ABSTRACT
Learn how to turn your school board members into heroes by helping them make smart, worthwhile decisions that they will deserve to brag about. In this much-needed book, Ryan Donlan and Todd Whitaker offer practical strategies to help superintendents develop better working relationships with their boards. You’ll discover how to:
- reconnect board members to the real purpose of education, despite their agendas
- work with your board more effectively during meetings and at times in between
- guide board members into more productive roles when they overreach beyond policymaking
- connect and communicate with board members regardless of personality
- encourage board members to play to their strengths
- start each school year undefeated and know when it is time to move on.
Each chapter contains hero-making tips to help you get started. The book also includes a special feature on board personalities and the Process Communication Model® (PCM), a method that will make it easier to avoid miscommunication with board members. With this practical book, you'll be able to overcome the challenges of the superintendent–board relationship so that your board can make better decisions for those who matter most—the students.
Chapter 1 – The Hero Maker
Chapter 2 – Constituencies
Chapter 3 – The Board of Education
Chapter 4 – The Superintendent as The Shield
Chapter 5 – The Care and Feeding of Board Members
Chapter 6 – Board Meetings
Chapter 7 – Between Board Meetings
Chapter 8 – Advancing by Retreating
Chapter 9 – Board Personalities: The "I" in Team
Chapter 10 – Board Personalities: Doors and the Dance of Drama
Chapter 11 – Starting Undefeated
Chapter 12 – The Tour of Duty
Epilogue: What Next? Toward "Difference-making"
Special Feature: Board Personalities and the Process Communication Model® (PCM)
