Presents the results of a study of 24 superintendents who served in 1 rural school district for 12 years or more. The superintendents interviewed shared demographic information, insights into their school boards, and professional opinions concerning the reasons for their longevity. Most-cited reasons were a stable school board, open communication,…

A 1992 Council of Urban Boards of Education report affirms that board members and superintendents are aware of their mutual problems. Both parties agreed that open communication, trust, and understanding of role differences are the factors most important to effective board/superintendent relationships. The major destabilizing factors were board…

Intelligent, abrasive, and combative, Baltimore County School Superintendent Stuart Berger is committed to fighting hard for change. Charged with implementing the district's ambitious educational objectives, Berger has pushed for all-day kindergartens, school breakfast programs, an office of family services, improved middle school programs, and a…

Researchers surveyed 25 members of the Superintendency Institute of America concerning feasible strategies for building and maintaining a positive and trusting superintendent/board relationship. Respondents highlighted building trust, maintaining focus, communicating effectively, teaching the board, and being politically savvy as ingredients for…

Discusses how Southwestern Michigan College has hired the board chairman's son as president, raising questions about the potential conflicts of interest. (EV)

Details process for orienting and evaluating child care facility boards of directors. Includes service commitment letter delineating board member roles, sample board training agenda, and forms for assessing the board's overall performance and for self-evaluation of members. Asserts that success of member recruitment, orientation, training, and…

After 34 years in public school governance and administration, Thomas Shannon will retire formally as the executive director of the National School Boards Association. Shannon sets forth 13 ways superintendents can enhance critically important relationships with their school boards. (MLF)

Beginning superintendents should reconsider before buying homes and settling into new communities. Today's superintendent, like the Old West hired gun, has a short, precarious tenure. Superintendents should be prepared, learn to recognize signs of trouble, quit while they're ahead, and keep their (metaphorical) bags packed. Board hostility is…

A survey of 50 Michigan superintendents who had recently left their positions for retirement or another position found that only 4 respondents felt like lame ducks during their disengagement period. The most productive behavior for departing superintendents is to conduct business as usual, complete major projects, move their districts forward, and…

When a board member starts pushing an agenda different from the rest of the board and appears personally or emotionally involved in the matter, a superintendent can be put in a very difficult position, impairing the discharge of one's duties and responsibilities. From early on, board members need to be reminded that unlike almost every other…

To defend this nation's chosen system of lay governance of public schools, it is necessary first to assume a direct relationship exists between what happens in the board room and what happens in the classroom. Evidence abounds that the assumption is valid. Unfortunately, much of that evidence is negative. For example, in far too many school…

College and university presidents are viewed by their various constituencies as responsible for everything, good and ill. Upon assuming the role of president, one takes on a double existence--the symbol of the presidency overlays one's identity as a private individual. And the line between the two can at times become dangerously blurred. In this…

The purpose of this study was to examine contributing factors influencing superintendent tenure among Texas public school superintendents. The results of the Cox Regression analysis revealed that strained relationships with the school board president, not being able to get decisions made at the Board level, and superintendent/school board…

This study explores conflict between school superintendents and board members as perceived by superintendents. A critical incident methodology as elaborated by Flanagan was used to isolate and examine conflict. Common types of conflict include problems with family and friends, personal agendas, hiring and firing problems, and role uncertainty.…

A comparative survey of 46 Alaska school superintendents and 520 in the nation at large reveals that nearly all the superintendents in both groups consider their relationship with the school board to be important and spend a considerable amount of time on that relationship. A positive correlation emerges between the importance superintendents…