001The following program is a presentation of the Ohio School Boards Association. Welcome to the Leading the Way podcast where we bring you the [music] voices shaping public education across Ohio. A big shout out to our sponsor, [music] Lincoln Learning Solutions. They offer accredited K12 digital curriculum and support schools with flexible content and expert training for educators in all learning environments. Hey everyone, it's Sky Griffin. In just a few weeks, more than 650 newly elected school board members will raise their right hand and take the oath of office and officially assume one of the most important leadership roles in their communities. If you're among them, congratulations and welcome to public service. We know those early weeks can feel exciting, humbling, and a little overwhelming all at once. You're stepping into meetings full of acronyms, making sense
002of policies, budgets, strategic plans, navigating relationships with experienced board members, district leaders, families, and community groups. It can feel like everyone already knows the script and you're still trying to find your seat at the table. Well, today we're going to make that journey a little easier. Joining me are two of OSBA's board consultants, former board members themselves who know exactly what it feels like to walk into a boardroom for the first time. They've advised hundreds of Ohio school board members on everything from governance fundamentals to building strong relationships with superintendent and simply how to navigate the expectations that come with the role. OSBA's Christy Robbins and Terry Morgan, both former school board members, are here. We're going to talk about what new board members should prioritize in their first 90 days, how to prepare for
003that first board meeting and what healthy communication with district leadership looks like and how to stay grounded in the mission improving outcomes for students. So, let's get started. You both remember what it felt like to step into a school board meeting for the first time. Uh Christie, I'll start with you. What do we you recall about those first few weeks, I guess, as a new board member? >> Well, um, as I reflect back on the first few weeks as a board member, it was both an honor and overwhelming, um, to be able to step into, uh, that role. The volume of information was intense. Um, so what really grounded me was recognizing that every decision, every discussion, um, information that I received and work with my colleagues had to do with making things better for
004students and ultimately connected to the students. So, um, again, it it can be overwhelming. You're going to feel like you're drinking out of a fire hose for a period of time. Um, don't be alarmed. Uh, but it's important for you to just be grounded and recognize that you were elected for a reason and that was to support the students in your district. >> Terry, what was something you thought you understood uh before joining the board and then quickly realized you didn't? >> Um, I think it's interesting again that hesitation that you have as a new board member. Should I ask that question now or should that I know that ahead of time? I luckily the first school board that I served on gave me a very good orientation before I ever even started. >> The
005thing that I think surprised me is how high a level of governance we are not running the district. >> I'm not saying to the treasurer, what checks did you write this week and can I approve them? It it was so much higher level of um a thought process than I expected and that was a pleasant surprise because I trusted the superintendent and treasure to run the district. >> Well, you just gave me my segue into [laughter] understanding the role of a school board. And Christie, for many new board members, that is the biggest challenge, understanding where the role begins and where it ends. How do you define the role of a schoolboard member versus the role of a superintendent? Well, Terry said it in terms of governance and it's important for people to realize that
006the governance level is that 30,000 foot view of what's happening in the district. Uh focused on things like the vision, the mission, the strategic plan, the goals, policies. Um those are the areas that board members need to focus on. And there's often a misconception among new board members and veteran board members for that matter about the role of the board um as well as community members will also think that it's much different and more in the weeds than at the governance level. So important for um for board members to stay at that level to understand where they are needed and what they should be focused on. >> Let's jump now to building relationships and schoolboard culture. Terry, uh, board superintendent relationships, they they set the tone for everything, right? Uh, what advice do you have
