Business or Staff Business?

1
Board Business or Staff Business?

• An Agenda That Works

Good Morning.Please read the white handout
Adviser from theApril 2006 American School
Board Journal
2
Questions

• Whats wrong with board meetings?
• What is board business?
• Staff business?
• What would an agenda prepared by the board look
  like?
• How do we make the change?(from staff business
  to board business)

3
First, Your Thoughts

• From your perspective

Whats wrong with board meetings?
4
Now Lets Talk
Whats wrong with board meetings?
5
Some Problems With Meetings

• Time
• Priorities
• Relevance
• Staff
• The Public
• Board Members

6
Time

• Not enough board time
• 1 mtg/month _at_ 3 hours/meeting 36 hrs/yr
• 2 mtgs a month _at_ 4 hours/meeting 96 hrs/yr
• Compare with staff time
• 40 hours/week x 50 weeks 2,000 hrs

7
Priorities

• Whose priorities?
• Staff or Board
• Misplaced board priorities
• Doing things right vs. Doing the right things
• Unfocussed agenda
• Do agendas reflect board priorities?

8
Relevance

• Pareto principle
• 80 of time/effort 20 of work
• Urgent crowds out Important
• By the time we got to important items on the
  agenda, we were too tired to do the work that
  was needed. - Board member
• Trivial Pursuits
• Dominated by routines and procedure and personal
  agenda items

9
Staff

• Whoever prepares the agenda
• directs the directors
• Staff work staff reports
• Boards primary conversation is with staff
• Board work reacting to staff
• Who is setting the priorities?
• Public input focus on plans, programs,
  resources, activities
• Staff Work

10
The Public

• Expectations about boards
• Politics and Politicians
• Meetings are for airing problems, and board
  members are problem solvers
• Every district issue is a board issue
• Every issue is worked at board meetings

11
Board Members

• Input to the agenda
• Abdication to superintendent (unintended)
• Personal agenda items
• Ill-disciplined
• Not easy to think as one
• Over-reliance on consensus
• Under-reliance on Roberts Rules

12
Agendas Weve Seen

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Consent Agenda Hiring, Resignations, Voucher
  Approval
• Special People Recognition
• Reports
• Old Business
• New Business
• Announcements
• Adjourn

Most Meeting Time
13
Agendas Weve Seen

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Consent Agenda Hiring, Resignations, Voucher
  Approval
• Special People Recognition
• Reports
• 1.
• 2.
• Old Business
• 3.
• 4.
• New Business
• 4.
• 5.
• Announcements Board End-of-year Reception
• Adjourn

Most Meeting Time
14
Agendas Weve Seen

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Consent Agenda Hiring, Resignations, Voucher
  Approval
• Special People Recognition
• Reports
• 1. DECA Business Club
• 2. Host School Report
• 3. Affirmative Action Report
• New Business
• 1. Course Approval
• Announcements
• Adjourn

Board Initiative
Legal Mandate
Staff Initiative
15
Agendas Weve Seen

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Consent Agenda Hiring, Resignations, Voucher
  Approval
• Special People Recognition
• Reports
• 1. Superintendents Conference
• 2. New Principal Evaluation Form
• 3. Budget Status
• New Business
• 4. Facilities Use Agreement
• 5. Food Services Contract
• 6. Textbook Adoptions
• 7. Salary Schedules
• Announcements
• Adjourn

Board Initiative
Legal Mandate
Staff Initiative
16
Agendas Weve Seen

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Consent Agenda Hiring, Resignations, Voucher
  Approval
• Special People Recognition
• Reports
• 1. Host School Report
• 2. State Special Education Monitoring Visit
• Old Business
• 3. Consider Recommendations of Facilities
  Advisory Committee
• New Business
• 4. Resolution to Authorize Superintendent to
  Request Bond
• Announcements Board End-of-year Reception
• Adjourn

Board Initiative
Legal Mandate
Staff Initiative
17
Your Turn

• From your perspective

What is board business?What is staff business?
18
Now Lets Talk
What is board business?What is staff business?
19
Board Business

• Set direction for the district
• Monitor district performance
• Concerned with identifying WHAT
• is to be accomplished
• Academic achievement
• Character
• Citizenship

