TRUSTEESHIP 101

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TRUSTEESHIP 101

• What have you gotten yourself into?

CAIS Trustee/School Head Conference San Francisco
January 26, 2008
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The Good, the Bad the Ugly

• Many rewards of trusteeship
• Unexpected downsides
• Not everyone is cut out for trusteeship

3
Obligations and Liabilities

• Duties of Care, Loyalty, and Obedience
• The board is ultimately responsible for the
  school

4
New Trustee Required Reading

• Mission, values and vision statements
• Articles of incorporation
• Bylaws
• Internal policies and procedures
• Audit and IRS 990
• Insurance coverage
• Strategic plan and implementation plan
• Charge and goals for your committees

5
Roles and Responsibilities

• Individual responsibilities
• Engage
• Be an ambassador
• Fundraise

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Roles and Responsibilities cont.

• Board as a whole
• Mission
• Head of School
• Financial
• Legal
• Sustain the board

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Leadership Partnership
From Trustee Handbook by Mary DeKuyper
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Parent Issue

• At a school fundraising event, Trustee Bill is
  approached by John, an influential parent and
  community member who tells him the 2nd grade
  teacher is not doing her job. He says his sons
  math performance is only up to grade level with
  extra tutoring by his wife. He asks Bill to do
  something about it.

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Faculty Issue

• As a trustee, you receive a mailgram signed by
  the entire faculty expressing disapproval of the
  firing of a long term teacher and demanding a
  meeting with all the trustees. The Head has
  fully informed the board of the decision and has
  used the advice of the Executive Committee to
  work out timing and terms of the dismissal,
  knowing it would be unpopular with the faculty.

10
Trustee Issue

• Trustee Tom, a major donor, does not agree with
  the boards recent decision to revise the
  financial aid policy to better align with the
  mission of seeking a diverse student body. He
  calls a meeting with other parents to share his
  outrage at the board investing more funds to
  attract certain students when there is no problem
  filling the seats with full pay students. The
  board chair hears about it from a parent who felt
  uncomfortable with the conversation.

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Board Issue

• Trustee Sam, a big donor, is disruptive at every
  meeting. While engaging in side conversations,
  he doesnt hear whats going on and then makes
  comments unrelated to the conversation. He also
  shares his aha moments the minute they occur to
  him even if the conversation has moved on. He is
  always most interested in the operational detail
  and is full of suggestions for the Head.

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Leadership Issue

• At Blue Skies School, the board spent its retreat
  setting annual goals for the first time since
  receiving a disappointing short accreditation.
  One major decision was to scrap the unfinished
  strategic plan that has taken 2 years of work by
  Trustee Tim. They decide to start over to plan
  an inclusive process. After the meeting, Tim
  calls Sue, the board chair, to convince her to
  let him finish the plan. Sue announces in an
  email to the Head and board that Tim will
  continue his work.

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Resources

• Chait, Richard P., Thomas P. Holland, and Barbara
  E. Taylor, The Effective Board of Trustees,
  Phoenix, AZ The Onyx Press, 1993.
• Chait, Richard P., William P. Ryan, and Barbara
  E. Taylor, Governance as Leadership Reframing
  the Work of Nonprofit Boards, Hoboken, NJ John
  Wiley and Sons, Inc.,2005.
• DeKuyper, Mary Hundley, Trustee Handbook A
  Guide to Effective Governance for Independent
  School Boards, Washington, DC National
  Association of Independent Schools, 2003.
• Howe, Fisher, Welcome to the Board Your Guide
  to Effective Participation, San Francisco, CA
  Jossey-Bass, 1995.
• Robinson, Maureen K., Nonprofit Boards That Work
  the End of One-Size-Fits-All Governance, New
  York, NY John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001.