wrestle with difficult decisions and take decisive actions in
a timely manner. Recruit board members that can manage
conflict and deal with weighty challenges such as declining
enrollment, deteriorating neighborhood demographics, and
decreasing academic scores.
SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT
The school board president is a critical position, perhaps
as crucial as the head of school. Smaller schools, often in
rural areas, have access to fewer experienced leaders. Conse-
quently, when a strong board president is identified, consid-
er retaining this individual multiple terms, perhaps even
beyond specified term limitations. Conversely, mid-size and
larger schools in urban areas generally have access to several
experienced leaders. In these schools, it is generally prefer-
able to rotate the school board president. This relieves one
person from a decade or more of substantial workload, and
it lessens the risk that a single individual is too influential in
determining the course of the school.
SCHOOL BOARD POLICIES AND PRACTICES
Christian school boards need documented policies that are
adhered to and supported. These include agreement with
the Statement of Faith, signed conflict of interest state-
ments, an annual calendar of required board actions, board
member selection and terms, and an orientation for new
board members. Board practices should include an annual
meeting to review progress to previously established goals,
update the strategic plan, and assess the performance of the
head of school. Each summer, the board needs to provide the
head of school with written expectations that are reviewed
at the conclusion of the school year with a written perfor-
mance evaluation against those criteria.
ANNUAL GOALS
What kind of school do you want to be in ten years? The
school board needs to answer this question and update its
strategic plan accordingly. Then, within this context, what
are the four to six goals the school will pursue this year?
What are the resources required to achieve these goals?
What are the objective outcome measures that will allow
the board to determine if the goals were met? This exer-
cise necessitates decisions about what will not be pursued,
at least not this year. It’s important to differentiate activity
from accomplishment. Whenever feasible, the board needs
to determine desired outcomes rather than prescribe inputs.
ANNUAL REPORT CARD
Board members need standardized, recurring information
to track school performance. What is the five-year trend
of tuition losses (i.e., bad debt)? How many of the students
who take AP classes achieve qualifying scores? When was
the last time the school had a comprehensive review of their
insurance coverage? Without this practice, boards devolve
into two errors. The most prevalent tendency is for boards
to become engaged in operational matters. This strips the
head of school of authority and prevents the board from
being able to hold the head of school accountable for results.
Secondly, the board is unable to detect declines until they
become much more difficult to address. The regular use of
an annual report card helps the board focus its attention on
the consequential matters.
COMMON ERRORS
Boards often intrude into operational matters while over-
looking their strategic responsibilities. They respond to
current matters rather than setting and steering the school
toward the destination. It’s common for board members to
let their parental interests override the school’s best interests.
Boards don’t hold an annual retreat where they update the
strategic plan and provide the head of school with specific
goals and a written assessment of his or her previous year’s
performance. An especially insidious error is when boards
don’t promptly and quickly address a disruptive board
member. This frequently results in head of school turn-
over, which precludes continuity with donors, teachers, and
students. When boards do set goals, they often identify too
many. Strategic planning involves focusing scarce resources
on the most impactful priorities to drive the school forward,
which also means determining which priorities will not be
worked on the next school year.
SUMMARY
Developing an effective board takes considerable time. It’s
rarely feasible to enact abrupt changes to the number of
board members or wholesale replacement. There are no
quick fixes on the journey to becoming a high-perform-
ing Christian school. This applies to the school board as
well. Rebuilding a school board with a strong diversity of
backgrounds and high affinity for the school will take time.
Developing an annual calendar, soliciting useful financial
analytics to set tuition, establishing an annual school report
card, and conducting effective strategic planning on an
annual interval are critical responsibilities for the board. The
fruits of these best practices will be cultivated over multiple
years. Without these efforts, however, it’s rare for a school to
excel and reach long-term sustainability. ■
Ron Klein is an Executive Consultant with Renewanation and has extensive experience
consulting for domestic and international organizations. He has been an infantryman in
Vietnam, an aviation acquisition officer, the founder of an aerospace/defense services com-
pany, the head of school and board chair at Westminster Christian Academy in Huntsville,
AL, and holds an FAA commercial pilot’s license. He is an adjunct professor of economics,
the history of technology development, and geopolitics and is the author of Journey to
Excellence: What Boards and Heads of Christian Schools Need to Know to Get There.
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