Board eyes governance policy shift

The School Board listened to a presentation this week on a proposed form of governance that would give greater authority to the superintendent.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201002040355 # # # # Board eyes governance policy shift ¶ Rutland Herald ¶ By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: February 4, 2010 ¶ SPRINGFIELD – The School Board listened to a presentation this week on a proposed form of governance that would give greater authority to the superintendent. ¶ Laura Soares, chairwoman of the Randolph Elementary School Board and a consultant for the Vermont School Boards Association, discussed Monday night the form of administration known as policy governance. ¶ "It's really a different way of looking at being a board," said Soares, whose supervisory union is one of 10 districts or unions in the state to have adopted policy governance. ¶ Soares said in her past experience, a board would make a policy in reaction to something that had happened, and the policies created would be narrow in focus. Boards will also spend an inordinate amount of time discussing the specific day-to-day operations of the schools, Soares said, such as the time her board debated the best way for students to store their backpacks: pegs or cubbies. ¶ Instead, a board would adopt broad policies to achieve end results — higher graduation or literacy rates, or more students going on to higher education — and would leave the decisions of how to achieve those goals in the hands of the superintendent. The board would also enact policies — usually written in the negative — to define and limit the superintendent's scope of power. ¶ "You are saying with this policy that the superintendent is authorized to do anything that doesn't violate the limitations to achieve those ends," Soares said. ¶ Board member Marilyn Thompson said she was in favor of policy governance, noting she and other board members sometimes lacked the expertise to decide technical issues. Vice Chairwoman Jeanice Garfield echoed the sentiment, saying board members were not always as well acquainted with policy changes from the state as a superintendent is. ¶ The board has already dabbled in policy governance. In 2008, the board voted to give authority to administration to plan the district's bus routes. ¶ "It's a very different way of doing business than we're used to," said Superintendent Frank Perotti, noting people often run for the School Board with a very specific issue in mind. ¶ Board Chairman Larry Kraft said policy governance might make the district more functional. ¶ "I've said for some time we have to change the way we do business and to change our relationship with our superintendent," Kraft said. "Policy governance might be the way to do it, or it might not." Following the meeting, Perotti agreed with Kraft. ¶ "If nothing else, it would be a good exercise in building a relationship between myself and the board," he said. ¶