The superintendent, as the district educational leader, has responsibility toward the board of education and instructional staff. The latter function is encouraged and monitored by superintendents who use inservice programs, central office instructional and curriculum specialists, teacher committees, principals, and consultants to identify and…

Offers superintendents several tips for establishing sound relationships with their school boards, including clarifying roles, understanding the political and professional nature of the superintendency, avoiding close identification with specific board members, educating board members, avoiding provincialism, cultivating good administrative staff…

From a random sample of 4,441 board members, 1,482 (33 percent) responded to a survey. Women board members are more interested in curriculum than finance and expect to be more involved in school system decision making. Respondents' demographic characteristics and areas of concerns are shown in region-by-region charts. (MLF)

This handbook offers observations from the superintendent's viewpoint about the evaluation responsibilities of school board members and school boards. The handbook describes important features of the evaluation role of school boards and offers a detailed description of what the board should evaluate within the context of the districts--who the…

School boards have legal responsibility and liability for crowd control at extracurricular events. Board policies should cover supervision, rules, and various legal liabilities involving different crowd-control personnel, including school employees, on- and off-duty police, hired guards, and parent volunteers. Twelve guidelines are suggested for…

Partnerships between schools, families, and communities provide a support net for each student and play a role in promoting academic success (Epstein, 1995; Shapiro, Ginsberg, & Brown, 2002) and moral development. This article is based on a qualitative study of a secondary school with numerous partnerships selected from a southern Ontario…

Prospective founders of charter schools must gain the approval of a public organization empowered by state law to grant charters. Common examples of chartering entities include state and local boards of education, boards of public universities and community colleges, and specially created charter-school boards. This guide is designed to help…

Over 100 former board of education members from Oregon completed a questionnaire originally prepared by the "American School Board Journal" for the purpose of investigating why school board members leave their positions. This document presents the full results of the Oregon survey and also provides a summary of the findings and an…

School board members usually have great power but little training. The literature supports the need for orientation and inservice training. A survey of a random sample of newly elected board members and superintendents in Illinois revealed a difference between the two groups in perception of training. Apparently superintendents believe that more…

Addresses public criticism aimed at school boards' failure to provide educational leadership, create long-range plans and wise policies, study curricula, and cultivate ties with other government agencies. Instead of abolishing school boards, the public should restore boards' eroding authority to carry out their increasing responsibilities. (MLH)

Reminisces about a decade of school board service, highlighting chief frustrations and accomplishments. On the minus side were problems like community and board miscommunication, chronic underfunding, sacred cows (teacher merit pay), and eroding board authority. Still, the public did appreciate the schools' importance, and staff were highly…

Special attention should be given to performance evaluation, contract renewal, and termination in the language of employment contracts for superintendents. (MD)

A school board member and a superintendent realized in their three years of working together in a Florida school district how crucial the board/superintendent relationship is to a smoothly running school district. Advises board members and superintendents to keep their roles straight and to work as a team. Offers guidelines to board presidents.…

School board members are entrusted by taxpayers to establish and maintain quality in their school systems. Unfortunately, most board members lack the experience or training necessary to face a wide range of new and daunting challenges. This book was designed to help school administrators and board members understand the principles of Total Quality…

The booklet presents Louisiana's regulations for implementing state special education legislation. Nine topic areas are addressed: (1) responsibilities of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (free appropriate public education, state advisory council); (2) responsibilities of the Superintendent of Public Elementary and Secondary…