School boards and superintendents can work most effectively together when their operating styles are compatible. Boards may tend toward either the corporate or the familial style, while superintendents' administrative styles may tend toward the structured and task-oriented or toward the personal. Mismatches can be ameliorated through conscious…

Discusses some issues that principals should consider when forming administrator negotiating units. (JF)

The role of the agency executive, reflecting multiple and sometimes conflicting demands, is discussed in terms of how power is wielded in an agency. (Author/RH)

Describes five tactics that striking teachers use against superintendents and school boards. Notes their effect on administrator resignations and school levy defeats, and lists three ways administrators can build mutual support, including sharing strike experiences, getting professional associations' support, and establishing statewide networks of…

A superintendent outlines the problems caused by a constant flow of new board members and suggests ways in which superintendents can help prepare new members for their jobs. (IRT)

Discusses how students and administrators at Virginia Tech are angry that the governing board eliminated affirmative action and made other important decisions without consultation. (EV)

Describes how the board of trustees of Gardner-Webb University backed its president, who had ordered an athlete's grade changed, and demoted two administrators who had criticized him. (EV)

The key to succeeding in superintendent-board relationships is fitting the school board into a three-part framework of policies, meetings, and goals. Advice is also provided concerning budgeting, becoming acquainted with board members, and handling disagreements. A sidebar classifies board members as builders, shopkeepers, mechanics, cheerleaders,…

Consultants offer ideas to frustrated fund-raising administrators about dealing with reluctant, uncooperative, and uninformed trustees. (MSE)

An extended interview process is designed to give the superintendent and the school board a better opportunity to get to know prospective school executives. Each job applicant spends eight or nine hours in activities that offer a revealing look at the candidates. (MLF)

When Nebraska's 310 superintendents were asked to discuss critical incidents experienced with a school board or board member, they noted 151 incidents involving family and friends, board member's roles, who's elected to the board, failure to support the superintendent, the board itself, athletic coaches, individual board members, employee…

Most school boards want those initial months of warm regard between the board and a new superintendent to continue indefinitely. However, trust can break down for a number of reasons. Offers eight suggestions for superintendents to prolong the honeymoon. (MLF)

The board and superintendent can reduce the friction and strengthen their relationship if they can understand one another's role in the school system. Cites some examples of inappropriate board behavior. Offers eight suggestions to board members to prolong the honeymoon. (MLF)

The Denver, Colorado, school board has an agenda summary sheet that streamlines communication between the board and staff members. The form, placed after the title sheet of any proposal, lists background issues, options and alternatives considered, and implications of adoption or rejection. (MLF)

A school administrator who has served as a consultant on many superintendent searches offers 10 selection tips. Board members should refrain from criticizing the former superintendent, advertise for applicants, invest sufficient funds, specify selection criteria, be honest about salary, work diligently during screening and evaluation, honor…