VSBA From the Boardroom Jan 2010

8/14/2019 VSBA From the Boardroom Jan 2010

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Vermont School Boards Association January 2010

Also in this issue...

Roberts Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Reforming No Child Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Board-Superintendent Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

VSBIT continued on page 3

ByDavid Cyprian

BUDGET continued on page 8

By the time you read these pages, nearly

all school budgets for fiscal year 2011will have been approved by boards andreadied for mailing to taxpayers prior tobudget votes. The Legislature will be infull swing, addressing issues as diverseas cost containment, state and localgovernance of education, and whetherto require certain average class sizes

in schools. Naturally, it is a season thatbrings a measure of anxiety to publicschool officials, and that feeling can onlybe heightened by the intense focus onschool budgets this year.

Taxpayers will, of course, be anxious tosee the impact of school spending andproperty values on their property tax billsthis year. The legislature and the execu-tive branch are also awaiting the result ofthe school budget process, to see whethereducation costs will increase less thantwo percent over the prior year. That wasthe low increase that we saw in 2009,

From the

Boardroom

The Vermont Education Health Initiative

(VEHI) has announced new health anddental rates. Beginning July 1, 2010,health insurance premiums will increaseby 3.0%.

This figure marks the fifth consecutiveyear and the seventh in the last eight years(2002-10) that VEHIs average premium

increase has been less than 10%, a sig-nificant accomplishment at both the stateand national level. For the last four years,2007-10, during a period of escalatinghealth care costs, our premium increasesaveraged just under 4%.

There are several reasons for this. First,

VEHIs administrative costs continue to belower than other self-funded groups thatpurchase insurance services from BlueCross Blue Shield of Vermont. Also, ourplans are less expensive than compa-rable plans offered by BCBS-VT to othercommunity-rated associations because

Budget Season VEHI Announces Health and

Dental Rates for FY11


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Happy New Year! Happy New Year--really? While we have all heard andrepeated Have a happy New Year, theoutlook does not seem happy to schoolboard members struggling with the currentrealities of schools and finance. Someparties want to demonize boards over

costs, taxes, failure to hastily consolidateand failure to shed boards and boardmembers.

This seems particularly unreasonablesince Vermont schools overall have heldbudget increases lower than most if notall other government functions sincethe inception of Act 60. Property tax in-

creases are still driven by value and CLAeven when budgets are level or reduced.Communities who have looked at schooland district consolidation have frequentlyrejected this concept, perhaps wisely,since there is little evidence that it will savemoney either now or in the future. Finally,I am not certain of the benefit of cedinglocal authority to regional or Montpelier

boards, since local accountability meanslocal results.

Also, in the past several months multipleinitiatives at federal, state and even locallevels have produced many regulations,recommendations and suggestions forschool change, improvement or cost cut-ting. These ideas are now competing for

attention, action and legislative changeswhich continue to leave local schools in astate of anticipation and flux.

My elementary school, as I suspect istrue in many of your local schools, isalready vested in implementing PositiveBehavior Strategies, Response to Inter-vention, H1N1 response, Dental Service

Delivery, Farm to Foodand Healthy Options, Af-ter School Support andEnrichment, Mentoring,Curriculum Mapping, Ac-tion Planning, Policy review,Assessment development,Longitudinal Data Collec-tion and analysis, Board self

evaluation, Negotiations, Co-teaching,Long Term Facility planning, ARRA Profes-sional Development and more!

The initiatives being bandied about meandiscarding this work or adding more.

However, the message from Montpelier,the bankers (the money just isnt there)and so many of our supportive but tax-weary citizens is clear: costs must godown! This translates to less money andless work - not more. The anticipatedstate deficit in the next two years is about20% of its current budget, schools (andother departments) may be expected findoverall reductions of 20% over the nexttwo years.

Despite all the past blame and all the pos-sible future schemes school boards are thecurrent reality for school operation. Schoolboards will need to implement the changesrequired if costs are to be reduced by 20%.School boards have the local knowledgeand accountability to make the reductionswork in their communities. School boardswill need to work to help shape good leg-islation and initiatives for these reducedschools. This budget season is the timeto start looking at how your community willremake your local education programs at80%, and to have real conversations withyour community and legislators about what

that means for Vermonts children and yourlocal schools.

