June 18, 2018
EDCAL 5
The building blocks of an effective governance team
One in a series of articles discussing the
challenges of district leadership. This article
was authored by retired Superintendent Marc
Winger.
People often ask how I managed to
spend 18 years as superintendent of the
Newhall School District, working with over
a dozen different board members. There are
a lot of factors, but a key to longevity is the
culture and operation of the governance
team. A governance team must have unity
of purpose, the ability to transcend indi-
vidual differences, a mutual understanding
of roles, positive working relationships, and
supportive structures and processes.
Governance teams have implicit and
explicit agreements about how they will
behave with each other and with the public.
This culture can be shaped and maintained.
Two important products that serve to shape
district leadership culture are governance
team protocols and core values. Protocols
and core values, as explicit statements,
provide behavioral ground rules that enable
teams to build and maintain positive cul-
ture or shift a negative one.
Protocols
Board protocols describe how the board
wants to conduct its business, relate to each
other, and relate to staff and community.
The protocols should contain practical
guidelines and agreements that are tailored
specifically to the district and members of
the current board.
Protocol development starts with some
basic questions that governance teams can
ponder before getting to specifics: Why are
we here?; What are we proud of ?; What do
we want to accomplish?; What procedural
issues need to be clarified?; What is our
vision of the relationships and activities of a
high-functioning governance team?
I worked with boards to develop proto-
cols comprised of three basic elements that
define and build the leadership culture –
how we want to be perceived, structure a nd
process of the governance team, and roles.
Concerns about how staff and the public
perceive the governance team at meetings
and in the community can be addressed.
How should board members present
themselves in the community? How should
information garnered in informal settings
be processed? How do board members nav-
igate the relationship with other agencies?
Effective governance teams need to
discuss and agree on the structures and
processes used by the board and super-
intendent (e.g., agenda structure, visiting
schools, handling complaints or concerns
from the community, bringing up a new
idea). They can define norms for how the
board operates, does its business; length of
meetings; courtesy; and how discussions are
conducted at the dais.
Effective teams value and respect indi-
vidual roles, reach mutual agreement on the
roles of the board and administrators, and
strive to operate within them. Protocols
can also include guidance on issues that
may have caused friction between board
members, or board members and staff, such
as: Who’s the spokesperson for the board?;
Who communicates with the media?;
How do items get on the agenda?; internal
communication and sharing of informa-
tion; attendance at community events as
a representative of the board and “sharing
the space”; board member expenses and re-
imbursements; request for a specific action
by an individual board member. These will
vary with the needs of the specific gover-
nance team and can be customized to the
district’s own concerns.
Team core values
Coming to agreement on core values
defines governance priorities and sends a
powerful message to internal and external
communities. Areas for core values devel-
opment might include: fiscal responsibility;
program integrity; a quality and safe learn-
ing and working environment; curricular
and instructional continuity; or fair and
equitable compensation for all employees.
For example, my board’s core value
about program integrity was, “We have
excellent programs of all kinds – from
our well-rounded instructional efforts,
to staffing for effectiveness, to facilities
construction and maintenance. We must do
everything we can to preserve and expand
them. This is what it takes to be compre-
hensive and excellent.”
Using protocols and core values builds
and defines the quality of the governance
team. An effective governance team pres-
ents a unified front, consistent messaging,
tolerance and empathy that bring everyone
through difficult issues. Our protocols and
core values were revisited at board retreats,
around evaluation time, as new boards
were seated, or when specific issues arose.
If members of the team feel changes are
needed or issues need to be addressed, the
protocols and values can be reworked to
reflect the current team’s beliefs.
n n n
ACSA’s Targeted Assistance program can
support superintendents in strengthening
their governance teams. Targeted Assistance
Consulting Solutions is designed to enhance the
superintendent’s ability to leverage resources
to meet the goals of the Local Control and
Accountability Plan (LCAP) in two crit-
ical practice areas: Governance and Labor
Relations/Bargaining. Go to www.acsa.org/
targetedassistance for more information.
Middle school students raise awareness at Second Annual Autism Walk
Hosler Middle School students walked,
jogged, and ran to support their local
community during the school’s second
annual Autism Walk, raising $2,000 for the
Autism Speaks organization.
The My Buddy Club, which consists
of seventh-graders in special education,
reached out to their peers, teachers and par-
ents to help raise funds for autism aware-
ness – tripling the amount raised during
last year’s walk.
“It feels good to be in this club and give
back to people who need our help,” said
Hosler seventh grader Jose Garcia, who was
recognized for completing the most laps.
Autism Speaks is a national advocacy
organization that sponsors autism research
and promotes awareness and outreach
activities to meet the needs of individuals
with autism and their families.
The event included Hosler student-run
clubs selling snacks and drinks to partic-
ipants, as well as awarding goodie bags to
those who donated more than $30. Goodie
bags featured an autism awareness t-shirt,
string-backpack, temporary tattoos and
stickers.
“My Buddy Club members worked
incredibly hard to pull off this successful
event, and we are extremely proud of how
much we were able to raise,” said Brenda
Miramontes, Hosler seventh-grade special
day class teacher and Autism Walk coor-
dinator. “We cannot wait to do it all over
again next year.”
Participants who walked the most
laps and raised the most funds earned a
$25 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory.
Hosler eighth-grade English teacher Alfred
Pompey was recognized for completing
the most laps, while instructional assistant
See WALK, page 7
Coordinators of Hosler’s My Buddy Club, which consists of seventh graders in special education, leap for joy
during the second annual Autism Walk which raised $2,000 for the Autism Speaks organization.