ENDRESULTS
20
Staff Business

• Achieve results
• Follow policy
• Concerned with HOW
• to get the district where it must go
• Curriculum/Instruction
• Schedules
• Bus routes
• Facility constr/maint

MEANS
21
Definition of Board Business

• Identify desired results
• ENDS the district should achieve
• Monitor results
• Set policy
• Monitor compliance with policy
• Link with the community
• Board development

22
Definition of Staff Business

• Means Anything that isnt an End Result
• HOW the district achieves its ENDS
• Means freedom with limitations
• Means must comply with limits set in policy
• Do Ends justify Means?
• YESMeans success ENDS achievement
• NOPolicy identifies unacceptable Means
• Any reasonable interpretation of policy is
  acceptable

It depends
23
Ends/Means Distinction

• Ends identify results for beneficiaries (What
  goodfor Whomat what Cost)
• All Students will achieve level 3 on the state
  test
• All Students will demonstrate successful job
  skills
• BOARDS prioritize their work on ENDS
• Means are everything else
• District budget will maintain 5 reserve
• Instruction will not deviate from adopted
  curriculum
• Transportation costs will not exceed
  state-funded amounts by more than 15
• BOARDS only set boundaries on STAFF MEANS

24
Focus on Board Business

• An Agenda prepared by staff can reasonably be
  expected to orient on Staff business
• An Agenda prepared by the Board should be
  expected to orient on Board business

25
Your Turn

• If the board prepared its own agenda

What would it look like?
26
Now Lets Talk
What would the boards own agenda look like?
27
Preparing the Board Agenda

• How can the board prepare its agenda?After all
• Part-time board, full-time staff
• State-mandated agenda items
• Limit the boards scope
• Extend the boards vision
• Annual (and longer-range) time frame
• Each meeting follow annual agenda

28
Annual Agenda

• An Agenda the Board can plan
• Plan Monitoring of Ends/Means
• For the staffand the board
• Plan Linkage with the Community
• Plan Policy Review
• Policies that guide staff
• Policies that guide board
• Plan Board Development

29
Annual Agenda
Board Bd/Supt Rel Ends Limits
July 1,2,3,4 2
August 8 1,3,4,7,8
September 11 9,10
October 2 18
November 13 13,14
December 1,2,3,4 11,12
January 5
February 17
March 5,6,7 3
April 12 5,16
May 9,10 1 15
June 5 6
30
Annual Agenda
Linkage Board Development Other
July Supt Contract
August w/ PTSA Board Retreat
September Staff Day
October Academic Ends
November State Conference
December
January Citizenship
February w/ Students
March w/ City Council
April NSBA
May w/ Businesses Awards Dinner
June Graduation
31
Strategy for Board MeetingsThat do the Boards
Business

• Use time to maximum advantage
• Meet obligations
• Representing the Community
• Accounting to the Community
• Primary board means
• Policy for 1 and 2
• How do meetings address these 3?

32
Strategy for Board MeetingsThat do the Boards
Business

• Community The real boss
• Board stands in for community
• Listens to the community
• A board is only a board when it meets
• Accountability Monitoring
• Organization does things the boss checks
• Monitor data as called for in policy
• Dont ask how things are going until youve
  said how things ought to be
• Evaluate data against criteria for success

33
Strategy for Board MeetingsThat do the Boards
Business

• Policy Boards Means Gives direction
• Directs the superintendent thru policy
• Directs staff thru the superintendent
• Expectations
• Achieve policy result
• Comply with policy boundaries
• Board gives as much guidance as needed and not
  one word more

34
Board-Controlled vs Staff-Controlled

• Agenda Prepared by the Staff
• Approval to repair a roof
• Accept bids on a school remodel
• Budget review and approval
• Agenda Prepared by the Board
• How are students performing?
• What do owners (taxpayers) think of our
  schools?
• Does the curriculum need to change due to
  advances in technology? (re The World is Flat)

Board Initiative
Staff Initiative
35
Board Meeting Agendas
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 8
Issue 9
Issue 10
Issue 11
Issue 12
Issue 13
Issue 14
Issue 3
Issue 4
Issue 2
Issue 5
Minutes
Issue 1
Before PG After PG
Random Q A
Issue 13
Issue 14
Minutes
Monitoring / Linkage / Ends Development
Structured Q A
Consent Agenda (Issues 1 to 12)

