Policy Type: Board-Superintendent Relations
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Board-Superintendent Relations
3.0
Global Board-Superintendent Connection
3.1
Unity of Control
3.2
Accountability of the Superintendent
3.3
Delegation to the Superintendent
3.4
Monitoring Superintendent Performance
Policy Title: 3.0. Global Board-Superintendent Relations
The board’s
sole official connection to the operational organization, its achievements, and
its conduct will be through the Superintendent of schools.
Policy Title: 3.1. Unity of Control
Only
officially passed motions of the board are binding on the Superintendent.
Accordingly:
1. Decisions
or instructions of individual board members, officers, or committees are not
binding on the Superintendent except in rare instances when the board has
specifically authorized such exercise of authority.
2. In
the case of board members or committees requesting information or assistance
without board authorization, the Superintendent can refuse such requests that
require, in the Superintendent’s opinion, a material amount of staff time or
funds or is disruptive.
Policy Title: 3.2. Accountability of the Superintendent
The
Superintendent is the board’s only link to operational achievement and conduct,
so that all authority and accountability of staff, as far as the board is
concerned, is considered the authority and accountability of the
Superintendent. Accordingly:
1. The
board will never give instructions to persons who report directly or indirectly
to the Superintendent.
2. The
board will not evaluate, either formally or informally, any staff other than
the Superintendent.
3. The
board will view Superintendent performance as
identical to organizational performance so that organizational accomplishment
of board-stated Ends and avoidance of board-proscribed means will be viewed as
successful Superintendent performance.
Policy Title: 3.3. Delegation to the Superintendent
The board will instruct the
Superintendent through written policies that prescribe the organizational Ends
to be achieved and describe organizational situations and actions to be
avoided, allowing the Superintendent to use any reasonable interpretation of these
policies. Accordingly:
1. The board will
develop policies instructing the Superintendent to achieve specified results
for specified recipients at a specified cost. These policies will be developed
systematically from the broadest, most general level to more defined levels and
will be called Ends policies. All issues that are not Ends issues as defined
here are means issues.
2. The board will
develop policies that limit the latitude the Superintendent may exercise in
choosing the organizational means. These policies will be developed
systematically from the broadest, most general level to more defined levels,
and they will be called Executive Limitations policies. The board will never
prescribe organizational means delegated to the Superintendent.
3. As long as the
Superintendent uses any reasonable interpretation of the board’s Ends and
Executive Limitations policies, the Superintendent is authorized to establish
all further procedures, make all decisions, take all actions, establish all
practices, and pursue all activities. Such decisions of the Superintendent
shall have full force and authority as if decided by the board.
4. The board may
change its Ends and Executive Limitations policies, thereby shifting the
boundary between board and Superintendent domains. By
doing so, the board changes the latitude of choice given to the Superintendent.
But as long as any particular delegation is in place, the board will respect
and support the Superintendent’s choices.
Policy
Title: 3.4. Monitoring Superintendent Performance
Systematic
and rigorous monitoring of Superintendent job
performance will be solely against the expected Superintendent job outputs:
organizational accomplishment of board policies on Ends and organizational
operation within the boundaries established in board policies on Executive
Limitations. Accordingly:
1. Monitoring is
simply to determine the degree to which board policies are being met.
Information that does not do this will not be considered to be monitoring
information.
2. The board will
acquire monitoring information by one or more of three methods: (a) by internal
report, in which the Superintendent discloses interpretations and compliance
information to the board; (b) by external report, in which an external,
disinterested third party selected by the board assesses compliance with board
policies; or (c) by direct board inspection, in which a designated member or
members of the board assess compliance with the appropriate policy criteria.
3. In every case,
the board will judge (a) the reasonableness of the Superintendent’s
interpretation and (b) whether data demonstrate accomplishment of the
interpretation.
4. In every case,
the standard for compliance shall be any reasonable Superintendent
interpretation of the board policy being monitored. The board is the final
arbiter of reasonableness but will always judge with a “reasonable person” test
rather than with interpretations favored by board members or by the board as a
whole.
