Secret #18: Maintain an ongoing dialogue with your MLAs and City Councillors

Hold regular meetings with the other levels of government

An important part of a school board's work is to liaise with their counterparts in the Provincial and City governments.  This may seem like a no-brainer, but keep in mind that these folks all have demanding schedules and no one likes to go to yet one more meeting unless it is likely to be productive and lead to something of consequence.

When the Edmonton Public School Board closed 5 schools this year, with the prospect of more closures on the horizon, there seemed to be the critical mass necessary to prompt the 3 levels of government to come together recently and talk about what alternatives there may be to closures.  While schools are the primary responsibility of school boards, everyone knows that the local school is often the heart of a neighbourhood and often hosts a variety of other services and activities from sports to day care to community meetings.  A school closure affects more than just students.

In addition to these larger meetings with all the elected officials, the School Board Chair will often be in contact with the Mayor and the Minister of Education.  Individual trustees will often meet with the MLA(s) and City Councillor(s) whose districts overlap to keep each other informed about emerging issues.

These are important relationships that need to be nurtured in order to ensure maximum co-operative effort on behalf of our common constituents.

Secret #17: Learn the lingo

Educational lingo can be confusing but every line of work has it's own language and you'll need to become fluent in school boardese.

Here's a few items that may not be in your daily vocabulary now but will be soon if you're on the School Board:

•  we don't have problems, we have challenges
•  we don't refer to secretaries anymore, they're administrative assistants
•  the people who keep our buildings clean are not janitors, they're custodial staff.  In one bargaining meeting I was at with the custodial staff, a CUPE rep was harshly reprimanded by the Local President for using the j word.
• ASBA- the Alberta School Boards Association
• PSBAA- the Public School Boards Association
• CSBA- the Canadian School Boards Association
• NSBA- the National School Boards Association( in the U.S.)
• ACOL- Alberta Commission on Learning, which recommended( among other things) maximum class sizes that school districts are expected to adhere to
• ATA- the Alberta Teachers Association, either provincial or local
• Metro Boards- the 4 school boards in Edmonton and Calgary( 2 public and 2 Catholic), which together educate over half the students in Alberta
• AISI- Alberta Initiative for School Improvement
• ASEBP- Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan, a province wide health and welfare trust for Alberta's basic education sector employees, jointly sponsored by ASBA and ATA
• CEU- Credit Enrollment Unit, the mechanism for funding high schools
• CUPE 474 - the district's custodial staff union
• CUPE 784-  the district's maintenance staff union
• CUPE 3550- the district's support staff union
• FNMI- First Nations, Metis, Inuit
• FOIP- Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
• GLA- Grade Level of Achievement
• IPP- Individualized Program Plan
• PATs- Provincial Achievement Tests
• POM- Plant Operation and Maintenance, one of the provincial government's funding envelops
• Unit Costs- in relation to our staff, this is an average dollar amount that is used for budgeting purposes.  For example, the current teacher unit cost( salary + benefits) is about $94,000.

And a whole lot more!

Secret #16: We need to do a better job communicating our value statement

What's the value of education?

I suspect that most of us would agree that education is priceless.

But we do live in a world with real dollar costs and I don't think school boards( or other public service bodies) do a particularly good job of informing parents and/or community members of the value of education in a way they can relate to.

For example, our school district's annual budget is now over $800 million.  That number is so large that there's no way the average person can comprehend it.  But what if we said to parents: the school board budget of about $800 million provides education for 80,000 students, or an average public investment in each child of $10,000 per year.  Now we're at a number that people can get their heads around.  In my discussions with parents, few have any idea of this per/student cost, since education is mostly "free" to them.  If we did explain it like that, I think there would be a lot less grumbling when people consider their tax obligations, and perhaps a bit more gratitude for the value of the public services they receive.

This is truly the miracle of public education: by pooling our collective resources( i.e. taxes) we can ensure a quality education for every child.

News Flash!

The Edmonton Public School Board website now has videos and more information for all the school board candidates.  Check them out by clicking here!

Secret #15: Be sure to participate in Read-In Week

Read-In Week provides an opportunity to talk about the importance of reading

Read-In Week( which starts today) is a great event each year that provides an opportunity for community leaders and members to visit our schools and talk to students about their work and why reading is such an important element for success in life.