007for building trust and strong communication with the superintendent early on? >> Sure. One of the first things, and I've been hearing this since November from new board members is that every parent that has a concern has already called them [laughter] saying this, you know, you've got to fix this. And so having a really strong grasp of chain of command and the importance of chain of command so that you're not undermining your superintendent is critical to build that trust. >> Christie, how can a new board member contribute positively to board culture even before they're fully uh you know sped up on all the issues? Well, I think healthy governance starts with healthy relationships and um focusing on building relationships with your board colleagues, with the superintendent, with the treasurer um would be a really great first
008step. Um taking a no surprises approach. Um making sure that you are not asking questions at a meeting that will ultimately and perhaps unintentionally throw someone under the bus. Um, but you have those conversations upfront, get information you need to be able to make good decisions. But approaching approaching this role with respect doesn't mean you agree with everything that your other colleagues uh may may uh propose. Um, but approaching it with curiosity, with respect, um, will go a long way toward healthy governance. >> Yeah. And Terry, just to just to jump on what she said. What should new board members do if they do find themselves in disagreement with the rest of the board? >> Sure. It's important for you to do your homework ahead of time and have your reasons. So often transparency is
009hurt by the fact that someone just votes, right? It gets very rude. Motion, second, vote. You've got to give your reasons. So if you explain yourself and if you are involved in a discussion ahead of a vote and then you respectfully vote against the majority of the board but then appreciate and support the will of the board will go a long way to building that relationship. >> You know uh our president when a new president comes into office they talk about the first 100 days. I want to talk about preparing for the first 90 days for a new school board member. Christie, what are the top three things uh every new board member should prioritize in their first 90 days? >> I would say um the top the top thing would be listening. Um you
010need to focus on listening, on learning, on connecting, spending time um asking really good questions. Um governance is about asking questions. Good governance is about asking good questions. when I was on the board, um I when I was first elected, I spoke with our superintendent and and of course, I think most board members really want to do a good job. So, I asked him what I could do. And in addition to being familiar with policies, um he really emphasized the importance of asking good questions, understanding there's always another side or two to situations that may be brought to you or stories that you're told, especially by community members. And if I can add to that, we because we've had this question so often about what they can do to be at least a little more
011up to speed, we put together an onboarding checklist and it's on our website. We'd be glad to share it. And if you would just go down through the items that we have and ask your superintendent and treasurer about each item, it will give you a much better overview before you ever even head into a first meeting. And I would take initiative to make sure that there is an orientation process. If if you are not approached by the superintendent or by the board president at the time, take initiative and ask um for that process to be implemented so that you can be fully oriented. And that's going to take a good year or two for you to fully be oriented to the work of the district. >> I know uh Terry uh you probably remember this.
012You get that first board packet that's stuffed full of information. uh can be overwhelming. H how should a new board member prepare for meetings so they can feel confident and effective while while at the meeting? >> One of my favorite stories when I was uh first started on boards was back when we had paper packets that were delivered by the custodian and you ripped it open and you went through each page. There were board members who came to a meeting, hadn't even opened their packet. >> Come on, don't open your packet or do [laughter] first look during your first meeting. So again, going through each page, as Christy said, talking to the superintendent ahead of time and asking questions. You can still ask the question in the meeting so everyone hears the answer, but it
013gives the superintendent and/or treasurer the opportunity to be prepared and to have the information needed. >> Uh Christie, I want to shift now to community transparency and boundaries. New board members uh often feel a pull from the community as you mentioned. uh neighbors, parents, colleagues, uh how do you recommend they manage those expectations and conversations? >> Well, that's a great question and and one of my first experiences as a newly elected board member, I was in the grocery store and was stopped by an acquaintance who um wanted to let me know that she had voted for me. me. She was so excited that I was elected for the to the board of education and then wanted me to change her daughter's bus stop, which um she wanted it moved to the end of her driveway.
