Although South Bronx Superintendent Felton "Buddy" Johnson has cut student failure rates, budgets, and teachers' resistance to change, his school board has terminated his contract. Known as an activist administrator who refused to cut deals with a historically corrupt school board, Johnson has substantially retrained teachers and…

New college presidents are often placed in untenable situations, asked to make necessary changes while remaining feasible with constituencies having vested interests in the status quo and power to maintain it. It may be better for the governing board to appoint an interim president to establish a basis for stability. (MSE)

Recent research attributes school governance conflicts to board-superintendent disagreement over policymaking roles, deficient board training, and increased teacher demand for inclusion in the policymaking process. Other research underlines the need for better board training and for undoing a historical board culture that delegates only trivial…

Describes a study comparing the perceptions of community college deans and department chairs of the extent to which the recommendations put forth by the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges' Commission on the Future of Community Colleges had been implemented in Virginia. (MAB)

Presents examples of four board-superintendent relationships that have survived dynamic changes in school districts and communities. Key to success lies not in survival checklists but in basic principles of educational and democratic theory: rigorous search for truth, genuine understanding, mutual respect for divergent views, sincere commitment to…

Regular, frequent evaluations of superintendents can improve communication and allow problems to be attended to before they become major issues. The National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators, and state school boards associations can all provide guidance and samples of evaluation procedures. Lists…

A salary-administration plan involves job descriptions, job evaluation, salary surveys, salary structures, and communication. A carefully constructed and administered salary plan will guarantee external equity (jobs will be paid at a competitive rate) and internal equity (similar jobs will be assigned the same grade and salary range). (MLF)

Communication between meetings helps board members gain necessary knowledge of education and district operations. A strong committee system strengthens that communication. Committees on curriculum, finance, buildings and grounds, transportation, and personnel/policy allow board members to develop leadership skills and become familiar with key…

Site visits for prospective principals raise serious problems. Members of school-based selection panel receive minimal training and can disrupt atmosphere of candidate's school. Confidentiality in job search wanes. A better way to hire building administrators is to employ consultants to help with search. After settling on one or more candidates,…

Discusses how a college board of trustees can get beyond academe's famed turf battles to build a governance culture that embraces all constituencies and improves its own work. Addresses the best practices of strategic vision, presidential leadership, cohesive teamwork, continuing trustee education, faculty as partners, and effective board…

The traditional governance culture in which most school boards function contributes to role confusion. Most board policies focus more on operational concerns than on governance. Several Colorado boards have applied John Carver's Policy Governance model to define their parameters. A sidebar summarizes (positive) results of two superintendency…

Adversarial board situations are draining. To succeed in the face of strained relations with the board, superintendents must preserve their inner strength and confidence, keep the whole board informed, involve the community in district activities, and provide joint training on maintaining an effective relationship. (MLH)

To improve board-administrator relations, superintendents should establish a firm foundation for teamwork, nurture mutual respect and support, understand their roles, be a supercoach, encourage frequent, two-way communication, avoid surprises, discourage micromanagement, avoid wasting teammates' time, tackle conflict, and assess the team's…

In most districts, the evaluation of superintendents by the members of the board of education takes place in executive session of the board behind closed doors. Few board members or superintendents question the status quo. Most evaluation forms are merely collections of subjective checklists that catalog approved personality traits, attributes,…

Findings of a study that examined the exiting superintendent phenomenon are presented in this paper. Interviews were conducted with five state administrator association executives from California, Massachusetts, Florida, Colorado, and Indiana. Findings indicate that a trend of exiting superintendents does exist; however, the trend varies by state.…