Schools typically invite elected officials such as the local Trustee, City Councillor,  MLA or MP, as well as other persons who have important roles in the community such as police officers or media personalities.

When I visit classes, I usually have 2 or 3 books and have the students vote on which one I should read.  That gives me a good opportunity to explain that Trustees have to vote on a regular basis on the kinds of things that we should do as a school district.  I also bring the day's newspaper and explain how reading the daily newspaper( either in print or online) helps you be an informed citizen.

Read-In is a great win-win event.  Community leaders get an opportunity to see some of the excellent work that is taking place in our schools, and students get to hear an important re-enforcing message about the importance of reading from these same leaders.

Secret #14: Cherish our teachers

Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon at his swearing in ceremony

It was inspiring to hear our new Governor-General encourage Canadians to "cherish our teachers", as he was sworn in to his new role.

It is, after all, our classroom teachers who spend the most time with our children and have the greatest impact on their learning and ultimate success.  As a school board, Edmonton Public has a number of strategies in place to recognize our teachers, as well as our non teaching staff who carry out many important functions that support the work of teachers.  For example, we have a program called "An Act to Follow" where our outstanding staff members are recognized at Board meetings for their contributions and initiatives.  We also have long service award evenings to honour those employees who have given many years of loyal service in the education of our young people.  And we encourage the nomination of teachers for the provincial "Excellence in Teaching" awards, and other external recognition programs.

Trustees have many opportunities to speak at school or community events.  Never let these pass without taking advantage of the occasion to "cherish" our hard working teachers and other staff members.  And by all means take advantage of Word Teachers Day on Oct 5th to let our teachers know how much we value their contribution to our children's success.

Secret #13: The No Asshole Rule

After one particularly tense Board meeting, I decided to send my colleagues an e-mail( as perhaps a not so subtle message)  recommending a book I had recently read called, "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't" by Robert Sutton, PhD, professor of management science at Stanford University.

You may be familiar with the Golden Rule- "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  The No Asshole Rule seems to be a response to a modern workplace environment populated with folks who either never learned the Golden Rule or seem to have forgotten it.  Over the years I've seen a considerable amount of bad behaviour at meetings: arriving late, walking out in a huff in the middle of a meeting, threats to involve lawyers, and more.  None of that was respectful, none of it helped us focus on the work we were there to do on behalf of students.  Fortunately, that was pretty much all behind the scenes and not played out in public.

The new Board will have to deal with a lot of contentious issues over the next 3 years and trustees will no doubt have many different points of view on the issues.  Once the votes are taken, the positions become the Board's positions and all trustees then have a duty to respect and go along with the majority decision.

There's less chance that new trustees will burn out after one term if everyone adopts either the Golden Rule or the No Asshole Rule.

If you're a member of the Edmonton Public Library, you can reserve Sutton's book through their website.  It's a bit on the crude side, but I still recommend it.

Secret #12: The Superintendent is your employee, not your buddy

The Superintendent of Schools is the Board's key employee and, while you may well have a friendly relationship with him, never forget that he's there to carry out the Board's direction and that it's the trustees responsibility to ensure that that happens.  He's the Board's employee, not their buddy.  Trustees first responsibility is to the students of the district, and if you believe that the Superintendent has done something that goes against the interests of students, your fiduciary duty obliges you to speak up and take the necessary action.  Trustees should generally concentrate on setting the policy direction for the school district and leave administrative matters to the Superintendent and his staff.  It can sometimes be a delicate balance around the edges of policy and administration, and some superintendents have a more finely developed sense of political astuteness than others.  Good communication both ways is essential for a successful Board/Superintendent relationship.

As the 2004-2007 Board discovered, there can arise circumstances where the Superintendent loses the confidence of the Board.  In such cases, termination usually results.  Always unpleasant, but sometimes necessary.

To begin a productive relationship right off the bat, I'd suggest the new Board have a private meeting with the Superintendent that would include a discussion of each others expectations and a review of his employment contract.  The Board, as the Superintendent's employer, should be fully aware of it's provisions regarding remuneration, evaluation, expiry date, provisions for terminating the contract, etc.