Board and Superintendent Protocols

Purpose

The Board of Education is the educational policy-making body for the district. To effectively meet the district’s challenges, the board and superintendent must function together as a leadership team. To ensure unity among team members, effective operating procedures, or protocols, must be in place. There are general protocols and those that are specific for the board and for the superintendent.

General - The Board and Superintendent will: 

1. Keep learning and achievement for all students as the primary focus.
2. Value, support, and advocate for public education.
3. Operate openly with trust and integrity.
4. Govern in a dignified and professional manner, treating everyone with civility, dignity, and respect, while honoring the right to disagree with each other.
5. Define and respect the difference between administration and policy-making and respect the roles of each.
6. Keep confidential matters confidential. Uphold the legal requirement for absolute confidentiality on all matters and conversations taking place in closed sessions.

Board Members will:

1. Work in a collegial and productive manner with all members of the board and the superintendent to become a successful team devoted to students.
2. Act with dignity, and understand the implications of demeanor and behavior.
3. Recognize and respect difference of perspective and style on the board and among staff, students, parents, and the community.
4. Focus on policymaking, planning, and evaluation, as appropriate, for student success.
5. Govern within board-adopted policies and procedures.
6. Communicate a common vision.
7. Understand authority rests with the board as a whole and not with individuals. Recognize decisions are made only at properly scheduled meetings.
8. As an individual board member, not make or appear to make a decision that appropriately should be made by the entire board.
9. Abide by decisions of the majority after honoring the right of individual members to express opposing viewpoints and vote their convictions.
10. Ensure opportunities for the diverse range of views in the community to inform board deliberations.
11. Attend regularly scheduled board meetings unless a situation occurs that makes attendance impossible; cooperate in scheduling special meetings and/or work sessions for planning and training purposes.
12. Understand the distinctions between board and staff roles, and refrain from performing management functions that are the responsibility of the superintendent and staff.
13. Acknowledge individual requests for reports and projects will be directed only to the superintendent.
14. Understand the superintendent will consult with the board in making personnel recommendations for staffing at the principal level and above.
15. Understand the board as a collective body must give clear signals to its professional staff through its superintendent.
16. Participate in establishing annual expectations and goals for the superintendent.
17. Objectively evaluate the superintendent’s performance and provide appropriate feedback.
18. Annually evaluate its own effectiveness; review its protocols at least every two years.
19. Take collective responsibility for the board’s performance.
20. Communicate directly with the superintendent whenever a question or concern is raised by a staff member, student, parent, or community member.
21. Inform superintendent whenever contacted by the media regarding an incident, event, or agenda item.
22. Communicate directly with the superintendent prior to board meetings to address questions and/or concerns about agenda items; honor the “no surprises” rule.
23. Communicate one-on-one with the superintendent as soon as possible when an individual concern arises.
24. Cast a vote on all matters except when a conflict of interest arises.
25. Recognize the individual role of constituents and special interest groups, while understanding the importance of using one’s best judgement to represent all members of the community.
26. As time permits, visit school sites and attend school functions, but avoid interrupting instruction or interrupting employees at work.
27. Represent the district, when possible, by attending community functions.
28. Participate in and encourage board professional development and commit the time and energy necessary to be an informed and effective leader.

The Superintendent will:

1. Work toward creating a team with the board dedicated to students.
2. Respect and acknowledge the board’s role in setting policy and overseeing the performance of the superintendent.
3. Work with the board to establish a clear vision for the school district.
4. Communicate the common vision.
5. Recognize that the board/superintendent governance relationship requires support by the district’s management team.
6. Understand the distinction between board and staff roles, and respect the role of the board as the representative of the community.
7. Accept leadership responsibility and be accountable for implementing the vision, goals, and policies of the district.
8. Prepare preliminary goals annually for the board’s consideration.
9. Provide useful data and any other necessary information to board members to assist in their decision-making process.
10. Make personnel recommendations and changes in consultation with the board.
11. Communicate with board members promptly and effectively.
12. Inform the board prior to critical information becoming public; apprise all board members in a timely manner of any major incident.
13. Distribute information fully and equally to all board members.
14. Provide information requested by one board member to every board member.
15. Distribute the board agenda in a timely fashion and with enough time for board study, and clarify information prior to scheduled meetings.
16. Avoid bringing a matter to a public meeting that is a surprise to a board member or cabinet member.
17. Provide requests for additional information through a board update, special report, board agenda items, or as a board workshop.
18. Present major decisions initially as a discussion item, then place them on a future board agenda for action.
19. Treat all board members professionally.
20. Communicate with individual board members to determine if concerns exist prior to a possible problem developing, and respect the right to disagree with each other.
21. Conduct a self-assessment prior to the board’s evaluation of the superintendent’s job performance.
22. Keep the board informed regarding issues and/or situations that could possibly concern parents, students, staff or community.
23. Visit school campuses regularly.
24. Represent the school district by being visible in the community.
25. Model the value of life-long learning.