A school board has several responsibilities. They set the vision and goals for the district. They approve policies and the budget. They hire, evaluate, and can fire one employee: the superintendent. They preside over space where the community can exercise free speech related to schools.
With all those responsibilities, they only have one job. To ensure each child within the district thrives. Academically. Socially. Emotionally.
The job is not to fan the flames of culture wars. The job is not to create a base for future political office, or to advance the interests of a particular group. It is not to push one issue or the needs of one child. It is not to keep taxes low, and it is not to run the operations of the school district.
The job is to hold the organization accountable to delivering student outcomes. In every conversation. In every meeting. On every issue that comes before the board.
As parents and community members, how can we make sure our school board is doing its job?
- We can show up. Attend at least one board meeting a year or watch the recording if made available in your district.
While people don’t attend board meetings due to structural barriers, competing priorities, and a belief that their attendance doesn’t make a difference, the low attendance at board meetings reinforces the false narrative that people do not care. Open meetings requirements and the Freedom of Information Act are only as effective as our willingness to use them.
- We can confirm the board has 3-5 annual student outcomes goals published and they report progress on them.
A board cannot make decisions based upon student outcomes unless they have agreed on which outcomes to prioritize. If those goals do not exist, start attending meetings or writing the board to demand them. If they do exist, ask yourself if they are the things you think are most important for the youth you know and love the most. If they are meaningful goals, ask yourself if the target for meeting the goal reflects a level of performance that you would be satisfied with for those youth you know and love.
- We can pay attention to how much, where, and how the board talks about student learning.
Student learning should be the focus of every conversation. I do mean every conversation. Student learning conversations are not performative celebrations at the beginning of meetings where students are dragged out to highlight some district program. Student learning conversations are not just reporting out test scores and explaining a connection between the results and strategic actions of the district – although that is a good place to start.
A relentless focus on student learning means when discussing whether to repair or replace a roof the board considers what impact the construction will have on learning, to ensure the district schedules the work at an appropriate time. It also means considering what any additional dollars saved from choosing one option over the other would do if invested in academic supports. There is not a topic that comes before the board that does not have implications for student learning. If it genuinely doesn’t, the topic shouldn’t be before the board.
There is a lot written about the role of the school board and the role of the district in ensuring good governance. There is a lot less available on the role of the public. This is the first entry in a series that seeks to help close that gap. The system doesn’t work unless us parents and community members do our part.
Stay tuned.
