“Probably no relationship in a school district has a greater effect on successful education than that between a board and its superintendent (Kowalski, 2006).” The key to any successful relationship is getting to know one another. In order to do this you must begin with open and honest communication. Communication involves listening and learning as much, if not more so, than it implies talking. In developing a successful relationship with a new school board I would immediately begin setting up meetings with the individual board members so that I could get to know each of them personally in an effort to build both social and human capital. These meetings would be held at each board member’s convenience… preferably at a meal time and at the restaurant of their choice. This will give me a better idea of each member’s preference of time and location of availability for future reference. During each of these meetings there are several items I would ensure that we covered:
1. What history of the school district do they feel I need to know to help the district be successful in its efforts to increase student achievement?
2. What is the board member most proud of about their school system and in their service to the school system?
3. What do they feel is the most pressing issue facing the school board?
4. What is their vision for the district?
From these answers I would hope to glean each board member’s level of commitment to the district as a whole and/or to their specific community within the district. My first “meal meeting” would be with the board president in deference to his/her position. Thereafter I would try to set up meetings with each board member based on their years of service on the board.
A school board retreat...
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...ogan talk about “power-with rather than power-over” in chapter 3 of the book The Politics of Leadership (2005). Kowlaski states “that the most effective superintendents are those who work with their board members to build a team that clarifies purpose and makes decisions based on data (Kowalski, 2006).” My goal is to create a collaborative team that works toward the best interest of each student in our district. By focusing on the success of the student we ensure the success of us all. There truly is power in numbers when the numbers are all working together.
Works Cited
Fusarelli, L. D. & Petersen, G. J. (2005). The Politics of Leadership: Superintendents and
School Boards in Changing Times. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Kowalski, T. J. (2006). The School Superintendent: Theory, Practice, and Cases. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Connecting people to the success of the district is one matter, but asking them to support it financially is another. The district is growing in size and is in need of new facilities and internal academic structures to support the growth. As the district continues to grow she is challenged with ensuring that the schools continue to interact with each other and do not return to the independent silos they were when she arrived. Ms. Hall realizes that she is the internal and external face of the district. She takes that very seriously and therefore, tires to view challenges as opportunities and successes as building blocks and
The Chicago Public School District is the third largest school district in the United States educating around 400,000 students. Back in 1987 CPS was named “the worst in the nation”(). Moving its way up to the top, since then, CPS had completely rebuilt its structure, appointing leaders and reformed ideas. Now, with a deficit projected to be around $1 billion CPS is headed back in a downwards path, money being the biggest issue. The United States Federal Government already has financial issues of its own, which makes dealing with a CPS budget a problem within a problem. CPS, with a $6.6 billion FY2013 budget, is now taking a new strategy based upon a flawed “Student-Based Budgeting System”. The Board of Education is also struggling to solve the debt they have reached, and with their FY2014 plans this year’s budget book is argued to be “one of the most poorly written budgets”(). The way CPS is handling their budget is not benefiting the lives and education of students and is leaving CPS at a loss with giant financial issues.
Local school boards must know and completely understand the basis of legal responsibilities and restrictions. These responsibilities and restriction include overseeing the operation of local public schools. The school board is held accountable for creation of policies, rules and regulations that provides guidance for the administration and operation of schools. The school board is perceived as a corporate body, which means an individual member of the board do not have more power than the overall power that is given to the board by the legislature. Therefore, individual school board members do not have the freedom to formulate policy, or act self-sufficiently of the school board as a whole. School board members are known to be public school officers, and are given powers by the legislature that help them fulfill their responsibilities.
The role of school boards “is to establish a vision for the community's schools that reflects a consensus of the board, community and district staff.” Although this is their main purpose, they also have to balance a district budget, create a district-yearly calendar, negotiate contract, construction, and approve district curriculum. (Stover 1) Although it might seem harsh to argue with school boards even though they do a lot, it is their job. They were appointed to lead and better the community, guide our children. If they are not mentally ready to be a leader, then why run for a school board member, the focus should be on the children, how to better education for them, and how to make sure they get the most out of every day coming to school.