Responding to these realities will take agreat deal of creativity, principled deci-sion making and stamina, so rather thanHappy New Year my greeting is, Mayyou and your students be strong, wiseand fruitful.

tiALtio


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Strengthening Public Support for

School ImprovementsIn todays economy, as voters hesitateto pass bond funding, many Vermontschool districts face an uphill battle intheir efforts to get approval for need-

ed building improvements. Accordingto Efficiency Vermont, these districtscan strengthen their cases by bring-ing energy efficiency into their projects.

When energy efficiency is included ina building-improvement plan, a projectstops being simply an ex-

pense and becomes aninvestment that pays asolid return in energy sav-ings for years to come,says Richard Donnelly ofEfficiency Vermont. Thatmay mean the differencebetween a bond that voters consider a

burden and one thats recognized asa logical, beneficial financial move.

For example, if a school needs a new roof,an energy-saving enhancement couldentail air sealing and insulation upgrades,which can reduce heating costs and ex-tend the life of the new roof by preventing

ice dams and icicles. Other energy-savingapproaches include choosing energy-effi-cient equipment, controls, or lighting at thetime of a renovation or incorporating ef-

ficient design into new-construction plans.

Were eager to support schools visionsfor their improvements by working withthem and their contractors to incorporatecost-effective, comprehensive energy-sav-ing approaches into project plans, says

Donnelly. We also provide

districts with cost-savingsanalyses that can give vot-ers the facts they need tomake an informed decision.

According to Donnelly, whileit can make financial sense

to invest in efficiency at any time, the

earlier in a project that energy implicationsare considered, the more cost-effectivethe energy-saving approaches tend to be.If your district is considering school reno-vations, new construction, or equipmentreplacement and you would like moreinformation, contact Richard Donnelly,toll-free, at 888-921-5990, extension 1129.

Editor: David Cyprian email: [email protected]

Layout: Kerri Lamb email: [email protected]

Articles printed represent diverse points of

view and may be controversial in nature. It is

the belief of the Association that the democratic

process functions best through discussions

which challenge and stimulate thinking onthe part of the reader. Therefore, materials

published present the ideas/beliefs of those

who write them and are not necessarily the

views or policies of the VSBA unless so stated.

This newsletter is distributed at no charge to

all members of the Association. Contact the

Association by calling 802-223-3580.

of concerted efforts to rationally containcosts at all levels of operationfrom ad-ministration and plan design to advancedwellness and chronic care managementprograms.

In respect to VEHI-Deltas dental careplans, premiums will increase in 2010-11,on average, by 2.6%.

Please contact VEHI (802-223-5040) ifyou have any questions.

VSBIT continued from page 1


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Vermont teachers will be offering onlinecourses and connecting to studentsthroughout the state and the world as part

of the Vermont Virtual Learning Coopera-tive, an ARRA-funded initiative to bring aK-12 Virtual School to Vermont. Vermontnow joins 26 other states in the countryby offering a virtual school option to itsstudents.The Vermont Department of Education

requested proposals for the $400,000 TitleIID grant program from entities within Ver-mont in the fall of 2009. The grant taskedan entity to lead, manage, and develop asystem that provided online learning op-portunities for all Vermont schools. Weare very pleased with this model and feelthe cooperative model makes it very ap-

pealing for Vermont schools. says PeterDrescher, Education Technology Coordi-nator overseeing the Title IID program.The initial phases of this program willrequire support from school administratorsas we train teachers to teach online andramp up course offerings, says the newProgram Coordinator, Jeff Renard. We

want schools to become supporting mem-bers by offering courses from their schoolswhich, in turn, will get them seats in otheronline courses being offered by otherschools around the state.Renard has been the DistanceLearning Coordinator with the

River Valley TechnicalCenter in Spring-field, Vermont forten years andhas offeredd i s t a n c el e a r n i n g

courses throughout Vermont and NewHampshire.

Called the Vermont Virtual Learning Co-operative (VTVLC), this initiative is beingspearheaded by a partnership of severalregions around the state, including theRiver Valley Technical Center and Spring-field School District, Burlington SchoolDistrict and five others that will be selectedthrough a sub-grant process.

The other partners include the GraduateSchool of Marlboro College, the Com-munity College of Vermont, Florida Vir-tual School, Global Classroom and theLearning Network of Vermont. These initialpartners bring a wide range of experienceand expertise to this endeavor and will be

seeking individuals for the VTVLC advi-sory committee in the coming weeks. Their

job will be to help develop a system thatwill make it easy for schools to share seatsin an online classroom and help Vermontstudents access courses that may not beavailable in their regional schools.

