Twas the night before the primary...

I have nothing to give towards putting together a witty rhyme…but, wouldn’t that be fun.  I have been wanting to get working on my posts, but my writing efforts have been focused on answering nearly 30 questions for the Salem Education Foundation’s online forum.  As it is, campaign and family obligations (apple picking and lunch/snack prep) have occupied a lot of my time and I haven’t been able to answer all of them.  FYI – here is the link to the forum - http://salemeducationfoundation.weebly.com/#/news/.    I do plan to get to all of them

In fact, I should be working on my questions now.  But, with a scratchy throat and achy body, I am going to sleep very soon so that I can re-energize for tomorrow.  I do, however, want to leave all of you with some valuable information that I came across while preparing for last week’s forum (if anyone recalls my late night “ah ha” moment).  As a bit of background info, there seem to be organizations devoted to every cause on our great earth (and beyond).  So, there should be no surprise that there is a National School Boards Association.  I happened upon across some information on their website related to governance and the “8 Characteristics of Effective School Boards” as published by the Center for Public Education.  http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-boards/Eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-boards.html

I would love to address each characteristic separately but I already need toothpicks to pry my eyelids open.  Instead, I leave these for you to ponder as you enter the voting booth tomorrow.  Consider the current characteristics of the committee and what you would like (and expect) to see. 

Eight Characteristics of an Effective School Board
1. Effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and define clear goals toward that vision
2. Effective school boards have strong shared beliefs and values about what is possible for students and their ability to learn, and of the system and its ability to teach all children at high levels.
3. Effective school boards are accountability driven, spending less time on operational issues and more time focused on policies to improve student achievement.
4. Effective school boards have a collaborative relationship with staff and the community and establish a strong communications structure to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in setting and achieving district goals.
5. Effective boards are data savvy; they embrace and monitor data, even when the information is negative, and use it to drive continuous improvement.
6. Effective school boards align and sustain resources, such as professional development, to meet district goals.
7. Effective school boards lead as a united team with the superintendent, each from their respective roles, with strong collaboration and mutual trust.
8. Effective school boards take part in team development and training, sometimes with their superintendents, to build shared knowledge, values and commitments for their improvement efforts.

Before I sign off, I want to thank everyone for their support thus far – it truly means a great deal to me.

Katie Casiglia