Section 1983 of the 1871 Civil Rights Act includes the option of money damages for violations of the Constitution and federal laws. The focus of this paper is on the scope and limit of school district liability. Questions decisions where boards may have avoided liability by intentional ignorance of inaction in the face of supervisory incompetence.…

Area Education Agency 4 in Sioux Center, Iowa, provides the 18 school districts it serves with information and training in board development. Includes a checklist of 10 hypothetical issues that board members label as either a policymaking issue or a superintendent's responsibility. Each item becomes an occasion for discussion about roles and…

While some suggest that tensions between college presidents and their boards are high, it is proposed that most are coping successfully with difficult issues, and that their relationships are fundamentally very sound. Sources of new tension are examined, particularly the affirmative action debate and "activism" among trustees. Trustee selection…

A study of interim presidencies at public research universities draws on interviews with 20 former interim presidents concerning their selection, expectations, accommodations, roles, and relationships, and the institutional and personal effects of the interim presidency. Ten suggestions for supporting an interim administrator and facilitating the…

This book presents findings of a study that explored the changing role of the high school principal. Data were gathered from principals and central-office personnel through interviews in more than 150 high schools in 23 states and 7 countries. Following the introductory chapter, chapter 2 describes the autonomy of the principal's school-site…

College presidents have been described as visionaries responsible for shaping a school's objectives and matching talents with resources to realize those goals. College trustee boards must provide the continuity and stability necessary to guarantee the integrity of the college. Because boards have a 15-20% turnover annually, trustee education must…

This paper narrates the experiences of a superintendent hired into Montgomery Township School District (New Jersey), an affluent, small school district with a history of labor relations problems. When hired in 1990, the new superintendent was confronted with seven pending grievance cases and the board of education's rejection of the annual school…

Drawing from the theoretical background of Schon's concept of the "reflective practitioner," this study compares the ways in which superintendents and school board members view the future and examines their differing perceptions in order to identify possible loci of conflict between them. Board members and superintendents were asked to identify…

Teachers with tenure possess certain privileges. For instance, they are permitted a hearing before the school board when they are threatened with dismissal. The failure of tenured teachers to maintain standards must be proved by the administration. In the case of probationary teachers, the school board has almost unlimited power to renew or not to…

This report examines the school superintendency in British Columbia (Canada) by focusing on superintendents' perceptions of their role's emerging skill requirements. From 1979 through June 1987, the transition from provincial employment to employment by local boards of school trustees resulted in the departure of nearly 52 percent of…

The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of internal and external factors in elementary and secondary school principals' perceptions of on-the-job stress. Variables include school location, school type, the principal's gender, and the principal's work experience. Of 300 questionnaires mailed out to New York State school principals, 235…

The managerial roles of the university president and the corporation president were compared, and attention was directed to the skills needed by both types of executives and their relationships with their boards. The activities of the chief executive officers of five middle-to-large-sized American organizations were observed for a week. These…

Eight and one-half percent of the school district superintendents in the United States responded to questionnaires in 1985 concerning their opinions about education, their roles and working conditions, their relations with school boards, their backgrounds and professional interests, and the characteristics of their districts. Tabulations of the…

During 1981, a study was conducted to determine whether vocational-technical school district directors and community college presidents in Wisconsin who worked under an appointed board and directors/presidents in other states who worked under an elected board perceived the effectiveness of elected and appointed boards differently. Questionnaires…

Eight recommendations for superintendents' behavior toward school board members are developed in light of women's changing roles in society and in educational governance. The history of women's involvement in education, including their attempts and eventual success at gaining seats on school boards, is traced from the late 19th Century up to the…