Professional development is a major facetof this effort, and teacher preparation willbe a priority. The initial group of teachers

will be participating in course workthat consists of 15 graduate credits

along with several other work-shops, courses and train thetrainer mentoring workshops.

For more informa-

tion, contact Jeff

Renard at

jrenard@rvtc.

org

Virtual Courses will Connect Vermont K-12

Learning Community


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Summer Library Promotion Encouraged

Families to Save EarlyThe Vermont Student Assistance Corpo-ration (VSAC) and the Vermont Depart-ment of Libraries (VDOL) are proud toannounce the four state winners of theGet Creative @ Saving for Collegesummer promotion.

VSAC, the Vermont Higher EducationInvestment Plan (VHEIP), Vermonts529 college savings plan, and the VDOLpartnered to sponsor the 2009 summerpromotion in libraries across Vermont.The Get Creative @ Saving for Collegepromotion encouraged children to readover the summerby providing incen-

tives for Vermontstudents throughgrade e ight toparticipate in theirlocal librarys sum-mer reading pro-gram. More than

VSAC and the Vermont Department of Libraries

Announce Winners of Get Creative @ Saving

for College Summer Promotion1,400 entries were received from across

Vermont, spreading awareness of theimportance of reading and saving earlyfor college.

The selected state winners are KatieYoung of Burlington; Gyury de Nagy ofTopsham; Livia Bernhardt of Salisbury;and Ramona Rosenthal of Woodstock.

The winning libraries are, respectively,Fletcher Free Library, Blake MemorialLibrary, Brandon Library and Norman Wil-liams Public Library.

Each of the four winners parents or le-gal guardians will receive a check prize

of $1,000 thatcan be used forcollege savings.Each winning li-brary will receivea check prize of$500 to supportfuture library pro-grams and initia-tives.

Updating the schools policies?Please take a few minutes to look over some of the resources the VSBAcan offer you.

Website: the VSBA website hosts several pages of information regardingpolicies including general information about the upkeep and legal status

of policies, model required policies and model best practice policies.(Available in Microsoft Word, Acrobat or as a link).

School Policy DVD (approximately 40 minutes) The chapters include:Vermont Education Law, Examples, Policy Adoption, Policy ManualMaintenance, Policy Distribution, Purpose, Following Policies. The DVDsells for $20.

A free fourteen and one half minute streaming video on our website

(Video link).


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by Winton GoodrichVSBA Associate Director

G o v e r n a n c eStudiesThe North HeroBoard decided

against closingtheir school nextyear and desig-nating South

Hero for tuitionpaying purposes.

Both boards will con-tinue to work with the

VSBA on the creation of aunion elementary district.

The VSBA has contracted to facilitatephase I supervisory union studies forChittenden East and Addison CentralSupervisory Unions, and a two-districtstudy between Middlesex and Worces-

ter.

Staff recently completed studies for Pitts-field and Woodbury. Access these stud-ies using the following links to the VSBAweb site:http://www.vtvsba.org/pittsfield.pdfhttp://www.vtvsba.org/Woodbury.pdf

Presented a governance study proposal toschool leaders in Caledonia North SU.

Addison Northwest completed contractwork with the Vermont Rural Developmentorganization on their k-12 unified uniongovernance study.

Policy GovernanceThere are currently 19 school districtsthat are at various stages of Policy Gov-ernance implementation. A number ofother districts and supervisory unionshave expressed interest and scheduledPolicy Governance presentations thatLaura Soares continues to deliver.

Click the "Video" folder found on the VSBAweb site to learn more about this effectivesystem of board governance.

The VSBA recently completed productionon two new Policy Governance DVDs thatused video footage from the fall confer-ence presentations delivered by a nationalconsultant, Susan Edsall.

Superintendent SearchesSuperintendent searches are underwayin the following supervisory unions/dis-tricts:

Rutland South - Hired Dana Cole-Levesque, current Otter Valley prin-cipalOrange East - Hired Don Johnson,former Littleton, NH superintendentMontpelier - Interview stage

Washington Northeast - Hired NancyThomas, current asst. superintendentin Washington CentralEssex Town - Advertising cycleChittenden East - Appointed JohnAlberghini, current co-superintendentin that SUWindham Southwest - Recently an-

nounced the openingWindsor Southeast - Hired the currentinterim superintendent, Donna Moyer,to serve another year

Board RolesWorked with the Barre City, Lyndon El-ementary, and Barre Supervisory Union

Boards on roles and responsibilities ofschool board members and superinten-dents.

