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This report is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools 

 

The Orleans Parish School Board participated in a Board Development Workshop on Monday, February 10, 2014, in the Propeller Building, 4035 Washington Avenue. The workshop, entitled The "3 Rs" of Being a Successful Board Member: Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships, was conducted by OPSB's Superintendent Search consultants, HYA Executive Search Division of ECRA Group, Inc.

 

Five of the OPSB members participated for the entire five-hour session, Board Member Cade participated in the second half, and Board Member Thomas did not attend.  The event was sponsored by the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, and Stand for Children. HYA will soon issue a written report on the results of the session.

According to HYA, the workshop was designed to facilitate discussion among the board members relative to the Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships that the Board desires to develop and how to use them:
  • To develop a positive working relationship among board members and a new superintendent
  • To develop a collaborative working relationship with the superintendent
  • To ensure that the areas of highest priority are identified and addressed on behalf of the students in Orleans Parish.  
The workshop, chaired by HYA's Bill Attea, followed the outline contained in the program and generally discussed the content provided therein. Key topics included the following:
  • Roles - Basic concepts regarding governance and management
    • Trusteeship
      • Deciding based on quality educational program for all children vs. representing any specific group
    • Governance
      • Prime responsibility of Board
      • Always keep children as central focus
      • Articulate primary mission
      • Define expectations - very important
      • Establish acceptable parameters 
      • Oversee and evaluate - based upon defined expectations
        • Oversight of product
    • Management
      • Responsibility of Superintendent
      • Oversight of processes and proof of product
    • CEO or COO
      • OPSB members indicated desire for CEO function
        • Superintendent/CEO leads the district
      • COO structure rarely successful in large organizations
        • Superintendent/COO manages the district
    • Micro-management
      • Board determines the whats
      • Superintendent determines the hows, whos and whens
      • Everyone in the system must be working toward system's goals
  • Responsibilities - operating within appropriate roles
    • Strategic Planning in relation to governance and management
    • Determining expectations/goals
    • Providing oversight and evaluating success of School District
    • Evaluating performance of superintendent
    • Board self-evaluation
  • Relationships - developing appropriate positive relationships
    • Pre-requisite to developing a high-performing Board and School District
    • Fellow Board Members
      • Voice of the Board Member
      • Code of Conduct
        • Board models in its behavior how organization is to behave
        • Respect and civility should always rule
        • Board members should not make firm decisions until all Board members have expressed opinions
        • Criticize in private and praise in public
      • Organizing for greater effectiveness
        • Committee structure - consider Committee of the Whole rather than separate Committees
        • Do not let others control the Board meeting agenda
        • Superintendent usually makes recommendations for all Board action items but Superintendent should give Board all the info it needs to make a decision
          • OPSB members asked for receipt of agendas to be sent out earlier than as done now
    • The Superintendent
      • Takes direction from the entire Board, not individual members
        • Needs clear understanding of expectations
        • Needs to be evaluated rigorously to expectations
  • Superintendent Selection

 

***This email is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools and is not an official correspondence from the Orleans Parish School Board***
 
This service is made possible by support from the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and funding from the
Robert Reily Family Trust and the Smith/Cooper Foundation