Every community elects between three and seven people to oversee the schools in the community and ensure community goals are achieved.
These people are called school board members and have the obligation to set the vision and goals for the school district, adopt policies that will help them achieve their goals, hire superintendents to supervise the schools in the district and employ competent staff to run the affairs of the schools in the district.
If you are a member of the school board or a community member who intends to find out whether you or your board are effective, this article is for you. In the pages that follow, you will discover 7 signs of effective school board members, which will help you make informed decisions for the betterment of your schools.
7 Signs of an Effective School Board Member
Let’s Dive in.
Sign 1: They Establish a Clear Vision for Their School District
Effective school board members must have a clear vision for what they want to achieve in their community. They also understand the challenges and strengths of the community, and with these, they can plan how to achieve their visions.
This sign comes first because it is the most important of the 7 signs of effective school board members. The vision for the district must come from thorough studies, research, and thought, as well as a deep passion for education.
Board members should know what is lacking, what needs to be done, the best way to do it, and the resources to employ. In drafting a vision, they must also have considered future challenges and how to handle them.
Having a vision is something that should not be relegated to the background. If a person on your school board does not have a vision for the school district, he/she may never be effective.
Sign 2: Their Focus is on Students’ Achievements
One of the 7 signs of an effective school board member is that his focus is on what the students achieve during their stay in school. Effective school board members will create and implement policies that will ensure the student succeeds in all areas provided by the school.
The students are the main priority of a school board, and the board members should never forget that. Your vision will not be accomplished if your concerns are not focused on the achievements of the students within your community.
The students are the reason for the school board because if there are no students, there will neither be a school nor a school board.
Effective school board members will ensure the right curriculum is used for the right ages by qualified teachers in a well conducive environment. If this is lacking, the school board member is not effective.
Sign 3: They Work Well as a Team
A popular saying, ‘Two good heads are better than one,’ implies that it is better to work with the right person on something than to work alone.
One of the 17 signs of effective school board members is their ability to work well on a team. This involves being respectful of other board members or the superintendent and their opinions, accepting collaboration, and receiving criticism for the quality of the work they have done.
An effective school board member would not impose his own rules on everybody, he would rather allow other board members to make their inputs and work together with whatever actions the board chooses, even if it wasn’t his idea.
An effective school board member will not act on his own, and even if his team is being difficult, he will find a way to convince them and get along with everyone.
Your school board will never be effective if its members do not work well as a team. It will bring division and hinder the accomplishment of the school board’s goals.
Sign 4: They Create and Implement a Sound Budget
This is another important sign in these ‘7 signs of effective school board members’. Effective school board members make budgets based on what the students need to achieve excellence. They would ensure that personnel, time, and money are allocated according to the interests of the students to meet their needs.
They also track the expenses they have made and monitor them to ensure funds are not misused and the right results are achieved.
Effective school board members would not draw up budgets that are not feasible in the present or future. They are realistic in their thinking and budget planning.
Most times, the available funds and resources are not sufficient to achieve the goals and visions of the school board. To ensure the focus is still on students’ achievements, effective school board members must strategically use the available resources. This is another reason why they need sound budgets.
Sign 5: They Engage with the Community
Effective school board members understand that schools exist because the community exists. They also understand that the community chose them because they believed that having a school board would help them achieve their goal of providing a sound education for their children.
Effective school board members should be readily available to the community. Community members should not find it difficult to contact school board members. School board members should also ensure the community is informed of the decisions they make and the challenges that abound in the school system.
They should be able to partner with the community and take their concerns, values, and wishes into consideration when setting school policies.
They do this by making meetings open to community members, encouraging community members to bring suggestions to problems and implementing such good suggestions, attending community events, and answering questions members of the community ask regarding the work they do.
This is an important part of the 7 signs of effective school board members that must not be lacking.
Sign 6: They Advocate for the Community
School board members are the community’s voice to the outside world. They are not selfish in pushing their own agenda ahead instead of that adopted by the community.
Effective school board members actively represent the interests of their community. They advocate for their community at the local/municipal, state, and national levels.
The members are informed of proposed laws that might affect education in their communities and endeavor to make the best deals for their community at those levels. They also ensure their communities are not left out of decision-making or resource distribution.
If your school board members do not fight for the interests of your community, then they lack this sign among the 7 signs of effective school board members.
Sign 7: They Use Data to Monitor Progress
This is the seventh sign of effective school board members put forward in this article. It is the final thread that holds the previous six together.
Using data is one way to monitor the progress of the education sector in the community. Effective school board members are proficient in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting the data gathered on the activities of the schools within their community.
They use the results of this data to determine the next steps to take, either in increasing or sustaining students’ achievement, sourcing and implementing better funding opportunities, or infusing community values into students’ learning processes. They ensure all activities carried out will improve students’ learning experiences.
Now that you’ve gotten a seat on the school board, you have to do the work and be effective at it. You do not want your community to regret the decision to nominate or elect you to that position. The 7 signs discussed in this article are not innate, nor do they come to you by chance. They are learned and honed by constant practice. If you want to be effective, you have to start working on yourself and practicing these signs.
This article has also attempted to clear the doubts of any wondering community member. You can use the information here to determine the effectiveness of your school board and make informed decisions that will benefit your community’s education system.
