We have all had our fair share of Doctor Phil in our lives. Yet, even he would say enough is enough!
This past Tuesday from 12:30 pm until 3:30 pm, the Greene County BOE had yet another retreat. This time the retreat was on "Board Relations".
A sweet lady, Zenda Bowie, from GSBA presented a retreat on board relations to GCBOE. The retreat topic was focused on School Board Member "roles and responsibilities". In my 6 years serving on the Board, I think we have had this same retreat at least 3 times.
Mrs. Bowie made several key and relevant points that all Board members should adhere to. One of her statements to our Board of particular interest was this...."Are your questions designed to seek information or call someone out?"
She also emphasized that ALL children in the Greene County Public school system are "OUR" children. While I agree with this statement, I would add that we should be concerned about providing the best educational services to ALL children, whether public, private or home schooled, especially special needs children!
A few other tidbits Mrs. Bowie shared are as follows:
Your colleagues on the Board should not be surprised by your vote. They need to understand your point of view.
Superintendent can do a lot of things if Board supports him.
Board members are expected to present questions to Superintendent ahead of time.
Your tone when asking a "Gotcha" question says you are not expecting Superintendent to have an answer.
Every member should come prepared.
One member has no authority.
At times of contention, direct comments to Board Chair. This helps avoid issue becoming personal.
If you are constantly voting NO, it points to a larger problem.
Community is looking to Board members to receive information. Develop communication tools, such as emails and voice mails. [I chose a blog format.]
The Strategic Plan belongs to the District. It does not belong to the Board.
The Superintendent is in charge of Operations
After her presentation, a few Board members lamented about not being a positive functioning Board, inferring it is because we don't always agree. I asked the Board, "What does a positive functioning Board look like to them?" Does it mean that everyone is in agreement all the time, and there is no room for constructive debate or deliberation on issues that we don't agree upon? This is not part of the democratic process. I pointed out to them that dissent and disagreement is part of the democratic process. It took a room full of men, nearly 240 years ago, arguing and disagreeing to come up with two of the most important documents forming the foundation of the democratic process in this country. The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of America did not come about because everyone agreed all the time on everything.
However, there are rules of decorum in a debate. As Board members we should stay focused on the topic at hand and not allow the deliberations to get personal as they have in the not so distant past. I find it interesting that over the past few years there have been attacks on my children in board meetings, letters to the editor by a Board member's spouse personally attacking me, and picketing signs with my name on them. These actions are counter productive and only contribute to divisiveness within the Board.
I believe this retreat was full of wonderful information on how we as a Board can work together as a team. Also, this time there were several community members taking notes about Board Roles and Responsibilities. Having others outside ourselves, give constructive opinions and advice, can only help each Board member with the question Zenda asked.......
What message does our School Board meeting send?
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