Despite its shortcomings, the interview remains the most direct screening tool available to board members seeking a new superintendent. Interviewers should not use the interview to evaluate competency nor should they confuse glibness with competency or be rigid about time. Boards should conduct only one interview daily and allow opportunities for…

Because child abusers can be found everywhere (even in schools) and children do not easily report abuse, board members are advised to know the law, stay informed about preventive programs, lobby for teacher education changes, foster inservice programs, develop firm policies, educate children, and check employment references. (MLH)

The ability to persuade others is an essential skill for board members and other public education advocates. To get the message across, board members should choose exciting material; use a key-word outline; use movement, posture, and space appropriately; make eye contact with members of the audience; and show urgency of tone and speaking manner.…

Although school-based management will not solve the problems facing public secondary schools, it does decentralize, simplify, and localize decision making that can lead to improved classroom instruction. To achieve this goal, boards of education and teacher unions must agree to suspend or revise negotiated agreements and board policies to allow…

According to Robert L. Simonds, president and founder of the National Association of Christian Educators, public education is a stronghold of the devil that promulgates atheism and immorality. The key to controlling education is to establish Christian Parents' Committees in all 15,700 school districts across the U.S. and elect members to local…

Inservice workshops employing simulation exercises can effectively provide school board training. Such training encourages board members to view problems from numerous perspectives, develop confidence, and build camaraderie. Problem-solving simulation steps are outlined, and six sample scenarios are offered for consideration. (MLH)

Examines New Jersey school boards and investigates what factors affect whether boards operate according to a professional or political model and whether professional and political boards differ in their governance role. The majority of school boards adopt the professional orientation. However, board influence depends primarily on board acceptance…

Most inservice education programs support a technological approach to education that is indifferent to values of the mind and the democratic process. The technological mindset is evinced by these programs' passion for incoherent details, their emphasis on decontextualized techniques, and their stoic indifference to seminal ideas. A machine cannot…

Increasingly, districts are using deferred compensation arrangements as part of the superintendent's total compensation package. Superintendents can fund such plans by purchasing tax-deferred annuities or single-premium life insurance policies. The latter seems a better plan for both the school board and the superintendent's family. (MLH)

Some superintendents and school board members tout early retirement plans as a way to reduce school personnel costs and offer attractive employee benefit at the same time. However, such plans are not always a sound idea. Potential benefits depend on a district's financial outlook, its staffing structure, and its goals for students. (MLH)

Describes a California School Boards Association project to describe each school board function and develop a comprehensive board training curriculum based on these descriptions. Effective board members clearly understand their duties and the importance of teamwork, support district programs and staff, respect the superintendent's role, establish…

School boards can learn some lessons from effective teacher evaluation and from teachers' judgment of student performance. Under a "rubric" approach, the board determines specific district goals and bases the superintendent's evaluation on whether he or she is leading the system in that direction. Board feedback is essential. (MLH)

During collective bargaining, board members and administrators make common mistakes: allowing the board to negotiate; failing to recognize the beginning of negotiations, authorize the negotiating team, or learn teachers' bargaining language; circumventing the bargaining team; waving red flags; negotiating every union demand; and accepting…

School districts have a variety of practices in their public-engagement portfolios, some often counterproductive. Offers school boards suggestions for developing policies to engage the public in meaningful ways. Includes a case study that describes five-step process for developing a set of parameters to maximize public engagement. (PKP)

This article describes the details about a local school board meeting in a suburban high school auditorium outside Philadelphia. The district superintendent had committed suicide a few days earlier in the midst of hearings about his alleged misdeeds on the job. In this article, the author assesses what measures could have been taken to avoid such…