5. All policies
that instruct the Superintendent will be monitored at a frequency and by a
method chosen by the board. The board can monitor any policy at any time by any
method but will ordinarily depend on a routine schedule.
|
Policy |
Method |
Frequency |
Month |
|
Ends |
Internal |
Annually |
Feb. |
|
Global
Executive Constraint |
Internal |
Annually |
Mar. |
|
Treatment
of Students and Parents/Guardians |
Internal |
Annually |
May |
|
Treatment
of Staff |
Internal |
Annually |
May |
|
Financial
Condition |
Internal |
Quarterly |
Jan.,
Apr., July, Oct. |
|
|
External |
Annually |
Sept. |
|
Financial
Planning |
Internal |
Quarterly |
Feb.,
May, Aug., Nov. |
|
Emergency
Superintendent Succession |
Internal |
Annually |
Oct. |
|
Asset
Protection |
Internal |
Annually |
Nov. |
|
Compensation
|
Internal |
Annually |
Nov. |
|
|
External |
Biannually |
Sept.
of odd-numbered years |
|
Communication
and Support |
Direct
inspection |
Annually |
July |
Policy Title:
4.0. Global Governance Commitment
The purpose
of the board, on behalf of [identify the ownership here], is to see to it that
[name of organization here] (a) achieves appropriate results for students at an
appropriate cost (as specified in board Ends policies) and (b) avoids
unacceptable actions and situations (as prohibited in board Executive
Limitations policies).
Note: The "moral ownership" identity is to be
inserted in the blank provided. This could be "the general public,"
"the people of Montgomery County," "the membership," "the
citizens of San Francisco," or other such base of ownership.
Policy Title: 4.1. Governing Style
The board
will govern lawfully, observing the principles of the Policy Governance model,
with an emphasis on (a) outward vision rather than an internal preoccupation,
(b) encouragement of diversity in viewpoints, (c) strategic leadership more
than administrative detail, (d) clear distinction of board and superintendent
roles, (e) collective rather than individual decisions, (f) future rather than
past or present, and (g) proactivity rather than
reactivity. Accordingly:
1. The board will
cultivate a sense of group responsibility. The board, not the staff, will be
responsible for excellence in governing. The board will be the initiator of
policy, not merely a reactor to staff initiatives. The board will not use the
expertise of individual members to substitute for the judgment of the board,
although the expertise of individual members may be used to enhance the
understanding of the board as a body.
2. The board will
direct, control, and inspire the organization through the careful establishment
of broad written policies reflecting the board's values and perspectives. The
board's major policy focus will be on the intended long-term impacts outside
the staff organization(Ends), not on the
administrative or programmatic means of attaining those effects.
3. The board will
enforce upon itself whatever discipline is needed to govern with excellence.
Discipline will apply to matters such as attendance, preparation for meetings,
policymaking principles, respect of roles, and ensuring the continuance of
governance capability. Although the board can change its Governance Process
policies at any time, it will scrupulously observe those currently in force.
4. Continual board
development will include orientation of new board members in the board's
Governance Process and periodic board discussion of process improvement.
5. The board will
allow no officer, individual, or committee of the board to hinder or serve as
an excuse for not fulfilling group obligations.
6. The board will
monitor and discuss the board's process and performance at each meeting.
Self-monitoring will include comparison of board activity and discipline to
policies in the Governance Process and Board-Management Delegation categories.
Policy Title: 4.2. Board Job Products
Specific job
outputs of the board, as an informed agent of the ownership, are those that
ensure appropriate organizational performance.
Accordingly,
the board has direct responsibility to create
1. The
linkage between the ownership and the operational organization
2. Written
governing policies that realistically address the broadest levels of all
organizational decisions and situations
A. Ends:
organizational products, impacts, benefits, outcomes, recipients, and their
relative worth (what good for which recipients at what cost)
B. Executive
limitations: constraints on executive authority that establish the prudence and
ethics boundaries within which all executive activity and decisions must take
place
C. Governance
process: specification of how the board conceives, carries out, and monitors
its own task
D. Board-management
delegation: how power is delegated and its proper use; the CEO’s role,
authority, and accountability
3. Assurance
of successful organizational performance on Ends and Executive Limitations.
Note:
A board can set annual targets about integrity or completeness in these areas
either by expanding this policy or establishing a separate policy titled, for
example, “annual governance plan.” Other job "products" of the board
that may be appropriate for some organizations may include “legislative
change,” or other outputs for which the board chooses to hold itself directly
responsible. Be sure to include any decision areas that Executive Limitations
policies have denied to the Superintendent.