Strategic PlanningPresented a VSBA strategic planning pro-posal to the Mt. Mansfield Union Schoolleaders for consideration.


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The Education Transformation PolicyCommission submitted its final report tothe State Board of Education in December.The Commission was comprised of schoolboard members, superintendents, princi-pals, elected and appointed state-leveleducation policymakers, teachers, highereducation administrators, parents andparent-advocates, one business repre-sentative, and a high school student. TheCommissions charge was as follows:

Recommend a state policy frameworkthat will build and enhance the capacityof schools and communities to reinventVermont public education so all studentsacquire the knowledge and skills neededfor college, careers, and citizenship in the21st century.

Notably, the Commission was not askedto frame its recommendations within anyparticular budgetary constraints, nor did itdo so. The Commission made recommen-dations under the framework of educationtransformation as opposed to confining itswork to school improvement. The Com-

mission divided its recommendations into

Education Transformation Policy

Commission Issues Report

POLICY continued on page 11

five interdependent sections, and whatfollows is a brief description of each. TheCommissions recommendations werepresented to the State Board of Educationat its December meeting. The full report,including expansive details and rationalesfor each recommendation, can be viewedhere: http://education.vermont.gov/new/pdfdoc/dept/transformation/commission/transformation_policy_commission_re-port_1209.pdf

Education Quality StandardsSupplement and replace the currentSchool Quality Standards with Edu-cation Quality Standards that focuson learning outcomes and processes,to be developed by an EQS commis-sion.

Enhance accountability via long-rangeeducation quality assessments ineach public school, and utilize datato continually develop more effectivepractice.

Learning Expectations for a New Gen-

erationPersonal learning plans for each stu-dent.

Three stages of learning progres-sion (to replace PK-12 grades), andproficiency-based advancement andgraduation requirements.

Transition from grade-level groupingsto multi-age small learning communitieswith differentiated learning opportuni-ties.


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Vermont Real Adjusted* Equalized Education Grand List(*excluding Utilities and Personal Property, including Current Use Exempt Value; Consensus1109 Forecast)

8

but for some, it was still too much. The

final number will factor greatly in discus-

sions in Montpelier as to whether more

cost containment laws are necessary,

and whether the education fund will haveexcess capacity that could potentially

ease the burden of a diminishing state

general fund.

Unfortunately, these conditions are likely

to persist for the next several years. Al-

though most economists believe the worst

of the recession is over, the economiccontraction that already occurred means

that government at all levels is reliant

on a tax revenue base that is markedly

less than that of two or three years ago.

Even with healthy growth predicted by

state economists, it will be several years

before the tax base grows to levels of

2008. Property values are expected to

decrease in inflation-adjusted terms for

the next three years. School enrollments

are expected to decrease for the next five

years. The pressure on school officials to

provide a good education at good value

will probably never dissipate.

The VSBA knows that boards can be re-

sponsive to prevailing conditions. When

times were good, the equity provided by

Act 60 allowed Vermonts poorest school

districts to diminish the spending gap with

wealthier districts. When the economy

tanked last year, boards responded with

the lowest school budget increases in re-

cent memory for two years running. That

is why it can be challenging to respond

BUDGET continued from page 1


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to assertions that imply that local school

officials have no hand at the tiller.

Certainly, we are not experiencing de-

creasing rhetoric. In budget meetings,

in summer study committees, and from

consultants, politicians, and chastising

letters, board members are being of-

fered advice from all corners. When

evaluating this range of concepts and

proposals, remember that your first duty

is to the children and taxpayers of your

communities. Good public schools are

something all Vermonters should be proud

of. Work with your colleagues to be an

open-minded, innovative, and fair school

board, and communicate with the VSBA

so that we can serve and represent you

here in Montpelier.

David Cyprian is a legislative analyst for the

VSBA and the editor of From the Boardroom.

Want m ore dat a?

www.v tvsba .o rgVisit the VSBA website to view ordownload the Current Realities pre-sentation. It can be viewed as a freevideo and you can download thepresentation to use the data in yourbudget presentations.


