Weak Staff, Unhappy Unions, & Exiting Families

TESBM: Assume that weak boards attract weak staff. Or to be more precise, strong staff are attracted to strong leadership, and weak leaders get what’s left over. This is just as true in the classroom (the most effective teachers have options and tend to seek out strong principals) as it is in the boardroom (the most effective superintendents have options and tend to seek out strong boards). Anyone who is reading this and taking it personally, well, at least now you have your answer.

As tough as it might be to swallow, this is very good news. It suggests that attracting strong staff comes down to professional and effective board behavior. Professional behavior means the board allows the school system to function. If this isn’t true, talented senior staff are less likely to consider coming. Effective board behavior focuses on student outcomes. If a staff member cares about children, they want to be where that’s the focus. As your board becomes more professional and effective, it becomes a value add in attracting and retaining talent. Our time use evaluation can help measure both.

The board (and board members) should only be involved in evaluations of staff who report directly to the board. If a staff member who reports to your superintendent seems weak, likely keep it to yourself — but if their weak performance impacts the school system’s priorities, hold the superintendent accountable.

TESBM: One of our coaches has a saying that I initially resisted but have come to embrace: school systems get the teacher’s union they deserve. While I don’t pretend this is universally true, professional educators highly and rightly value the experience of being heard. Unfortunately, many school boards and school systems struggle at this. We have a guidance document explicitly focused on inclusive decision making — ensuring voices are authentically heard and know that they’ve been authentically heard, while preserving the superintendent and board’s authorities. If the concern is about teachers being heard, this can help.

Also keep in mind the distinction between board work (defined by the board via its Goals, Guardrails, and the legal requirements) and superintendent work (everything else). If the decision is related to board work, then the above applies; if it’s related to superintendent work, then the superintendent’s team needs to be doing the listening, not the board.

TESBM: School systems exist for one reason: to improve student outcomes. Chasing the approval of various groups of parents can’t be allowed to usurp that obligation. So the short answer is: listen regularly, stick to the Goals, and only change course when the data says a change will improve student outcomes, not just adult preferences.

If parents are leaving due to disagreement with the set priorities (ie: Goals and Guardrails) and strategies, that’s a reasonable choice for them to make for their family. But that assumes 1) the board has ensured parents know exactly what the priorities and strategies are and 2) their reason for departure stems from that knowledge. Both assumptions are worth testing.

If your board hasn’t adopted priorities in partnership with your community (ie: if you haven’t adopted SMART Goals about student outcomes) then it’s understandable that parents don’t know what you stand for. After that, the superintendent makes the progress measures clear by identifying the Interim Goals that help track progress toward the Goals. Finally, the senior staff makes the strategies clear by identifying the Goal-aligned Initiatives — the strategies aligned to accomplishing the Goals. Parents should be included in each step.

I doubt that’s the key driver of parent departure. Most of the parents who I see switch school systems do so because there is a specific service that they want or are used to that is no longer available in the manner they want. That is typically superintendent work to deal with, not board work. The board or board members attempting to favor one group of parents inevitably end up hurting more students than they help. Sometimes two paths simply diverge.

As it turns out, school board election dates matter and some argue that they should be changed.

In case you ever wondered why reading can be such a challenging skill for children to master, this helps explain why.

Total Minutes: 2hrs (120mins)

Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0hrs 0mins

Key Topics: boundary change, facility consolidation, academic framework

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