014And of course, I'm listening wideeyed, nodding my head, and unfortunately that was interpreted as agreement where I was listening. Um, but I thankfully realized that I needed to quickly contact the superintendent to make the connection. I knew the transportation manager and in many cases in small districts, you're going to know folks that you can contact. Follow that chain of command. Um, the superintendent in that case connected me with the transportation manager. I connected the transportation manager with uh with the community member so that she could understand that there's a lot more that goes into bus routes and transportation and um that that's the best way to go about it rather than saying I'll fix it. I'll take care of it. That's not our role. Our role is to be a bridge to make connections and
015to stay at that governance level. And Terry, to talk about transparency uh a little bit, how can a new board member stay transparent while also respecting confidentiality and the board's collective process? >> The importance of the board meeting just can't be emphasized enough. That's where you are a board member. That's where all the business needs to be done. And so being able to have conversation lends itself to transparency. The other thing that we always suggest is if you don't need an executive session, don't put it on the agenda. People think that you're just racing through that agenda to get to the good stuff in executive session. And so making sure you're being thoughtful about putting an executive session on the agenda, adding it if you need it, but giving reasons, talking about those top two,
016three messages that are the reason you're buying the property at Fifth and Maine. And I would add, if I might, uh, a lot of people think that transparency is about providing details. It's really about the what and the why that goes into decision- making. So you have to be aware that uh there's confidentiality in executive session and um it's not about you can be transparent by sharing you know the the decision not who thought what or who said what but what went into the decision and why it was made. >> Staying student focused. Uh you both emphasize that the board's core work is student achievement. Uh Terry, what does that look like in everyday schoolboard practice? One of the things that we find sometimes boards get removed from students particularly if you're not a parent,
017you're not in the buildings. So we are seeing more and more frequently having a student board member as student representative on the board of education is helpful to get that input. You know, should we be doing this? And the student can weigh in. Not that the students part necessarily the final decision, but if you want to put students first and you want student achievement to happen, you need to know that you're meeting students where they are, >> right? And and Christie, uh when meetings do get bogged down in adult issues, uh how can new members keep students at the center of those decision-making meetings? Well, I think there are good questions that that we can ask if we get bogged down into issues or disagreements that we need to ask. How is this beneficial to
018the students of our district? And how is this decision going to impact the students of our district? But be respectful. Um, we can agree uh to disagree respectfully, be curious. Um, I've always encouraged people to approach conflict with curiosity, to try to understand someone else's point of view, but bring it back to the fact that we are there to serve the students of this district and to make decisions in their best interest. >> I want to move now to professional development and support. Obviously, OSBA is here for that. Uh, Terry, how important is training for new board members? You went through it, right? uh what are the OSB resources they should be taking advantage of right away? >> Certainly our two-day workshops that we're having in the end of January from election to action. They're
019the last two weekends and they not only talk about board governance, but we have our legal division talking about parliamentary procedure and sunshine law and ethics. We have our legislative division explaining the importance of advocacy and how important it is for schoolboard members to be um at the state house. And we also talk about policy. They're your armor. You've got to know what your policies are. So having that breadth of knowledge before they get started into their four-year term is extremely important. >> And and Chrissy, these are these are two-day events, right? Across in each region of the state, correct? >> Yes. Yes. We're holding these um events in all five regions. So um that information is available on our website. Some boards also will schedule customized workshops for all five board members and the
020superintendent and the treasurer and perhaps some of the administrative leadership team members to attend. So we are available to uh to do that work as well. When I was elected, I was very happy to find OSBA um because I did feel overwhelmed and I knew that I was stepping into something that was much more complex than perhaps I thought or others in the community thought. So, going to our website, um being able to look at fact sheets and resources, calling us. We have a legal hotline um that that you can contact if you have questions that um our attorneys can be helpful in addressing. But just know that we are here um and we've been in our case through this situation before. >> Um we're excited for you. Um I think you know it while
021it may feel overwhelming, there's nothing more special than being able to impact the lives of students in your district. >> Final question. Uh I'll start with you, Terry. What's the best advice you ever received as a new board member? >> I actually have two. So, the first one was just listen and let the person vent. I would get so nervous that I have to have an answer. And in reality, it was most often a question about running the district, not governing the district. So, listening and letting them tell their whole story was the first thing that people told me, approach it this way. And that was very helpful. The second thing I learned is the communication within the board. When I was president of a board, we had a board member who instead of asking
022us or the superintendent about legal issues, picked up the phone and called the district attorney. So, we got a bill for $9,000 that we didn't even know we were going to have done. So, talking with your board, talk board members, talking with your superintendent is really critical. >> Christie, how about you? Um yeah, I would say again it's important to lead with curiosity and with humility. Um as a new board member, you do bring value. You have a fresh perspective. You were elected to serve the community. You need to stay grounded. Um you need to stay student focused and um trust that your leadership matters. I want to extend our sincere thank you to our guests for sharing their firsthand experience and practical advice. And to all of you for watching and listening, leading the
023way, especially those stepping into public service for the first time. If you are a newly elected board member, remember this. You don't have to know everything on day one. You don't have to know all the answers. You just need to stay curious, stay engaged, and stay focused on what matters most, and that's students. OSBA is here to support you every step of the way from your very first board meeting to the many decisions ahead. So be sure to explore our workshops, our online resources, our regional events and governor support tools and our customized in district training. You can find information at ohiochoolboards.org or reach out directly to our team anytime. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to follow Leading the Way on your favorite podcast platform and share it with your colleagues or your
024new board member teammates. We'll see you next time on OSBA's Leading the Way.