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The No ChildLeft BehindAct (NCLB)was sched-

u led to bereauthorizedin 2007 whileP r e s i d e n t

George W. Bush was still in office, butDemocratic leaders in Congress choseto wait until the new administration was inplace to tackle the numerous complaints

about NCLB - its lack offlexibility, punitiveapproach to school reform and reliance on

standardized testing.

The Elementary and Secondary EducationAct (ESEA) was first enacted in 1965 andreauthorized by the Bush administrationin 2001 as NCLB. Intended to close theachievement gap between disadvantagedand minority students and their peers,NCLB encompasses numerous programswith $22 billion in 2008 appropriations.While most would agree that the intent ofNCLB was both positive and important,many educators, researchers, and poli-cymakers believe there are major flawsin the conception and application of this

legislation.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncanhas agreed with critics who claim thecurrent system encouraged states tolower standards so that they could reportsignificant progress. "It unfairly labeledmany schools as failures even when they

were making progress," Duncan said. "Itplaces too much emphasis on raw testscores rather than student growth. And itis overly prescriptive in some ways whileit is too blunt an instrument of reform inothers.

Reforming No Child Left BehindBy Sheri Krause

"But the biggest problem with NCLB," headded, "is that it doesn't encourage highlearning standards. In fact, it inadvertentlyencourages states to lower them. The net

effect is that we are lying to children andparents by telling kids they are succeedingwhen they are not. "

Duncan credited NCLB for highlighting theachievement gap in schools and for focus-ing accountability on student outcomes,and said he is committed to policies that

work toward closing that gap while raisingthe achievement of all children.

He said he wants the next version of NCLBto create tests that better measure studentlearning and to build an accountability sys-tem that is based on the academic growthof students. He also wants the law to cre-ate programs to improve the performanceof existing teachers and school leaders,to recruit new effective educators, and toensure that the best educators are servingthe children that are the furthest behind.

"Our role in Washington is to supportreform by encouraging bold, creative ap-proaches to addressing underperforming

schools, closing the achievement gap,strengthening the field of education,reducing the dropout rate and boostingcollege access," Duncan said.

When Duncan was named secretary ofeducation last year, his immediate fo-cus was on the disbursement of federal

stimulus dollars earmarked for education.Most of these dollars were put into twoprograms: State Fiscal Stabilization Funds(which Vermont received), and Race tothe Top Funds (which will be awarded tostates in competitive grants in the coming

REFORMING continued on page 11


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stimulus will continue to be the focus ofthe administration. They are:(1) Adopting rigorous college- and career-

ready standards and high quality as-sessments;

(2) Establishing advanced data systemsthat track student performance onassessments throughout their schoolyear and tie those results to teach-ers, principals, and their preparationprograms;

(3) Creating new pathways into the teach-ing profession and basing teachertenure, compensation, and promotiondecision on performance data;

(4) Turning around the lowest performingschools including allowing charterschools to fully emerge as replace-ments for traditional public schools.

Establish ambitious state-level educa-tional attainment targets and strate-gies to achieve these targets.

Establish state-level standards for

college readiness.

Expand access and ensuring fundingfor dual enrollment and other college-level learning opportunities for highschool students.

Educator QualityExpand clinically-based learning op-portunities for aspiring educators.

Adopt a four-tier career ladder andproficiency-based licensing standardsfor educators.

Expand professional development

POLICY continued from page 7

Duncan travelled the country this summerincluding a day in Vermonton a "Listeningand Learning" tour to gather informationabout education reform and how NCLBcan be improved. The administration isplanning to develop its proposal for re-authorizing the legislation in the coming

months, based on recommendations andinput from various stakeholders.

The jury is still out on whether the fed-eral government can drive improvementsin student achievement with its reformagenda. Never before has the federalgovernment played such a heavy-handed

role in our public education system. Onlytime will tell what kind of impact this willhave on our local schools.

Sheri Krause is a government relations specialist

with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

This article was excerpted and reprinted with

permission from Wisconsin School News.

REFORMING continued from page 10

and collaborative planning time foreducators.

Formation of Regional Education Dis-tricts

Education Redistricting Commissionto facilitate consolidation of all publicschool districts (including all publicschools and technical centers) into12 24 education districts, each gov-erned by a single board of directors.

Multi-year transition process to fullyimplement consolidation by 2015.

Each public school would have aCommunity School Council, withadvisory functions.

See Appendix K and Appendix L in the Commis-

sions full report for two consolidation concepts

(13 and 20 districts respectively).