4. Advocate for legislative change
which positively impacts public education
In addition the board has taken on the
following non-governing output(s):
1. Negotiating union contracts. [if the board decides to do this]
Policy Title: 4.3. Agenda Planning
To accomplish
its job products with a governance style consistent with board policies, the
board will follow an annual agenda that (a) completes a reexploration
of Ends policies annually and (b) continually improves board performance
through board education and enriched input and deliberation.
1. The cycle will
conclude each year on the last day of ______ so that administrative planning
and budgeting can be based on accomplishing a one-year segment of the board’s
most recent statement of long-term Ends.
2. The cycle will
start with the board’s development of its agenda for the next year.
A. Consultations
with selected groups in the ownership, or other methods of gaining ownership
input, will be determined and arranged in the first quarter, to be held during
the balance of the year.
B. Governance
education and education related to Ends determination (presentations by
futurists, demographers, advocacy groups, staff, and so on) will be arranged in
the first quarter, to be held during the balance of the year.
C. A board member
may recommend or request an item for board discussion by submitting the item to
the Chair no later than five days before the agenda is to be warned.
3. Throughout the
year, the board will attend to consent agenda items as expeditiously as
possible.
a. An individual
board member can remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion [This conflicts with the governing style
policy and allows one person to have the ability to determine what the board
discusses, rather than the majority of the board.]
or
a. Only the
majority of the board can remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion
[This is consistent with the governing
style policy.]
4. Superintendent
monitoring will be included on the agenda if monitoring reports show policy
violations, if policy criteria are to be debated, or if the board, for any
reason, chooses to debate amending its monitoring schedule.
5. Superintendent
remuneration will be decided after a review of monitoring reports received in
the last year during the month of _________.
Policy Title: 4.4. Chair’s Role
The Chair, a
specially empowered member of the board, ensures the integrity of the board's
process and, secondarily, occasionally represents the board to outside parties.
Accordingly:
1. The assigned
result of the Chair’s job is that the board behaves consistently with its own
rules and those legitimately imposed on it from outside the organization.
A.
Meeting discussion content will consist
solely of issues that clearly belong to the board to decide or to monitor
according to board policy.
B.
Information that is for neither
monitoring performance nor board decisions will be avoided or minimized and
always noted as such.
C.
Deliberation will be fair, open, and
thorough but also timely, orderly, and kept to the point.
2. The authority
of the Chair consists in making decisions that fall within topics covered by
board policies on Governance Process and Board-Management Delegation, with the
exception of (a) employment or termination of a Superintendent and (b) areas
where the board specifically delegates portions of this authority to others.
The Chair is authorized to use any reasonable interpretation of the provisions in
these policies.
A. The Chair is
empowered to chair board meetings with all the commonly accepted powers of that
position, such as ruling and recognizing.
B. The Chair has
no authority to make decisions about policies created by the board within Ends
and Executive Limitations policy areas. Therefore, the Chair has no authority
to supervise or direct the Superintendent.
C. The Chair may
represent the board to outside parties in announcing board-stated positions and
in stating chair decisions and interpretations within the area delegated to her
or him.
D. The Chair may
delegate this authority but remains accountable for its use.
Policy Title: 4.5. Board Members' Code
of Conduct
The board
commits itself and its members to ethical, businesslike, and lawful conduct,
including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum when acting as board
members.
1. Members
must demonstrate loyalty to the ownership, unconflicted
by loyalties to staff, other organizations, or any personal interests as
Parents/Guardians.
2. VT
REQUIRED POLICY INCORPORATED HERE
Members must avoid conflict of interest with respect to their fiduciary
responsibility.
A. There will be
no self-dealing or business by a member with the organization. Members will
annually disclose their involvements with other organizations or with vendors
and any associations that might be reasonably seen as representing a conflict
of interest.
B. When the board
is to decide on an issue about which a member has an unavoidable conflict of
interest, that member shall absent herself or himself
without comment not only from the vote but also from the room during any
deliberation.
C. Board members
will not use their board position to obtain employment in the organization for themselves, family members, or close associates. A board
member who applies for employment must first resign from the board.
3. Board members
may not attempt to exercise individual authority over the organization.
A. Members'
interaction with the Superintendent or with staff must recognize the lack of
authority vested in individuals except when explicitly authorized by the board.
B. Members'
interactions with the public, the press, or other entities must recognize the
same limitation and the inability of any board member to speak for the board
except to repeat explicitly stated board decisions.
