In this article, the author discusses the need of administrative support for board members. An effective board services office can help a lot in attracting and retaining community leaders. Board members need administrative support to help them manage events, records, communications, scheduling, correspondence and constituent service. In small to medium-sized districts, the superintendent's administrative support staff frequently supports the board. This is an effective model, provided the superintendent budgets for sufficient staff and makes responses to board needs a priority. Faced with tight budgets, superintendents may be tempted to skimp in this area, but the author's observations are that even in small districts a half-time employee is needed, and in districts between 10,000 and 25,000 students a full-time staff member is required. One support function that should not be assigned to the board staff is research and policy analysis. Boards need support in this area, but the district's research staff should handle this work. Asking board support staff to provide research and policy work is duplicative and wasteful.