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What Happens With All the Agenda Items That Currently Take Up So Much of the Board’s Time?

• The Superintendent decides within policy and keeps the Board informed but without seeking motions or approval

• Consent agenda is used for Board votes that are required by regulation or by-laws, but which the Board no longer considers its work

• Monitoring adherence to policy on a regular basis

Content of Board Meetings

Once Ends policies are in place the board can:

• Evaluate the allocation of organizational resources

• Meet with ownership representation

• Meet with partners

• Establish criteria by which you can measure success

• Adjust ends statements in light of changes in the external environment

Once Means policies are in place the board can:

• Monitor organizational compliance

• Assess areas of redundancy and potential for gaps

• Assess the quality of your own governance and areas for improvement

Information Boards Need

1. Information needed to govern effectively

2. Information needed for monitoring Superintendent or board performance

3. Information that is incidental but necessary.This type is neither used to make board level decisions nor to monitor Superintendent performance

Types of Information

1. Decision Information

Information the Board receives in order to make decisions

Used solely to make Board decisions

Not judgmental - no measure of performance involved

Is prospective in that it looks to the future

Examples:

1. To create a budget policy from several options
2. To establish the qualities it desire in a new Superintendent
3. To determine the future direction of the organization

2. Monitoring Information

Information used to gauge whether previous Board directions have been satisfied

Received from the Superintendent

Judgmental - it intentionally measures performance against previously determined criteria

Retrospective in that it looks to the past

Answers the question - Did we do what we said we were going to do?

1. Financial condition
2. Board and Superintendent evaluations

3. Incidental (FYI) Information

Information that is used neither to make decisions nor to monitor previous Board directions

Information received lacks criteria against which to judge

Too often unnecessary, occasionally useful

Examples:

1. Staff reports on activities for which there is no established Board criteria
2. State, national, or global trends that may lead to better policymaking

Sample Perpetual Agenda

I.	Call to Order- Review Focus of the Meeting
II.	Minutes Approval
III.	Board Policies
IV.	Monitoring confirmation
V.	Ownership Linkage
VI.	Ends
VII.	Incidental Information
VIII.	Consent Agenda
IX.	Board Evaluation
X.	Adjournment