• More time on key board issues
• More time discussing owners opinions
• More focus on Supt monitoring reports

Board Initiative
Staff Initiative
GP 8
36
Agenda Prepared by Board

• Call to Order/Flag Salute
• Approval of Minutes
• Announcements/Comments
• Consent Agenda
• Assurance of Organizational Performance
• 1. Superintendents Update
• 2. Ends Monitoring E-3 Citizenship/Character
• 3. Board Response to Monitoring EL-17
• 4. Board Self-Monitoring GP-3
• Community Linkage
• 5. Joint Meeting with City Council E-3
  Citizenship/Character
• Policy Review
• 6. Governing Style GP-2
• Announcements
• Adjourn

Board Initiative
Staff Initiative
Legal Mandate
37
Your Turn

• If we want our board meetings to focus onboard
  business

How do we make the change?
38
Now Lets Talk
How do we make the change?
39
Alternatives
Good
Fast
Cheap
40
Policy Governance (PG)

• A strategy for accomplishing board business by
  prioritizing board time/effort
• PG distinguishes board business from staff
  business
• PG principles support the board doing board
  business by systematically NOT doing staff
  business

41
PG Boards Purpose

• The Board stands in for owners
• Its primary linkage is with owners (not
  staff)
• In meetingsBoard links with owners to learn
  community values and priorities

42
PG Board Job Description

• The job of the Board is to ensure the district
  achieves what it should and avoids doing what is
  unacceptable
• In meetingsBoard does its job by linking with
  the community, setting policy, and monitoring to
  ensure performance

43
PG Monitoring Performance

• The Board monitors district performance
  achievement of ends written in policy, and
  compliance with policy limitations
• In meetingsBoard monitors district performance
  and compares data against policy criteria

44
PG Superintendent Evaluation

• The Board monitors district (superintendent)
  performance data against written policy criteria
• The only measurement of success
• Did the district achieve desired Ends?
• Did the district comply with Executive
  Limitations?
• In meetingsValuable board-superintendent
  performance discussion is extensive and lasts all
  year long

45
PG Agenda Planning

• Contents of Boards annual agenda
• Linkages Listen to the community
• Monitoring Judge district performance
• Policy Review Entire set reviewed each year
• In meetingsParts of meetings planned
  linkages, scheduled monitoring, and policy review

46
PG Agenda Planning

• Besides Linkage/Monitoring/Policy
• Board development
• In meetingsBoard schedules opportunities to
  inform its members and to improve its capacity to
  govern

47
PG The Chairs Role

• Chair is responsible for ensuring the Board
  follows its own policies
• In meetingsChair ensures the Board follows its
  agenda

48
PG Governing Style

• The Board speaks with one voice
• The Board directs only through policy
• In meetingsBoard acts by voting on policies
  Board majority speaks via policy

49
PG Board Self-Assessment

• The Board evaluates whether it complies with its
  own governance process policies
• In meetingsBoard assesses its own performance
  at the end of each meeting

50
Policy GovernanceEnsuring Effective Meetings

• Time More time for board business
• Priorities On boards work
• Relevance What boards can do
• Staff Focus on responding
• The Public Is represented consulted
• Board Members Do what they are capable of doing

51
Board Meetings Board Business

• Old
• Link with staff
• Receive staff reports
• Approve staff work
• Agenda prepared by staff, ad hoc items added by
  board
• Q Whats going on?

• New
• Link with owners
• Monitor performance
• Revise policies
• Agenda prepared by board in annual plan and
  written in policy
• Q Whats important?or How did we do?

Strategic
52
In Summary

• By taking control of the board agenda, you spend
  the boards meeting time on board business, and
• you produce an agenda that WORKS

53
Take Another Look

• ASBJ Adviser - April 2006

Board Businessor Staff Business?
54
Questions?

• Policy Governance Associates
• Bob Hughes Rick Maloney
• Website
• http//www.policygov.com for
• Slides/Handouts/Reference Material
• Email
• bhughes_at_policygov.com
• rmaloney_at_policygov.com