I’ve met many superintendents who really want to streamline costs and administrative workflow specifically in the area of paperless board meetings. But at the end of the day, many of them tell me. You don’t understand. My board is not ready to go paperless. I feel your pain. And I’ve heard about many strategies that ...
Serving on a local board of education involves commitment, focus, and accountability. From hiring the superintendent to being advocates for public education to setting policy to being stewards of the budget, local boards have tremendous responsibility. Our stakeholders expect the absolute best for our customers, our children. So, along with these roles and responsibilities of ...
As a former school board member of ten years in Georgia, I was required to complete 12 hours of training during my first year of service and six hours each year thereafter. The training requirements have now changed; however, school board members must still complete training courses so that they are in compliance with this ...
Local school boards meet all around this country in governing our nation’s public schools. Who makes the agenda? In my home state of Georgia, the superintendent and board chair have the responsibility of creating the monthly agenda; each member of the board can additionally request that an item be placed on the agenda. What’s put ...
Planning for accreditation can be an incredibly busy time for any district. Our plates are all full, as the tired saying reminds us, but we needed to collaborate on this extremely important sign and seal of our district work. And as with all things in a school district, working with adults is an excellent opportunity ...
If you’re like me, you’ve attended your fair share of meetings (staff meetings, board meetings, cabinet meetings…you name it.) Most of these meetings have had an agenda but many agendas were just SKELETONS, or basic outlines of the topics that will be presented, discussed or acted upon. So as we’ve had access to technology tools, ...
Over the last two decades I’ve worked with school systems (both administrators and teachers) helping them to more effectively use technology. In most of these cases, this has been in the service of a technology company such as Apple, Promethean or eBOARDsolutions. According to this Edupotia article “Shaping Tech for the Classroom” by Mark Prensky ...
Alabama Association of School Boards President Florence Bellamy has advocated for education on the local, state and national scene. She knows first-hand that an educated populace is an issue elected officials can rally around. She advises education leaders to keep that in mind when they are advocating. “We must set aside personal and political differences ...
Successful school districts take accountability seriously and strive to cultivate a culture that values continuous improvement. School boards can model their commitment to these ideas by engaging in regular self-evaluation, in addition to completing timely evaluations of their superintendent. With the focus on technology and data collection it is easy to lose sight of the ...
With elections across the country at the end of 2010, there has been a good bit of turnover with locally elected officials. Simply put, 2010 was not the year for incumbents. In the world of public service, there are many new school board members beginning terms this month. How is a change in a school ...
Let’s face it. Not all board members are tech savvy. But more and more, it is so important that leadership can use technology to access important information (such as online meeting agendas, policies as well as news, registering for conferences…the list is endless). But what about the board members who’ve been led to the water ...
Georgia’s local school systems can ask their communities to pass a Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for additional revenue. Those pennies can really add up. That’s how we paid for our high school’s auditorium. To the school board, how do you get your community to support this initiative? First, if you’ve passed a SPLOST ...
Education leaders want their districts and schools to be high performing. To do that, leaders recognize that they must create Performance Cultures. But what exactly is does this mean and what do leaders do to create a Performance Culture? Culture, simply defined, means “the way we do things around here.” At Georgia Leadership Institute for ...
A solution to transform public education Last week I had the privilege of being one of three speakers in the TEDx session at the NSBA Technology and Learning Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The first speaker, Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow addressed the importance of listening to students about how they want to learn in ...
Over the last few years, I asked many people from school districts this question, “Are your board meetings and policies online?” And I’ve been pretty content to hear the answer has most often been “Yes, they are.” “Great!” I think (until I go look on their website). In most cases, I’m finding a few PDF files ...
My dear friend and former superintendent of our school system always said that she never expected anything of her leadership team and staff that she wasn’t willing to do herself. Those words from a servant leader have always resonated with me. In public education, we expect great things from our teachers. They have to administer ...
Additional contribution by Bill Sampson We’ve compiled our top 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Evaluating Your Superintendent. Here goes. 1. Do create and approve the evaluation instrument ahead of time. Your superintendent should know BEFORE the evaluation period exactly what he/she is going to be evaluated on! 2. Do use templates to develop your evaluation ...
During the 2010 Council of School Board Association Communicators Conference in Atlanta, I finally put into words what I’ve been musing for awhile. We’re at a communication crossroads where ink-stained fingers meet digital dudes and divas meet those who like a little broadcast with their print news and social media. Media consumption is no longer ...
With the demands and complexities of public school systems in the 21st century, it is hard to imagine how school districts can continue raising the bar without effective and comprehensive strategic planning. As I talk with people about strategic planning, I typically see people fall into one of two camps. Those who love it and ...
Why is succession planning important? There will be a wave of retirements within the public education world in the next few years. As leadership shifts within a school system, a seamless transition is critical. With the appropriate strategic planning, a school system can weather changes in leadership from the school level with principals to the ...