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Among the most important factors that in-fluence the educational and administrativeperformance of every school district is therelationship between a school board andits chief executive officer, the superinten-dent. Certain outcomes that are criticalto your school systems success dependon these two partners working closelytogether as a strategic leadership team.Together, they need to provide a clear vi-sion for the future, long-term educational

goals, targets for significant innovationand operating priorities. They also have tomake decisions on the rational allocationof financial resources and the manage-ment of relationships with key stakehold-ers such as state and local governmentdepartments, to name but a few.

When this professional marriage weakensor becomes strained, your school systemis in for real trouble if steps arent takento shore up the partnership. Ive seenwhat appear to be minor irritations createa distance in relationships that rapidlyturns into a chasm that cant be bridged.For example, the board begins to question

the superintendent at length on relativelyminor administrative actions. Perhaps itdecides to table what were once routinematters for consideration at the nextmeeting.

As far as I know, no school board in humanhistory has ever fired itself for relationshipproblems with its superintendent.

It is the superintendent who always moveson, frequently at a high cost. Not just finan-cially. There is a cost when educationalperformance shortfalls arent remediedand strategic innovation opportunitiesare missed.

Board-Superintendent Relations:

A 2-way StreetBy Doug Eadie

One cannot put a price on a tarnishedpublic image, decline in public support,

and a deterioration in administrative andfaculty morale. Then, of course, there isthe time and expense of recruiting a newsuperintendent.

What can your governance team do tokeep the board-superintendent partner-ship healthy, thereby reaping the benefitsand avoiding the costs?

The Superintendents Part: The RightAttitudeFirst, the superintendent must acceptprimary responsibility for building andmaintaining a strong, positive workingpartnership with the school board. As astart, the superintendent must bring a

positive attitude to the relationship. Heor she ought to view the board as a pre-cious asset and vital partner rather thanas a damage control challenge. Too manysuperintendents I have met over the yearshave started with a negative viewpoint thatmakes success well nigh impossible.

Boards are apt to meddle and microman-age if theyre not closely watched andcontrolled, they said to themselves, andmy major job is to make sure that theystay in their place and out of trouble. If asuperintendent approaches his/ her boardwith this attitude, divorce is highly likelysomewhere down the pike.

Armed with a positive attitude, your su-perintendent can also make governance ahigh priority, becoming a real expert in thisrapidly developing field. There is virtuallyuniversal agreement that high-performing

STREET continued on page 13


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A study released Dec. 2 by the Brook-ings Institute reports that in the first ninemonths of 2009, only 1.4 percent of na-tional news coverage (television, news-papers, Web sites, and radio) addressededucation. Although it may be hard tofathom, this is actually an increase fromrecent years. In 2008, only 0.7 percentof news coverage focused on educationand 1 percent in 2007.

This makes it difficult for the public tofollow the issues at stake in our educa-tion debates and to understand how toimprove school performance, the reportstates.

The study found that little of the educa-tion reporting addressed hard issuessuch as school policies or ways to im-prove the curriculum.

There was hardly any coverage ofschool reform, teacher quality, or othermatters thought to be crucial for educa-tional attainment. Instead, most storiesthis year dealt with budget problems,school crime, and the HINI flu outbreak,the report states.

The Brookings Institute concluded thatthe decrease in education reporting ispartly due to the overall drop in newspa-per circulation and advertising revenue.However, the study did note that the useof online media such as blogs, YouTube,and Twitter has helped people tap intolocal education topics.

Local blogs can encourage substantivedebate on education issues, and schoolsystems have used new technologiesto keep parents in closer touch withtheir childrens schools and educationalprogress, the report states. But noneof these can replace regular, systematicand ongoing coverage of education bynews outlets.

school boards play a leading, creative rolein strategic decision-making. But the likeli-hood of your school boards developing astrong role in strategic planning on its ownis nil. The superintendent must take the

lead in designing the planning structureand process that will make a creativeboard role possible.

Board-savvy superintendents find waysto strengthen board members feelingsof ownership-hence, strengthening theircommitment-by involving them in gen-erating directions, rather than merelyreviewing finished documentation. Thisis why board-staff retreats have becomeso popular. They also look for every op-portunity to provide their board memberswith ego satisfaction, making sure thatthey receive credit in the media for systemaccomplishments.

The Boards Part: Governing SkillsOf course, good relationships involvereciprocal obligations. The school boardshould: Focus on playing a high-level governing

role, rather than getting bogged downin administrative details.

