Staying Focused on Governance

Starting a charter school is no small task. There’s curriculum to develop, policies to define, equipment, furniture, and facilities to secure. Setting up financial practices is complicated, and developing a daily schedule is far more difficult than anyone will tell you. Oh yeah. And you’ll probably need to recruit teacher and students. It’s good work, but it is definitely a lot of work.

Ironically, most charter schools find themselves beginning the school launch process long before the money starts to flow, which begs the question: who’s gonna do all that work? Well, in most cases founding board members do. And thank you for it!

Governing Boards are tasked with lots of things – upholding the vision and mission of the school, oversight of financial viability, and the overall academic achievement of the school, to name a few. First and foremost, though, a governing board is tasked with “governance,” not “management”.

These are two very different roles, and while they definitely cross over in different ways for each school and at different times during each school’s development (such as during launch) essentially, governing is the work of the Board and managing is the work of the school’s Director.

The nature of “governance” brings a group effort to strategic decision making. Governance requires consensus building, healthy debate, and honest consideration of multiple perspectives. A governing board offers a forum for community members to share concerns and for decisions to be made responsibly.

The nature of “management” is implementation, of curriculum, of teacher evaluation, of dress code and discipline. It is managing the day to day operations of the school, including enrollment, and food service, and bussing. It is juggling faculty meetings, parent meetings, and community meetings.

Board members are likely to step into management roles because they “know how to do that”, and they genuinely want to help ease the workload of an over-tasked administrator. Board members take on management roles during those first few months of school launch because there is a lot to do and there’s not a lot of money. And sometimes, board members step-in because the Director is faltering. These can be healthy reasons for a Governing Board to task individual Board Members with taking on management tasks.

Even with the best intentions, harm can be done when board members cross the line between governance and management unintentionally. It is important to talk openly about where the line lies for your school and under what circumstances it is acceptable to cross it. Develop a plan for how to address the inevitability that the line gets crossed on accident. In the end, the key to maintaining a healthy and effective governing board is all about communication.

By: Jenn Thompson