As a leader candidate, I can understand the challenges and multiplicity of complications that administrators must face each day. However, I will not accept any remote possibility that the students must be affected by some flaws of the school organization. We all as leaders, must be strategic with people, time, and money to guide our students towards an academic success.
Marzano, R. D. (2009, February). High Leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership. Educational Leadership: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development , pp. 62-68.
By having school board meetings, it helps to see what the school’s needs. This is very important for the reason that this may be the only time that a concern parent or person voice might be heard. From this meeting, it was learned that the school board members are willing to help people that have concerns. An example, of this, was when the concern Pre-K parent was worried that she heard that Pre-K has been just a daycare. However, someone from the board mentioned to her that she would personally go with the parent the next day and show her how Pre-K is running during the day. This made the parent so happy because her concerns were being met. I have learned that school board members look out for the students and that they are the number one source that community members should go to if they have a concern or a suggestion to better their children’s
Tost, L., Gino, F., & Larrick, R. P. (2013). When power makes others speechless: the negative impact of leader power on team performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 56(5), 1465-1486. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0180
The staff is committed to their school and they are trying to improve it as possible.
President Newman’s plan for culling struggling students in order to improve the university’s retention rate received mixed responses: some backed his decision wholeheartedly, while others refused to submit to his demands. As the university president, Newman had the most positional power at Mount St. Mary’s. In setting an agenda and working toward its fruition, Newman was not only exercising this authority but actualizing his power within the institution (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The action plan proposed by Newman was, in short, a literal power move. This implies, however, that Newman was operating within a simple structure model of organizations and institutions.
With the passage of NCLB, many school reform efforts have been initiated using top-down model in which each school leaders have been charged with initiating bold administrative changes to address the legislation. With the number of leadership theories and models, researchers have become interested in studying those to determine which might bring forth the most significant results for leading such change. Due to the lack of highly qualified administrators and the increasing demands for administrators, Bush, O’Brien & Spangler (2005) studied a program, the Southern Tier Leadership Academy, a collaborative of the New York Education Department. The study included three separate cohorts who completed an eight month program. Whereas, Somech (2005) chose to investigate directive and participative leadership approaches, and which would more significantly impact school effectiveness. Perhaps Somech’s reflect Scherer’s (2009, p.7) understandings as described in Educational Leadership, ‘broom-wielding leadership can indeed be beneficial’ as is putting advocates into positions of power and influence and building teams, both of which are seemingly contrasting opposites.
This a newspaper article has information on how a school has had achievements due to professional development and other community involved activities.
Usually, the belief is that the managers, administrators, presidents or even the supervisors, have the greatest source of power, because they are at the top of the ladder in the hierarchy of the organization. The reality is that they need
The meeting began when the school board members entered the large group instruction room and took their seats at a panel table angled to the side of the audience. The school board consists of nine elected members from the community. The members are as follows: Paul Ridley (President), Pat Vigliotta (Vice President), Helen Cumminskey (Secretary), Carla Manion ( Asst. Secretary), Timothy Bean (Treasurer), David Feely (Board Member), Keith Hatch (Board Member), Shane Oschman (Board Member), and Joseph Troutman (Board Member). Three members of the board were missing; however because of where the seats were located I could not see who was missing. Also, the member did not introduce themselves and left before people could address them.
Collaborative leaders have a positive impact in schools. Even though principals are responsible in leading the whole school, those that have the ability to inspire their teachers to follow and share his or her vision, will make a positive impact. Interaction between leader and teacher is necessary to make positive changes. Allowing teachers to participate openly and respectfully creates trust and confidence. Teachers that trust their principals and feel are taken into consideration will work harder to meet and exceed expectations. Honesty, communication, confidence and respect between leader and teacher will lead to great team work.