Make a firm commitment to strengthen-

ing governing skills. Treat the superintendent as a colleague

and partner deserving respect, ratherthan as an adversary.

Playing a truly productive role in governinga school system depends on your boardstaking responsibility for leading a large and

complex public corporation, rather thanmerely representing the views of particularconstituencies.

Doug Eadie is an author and consultant special-

izing in board/CEO relationships. Reprinted

with permission from the Maine School Boards

Association newsletter.

STREET continued from page 12

Study Finds Education

Stories are Underreported

Study Finds Education

Stories are Underreported


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The Legislature will consider a bill thissession that would give schools broad

authority to discipline students for out-of-school misconduct.

As both a school board member and asexecutive director of the American CivilLiberties Union of Vermont, I dont thinkthe bill, as written, is a good idea.

Heres why:

1. Disciplining children for misconduct isthe responsibility of parents. When a childis in school, or at a school-sponsoredevent, the responsibility is temporarilygiven to schools as a necessary transfer ofauthority to maintain school order. Outsideof school, however, parents expect -- andthe law recognizes -- parents authority.

2. A bill as broad as the one proposed islikely to run into legal challenges. The billuses standards from employment law, notschool law, to define offending behavior.

Bill Will Target Students Behavior Away from

School GroundsBy Allen Gilbert, U-32 Board Member

3. With authority comes responsibility.School administrators or boards could be

sued for NOT intervening in cases whereparents claim their child was bullied orharassed outside of school.

4. If the bill is targeted at cyberbullying,theres already a law addressing mis-useof the Web, cell phones, or other electronicmedia. It doesnt seem wise to turn this

responsibility over to administrators, whoare already overburdened and ill-equippedto do forensic investigations.

Questions? E-mail Allen Gilbert at [email protected]

Allen Gilbert is the executive director of ACLU-

Vermont and a member of the U-32 school board.

As of press time, the bill referred to in this article

has not yet been introduced into the legislature.

VSBA will provide updates on this and other ed-

ucation-related bills in our Education Legislative

Reports available by email and on our website

(www.vtvsba.org).

The Vermont School Crisis Planning Team, supported by a grant fromVermont Homeland Security and Vermont Emergency Management, hasfunding available for school safety audits and visits for all Vermont publicand private schools. The Teams facilitators, comprised of retired principalsand emergency responders, will assist schools in developing or reviewingtheir crisis response plans using the Vermont School Crisis Guide 2008.

The guide is available in MS or PDF format at the Vermont Departmentof Education and Vermont Emergency Management web sites. A newFAQ section will be added to the sites this month with answers to schoolquestions raised during facilitator visits. Topics will cover door locks, cellphones, Vermont 2-1-1 and recommendations for classrooms responsekits. Districts or individual schools wishing to schedule visits can contactthe Committee Chair, Stephen Earley, at [email protected] or call 802-434-4743.

Vermont School Crisis Planning

visits still available.


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$20 DVDsFree

Online VideosAgendas & Meetings(12 minutes)

School Policy (15 minutes)

Board Reorganizataion(10 minutes)

VSBIT (4 minutes)

Act 82 (11 minutes)

Public Engagement (11 minutes)

Roberts Rules (16 minutes)

Code of Conduct (9 minutes)

Executive Session (7 minutes)

Local Board Orientation(5 minutes)

Public Complain Process(4 minutes)

Basic Negotiations (9 minutes)

Filling Board Vacancies(6 minutes)

Budget Control Strategies(5 minutes)

Vt School Board Standards(6 minutes)

School Board Meetings(6 minutes)

Board Work Sessions(7 minutes)

Planning Agendas and Managing

Meetings (12 minutes)

Negotiations (1 hour 20 mnutes)

School Policy (40 minutes)

Passing the School Budget UnderAct 82 (1 hour 30 minutes)

Governance Options & Enrollment

Projections (1 hour 20 minutes)

Roles, Responsibilities &

Relationships (1 hour)

Improving Board Operations(1 hour 10 minutes)

Conducting Board Hearings(40 minutes)

Superintendent Evaluation(30 minutes)

The Role of the School Board

Chair Person (5 minutes)

Policy Governance Board Role in:

Budgeting (48 minutes)

Communication (38 minutes)

(Several PolicyGovernanceOptions)

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or call 800-244-8722


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Documents

VSBA From the Boardroom Jan 2010