Board-Savvy Superintendent
Efficient Management of the Board Meeting
BY NICHOLAS D. CARUSO JR./School Administrator, May 2021

YOUR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING goes for 4½ hours, but you notice little substantive work was actually accomplished.

Board meetings reflect a lot about the leadership in a school district. Well-run, purposeful meetings have a direct impact on how well the district is governed. I often hear complaints that board meetings run excruciatingly long, often without direction, and sometimes appear chaotic. Meetings of this nature will not help improve the achievement of the students in the school district and won’t engender a feeling of success by staff or build confidence in the community.

What do board meetings look like in your district? Do they start on time? Do your staff members offer concise reports and presentations, or do they ramble? Worse, are you sometimes surprised by what they say in their presentations?

Does the board accomplish the work that was articulated in the meeting agenda?

Controllable Matters

Many reasons for ineffective board meetings are out of the superintendent’s control, but there are some things you can do to improve their success. For the purposes of this column, I am going to leave out personal behavior at board meetings, which is a lengthy discussion in itself.

Start with attention to the meeting agenda. The agenda sets the stage and the tone for your meetings. The agenda can determine the flow of business and the success (or not) of your meeting. Do your meetings focus the board on governance issues or management?

Pay attention to timing and don’t overload an agenda. I encourage board members and superintendents to ask the question, “Does this item have to be a board decision?” Perhaps the board would be better served having a longer policy discussion once and then let the administration make the operational decisions related to that policy from then on.

Meeting Purpose

The primary purpose of your meeting is to get the work done, but you also use the meeting to inform the community about what is happening in the district. You need to balance one need against the other, but make sure the work is accomplished.

If an issue that comes to the board in public comment threatens to take up a lot of meeting time, schedule a separate public hearing to allow the meeting agenda to be completed.

Discussion should stay focused on agenda topics. I suggest putting time limits for each topic right on the agenda. You can’t necessarily control the board members’ comments or questions, but you can control the presentation the board gets. Consider a dry run with your administrators before a meeting to make sure the proper material is covered. I’ve also seen presentation templates where a consistent set of questions are expected to be answered in every proposal. This can help focus the staff and make it easier to help the board reach consensus.

Set an ending time on the agenda with the understanding the board will adjourn at that time.

Bring recommendations to the board only after you have prepared them for the decision. If you are introducing a new topic, especially something controversial, give the board some time to understand it.

Board Chair Help

Keep meetings goal-driven. Where possible, link agenda items to district goals. Help board members understand the big picture better by making those connections.

Keep meetings focused on policy where possible. Keep the board operating at the “macro” level.

Think of your meeting like a symphony. The superintendent is the orchestrator, planning the flow of music, crafting the performance movement by movement. The chair is the conductor actually directing the multiple parts of the performance. If both do their job correctly, the concert goes off without a hitch.

Help the chair develop skills to move the meeting along. Get him or her a simplified copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. If they need help, suggest sources of professional development or ask your state school boards association for help. They can help you facilitate a board retreat to discuss how to make meetings more effective.

NICK CARUSO is senior staff associate for field service and technology with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education in Wethersfield, Conn.