C. Except for
participation in board deliberation about whether the Superintendent has
achieved any reasonable interpretation of board policy, members will not
express individual judgments of performance of employees and volunteers or the
Superintendent.
4. Members will
respect the confidentiality appropriate to issues of a sensitive nature.
5. Members will be
properly prepared for board deliberation.
6. Members will
support the legitimacy and authority of the final determination of the board on
any matter, irrespective of the member’s personal position on the issue.
Policy Title: 4.6. Board Committee
Principles
Board
committees, when used, will be assigned so as to reinforce the wholeness of the
board’s job and so as never to interfere with delegation from board to
Superintendent.
Accordingly:
1. Board
committees are to help the board do its job, not to help or advise the staff.
Committees ordinarily will assist the board by preparing policy alternatives
and implications for board deliberation. In keeping with the board’s broader
focus, board committees will normally not have direct dealings with current
staff operations.
2. Board
committees may not speak or act for the board except when formally given such
authority for specific and time-limited purposes. Expectations and authority
will be carefully stated in order not to conflict with authority delegated to
the Superintendent.
3. Board
committees cannot exercise authority over staff. Because the Superintendent
works for the full board, he or she will not be required to obtain the approval
of a board committee before an executive action.
4. Board
committees are to avoid over identification with organizational parts rather
than the whole. Therefore, a board committee that has helped the board create
policy on some topic will not be used to monitor organizational performance on
that same subject.
5. Committees will
be used sparingly and ordinarily in an ad hoc capacity.
6. This policy
applies to any group that is formed by board action, whether or not it is
called a committee and regardless of whether the group includes board members.
It does not apply to committees formed under the authority of the
Superintendent.
Policy Title: 4.7. Board Committee
Structure
A committee
is a board committee only if its existence and charge come from the board,
regardless of whether board members sit on the committee. The only board
committees are those that are set forth in this policy. Unless otherwise
stated, a committee ceases to exist as soon as its task is complete.
Note: This is not a list of suggested committees but
rather an illustration of how legitimate board committees should be described.
1. Ownership
Linkages Committee
A. Product: Options and implications for
board consideration with respect to the Ends decisions to be made by the
board—by no later than ______ XX, 200X.
B. Authority: To incur costs of no more
than $1,000 in direct charges and no more than fifty hours of staff time.
2. Legislative
Change Advisory Committee
A. Product: Options and implications for
board consideration regarding long-term legislative or regulatory effects to be
achieved by the board—by no later than __________ XX, 200X.
B. Authority: To incur costs of no more
than $3,000 in direct charges and no more than seventy hours of staff time.
3. Nominating
Committee
A. Product: Properly screened potential
board members—by no later than _______ XX of each year.
B. Authority: To incur costs of no more
than $1,000 in direct charges and no more than twenty hours of staff time per
annum.
4. Audit Committee
A. Product: Work with auditor to
familiarize auditor with Policy Governance Model and applicable policies. To
ensure future audits will provide board with information required in policies
by no later than _______________.
B. Authority: To incur no more than $1,000
in direct charges and use of no more than twenty person-hours of staff time.
5. Board
Orientation/Development Committee
A.
Product
B.
Authority
6. Ends Committee
A. Product
B. Authority
Policy Title: 4.8. Governance Investment
Because poor
governance costs more than learning to govern well, the board will invest in
its governance capacity. Accordingly:
1. Board skills,
methods, and supports will be sufficient to ensure governing with excellence.
A. Training and
retraining will be used liberally to orient new members and candidates for
membership, as well as to maintain and increase existing member skills and
understandings.
B. Outside
monitoring assistance will be arranged so that the board can exercise confident
control over organizational performance. This includes, but is not limited to,
financial audits.
C. Outreach
mechanisms will be used as needed to ensure the board’s ability to listen to
owner viewpoints and values.
2. Costs will be
prudently incurred, though not at the expense of endangering the development
and maintenance of superior capability.
A. Up to
$____________ in fiscal year ____________ for training, including attendance at
conferences and workshops.
B. Up to $
____________ in fiscal year ____________ for auditing and other third-party
monitoring of organizational performance.
C. Up to $
____________ in fiscal year ____________ for surveys, focus groups, opinion
analyses, and meeting costs.
3. The board will
establish its cost of governance budget for the next fiscal year during the
month of _________.