Commentary: School Board Policy Governance
November 9, 2007 by admin
Filed under Education, Guest Writer: Field, M.R., Politics
It was my intention to write a news post about the discussion of Policy Governance that took place at the November 6, 2007, meeting of the Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) School Board. I quickly discovered that the school board and local media are doing a very poor job of explaining the details. As a result, I have spent hours looking at the Governance Compact, checking out web sites, and trying to make sense of the proposed End goals handed out at the November 6th meeting and the graduation goals that are the subject of upcoming public meetings.
Policy Governance is a registered mark of John Carvey. His book, Boards that Make a Difference: a new design for leadership in nonprofit and public organizations, has been a leading resource used by the school board as it revises its policy guidance. The board has also used the services of Charney Associates, a consulting company in Denver, Colorado, that “specialize[s] in helping boards of directors of nonprofit, corporate and governmental organizations become stronger leadership teams,” according to information on its web site.
According to the December 2005 issue of Leadership Insight, a newsletter of the National Association of School Boards, the model of Policy Governance helps to eliminate confusion between the oversight role required of a school board and the habit of many boards to micro-manage school systems. That same issue includes an overview of the 2002 Governance Compact of the DMPS school board and notes the board’s purposes under the compact as including: (1) serving as a link between the district and the community, (2) maintaining written governing policies, (3) assessing the superintendent’s performance, (4) developing and monitoring the district’s budget, and (5) conducting regular board self-assessments.
Since the November 6th discussion of public involvement was presented in context of Policy Governance, I took it to mean next week’s public meetings would be about the 32-page End goals document on board behavior and job performance criteria for the superintendent. I was wrong. The public meetings are to discuss 24 goals for students. Apparently these goals will be incorporated into the Policy Governance document, but nothing was mentioned in the public meetings advertisement linking the students’ goals to the policies document. In addition, while board discussion mentioned the community forums that were held this past summer and their apparent correlation to the new 24 goals, the public meeting advertisement did not make that connection.
The inconsistent use of acronyms and the lack of explanation of some acronyms is part of the sloppiness in the Policy Governance document. In addition, the president of the board is referred to as The Chair. Missing from the document is the role of the vice president.
Much more needs to be written about the idea of Policy Governance and about the specific policies proposed by the school board. Getting from the general to the specific is what is going to be important in holding the board accountable to the public.
M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa and covers school board meetings for AroundDesMoines.com. 
Here are the end goals for students that the DMPS will present at public meetings starting 11/12/2007:
Overall statement: The Des Moines Public Schools exist so that graduates possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful at the next stage of their lives.
1. Graduates demonstrate strategies for life-long learning
* They exhibit competent thinking
* They exhibit intuitive thinking
* They understand systems, processes, and underlying structures
* They exhibit creative and innovative thinking
* They anticipate future trends
* They demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving abilities
2. Graduates demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a rigorous core curriculum
* They demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening
* They demonstrate proviciency in mathematics, including algebra and geometry
* They demonstrate proficiency in science, including life, earth and physical science
* They demonstrate proficiency in civics and government
* The demonstrate financial and economic literacy
* They demonstrate an understanding of the value of fine and performing arts in society
3. Graduates possess technological and information literacy
* They can access and evaluate information from a variety of sources to continue their learning
* They understand, manage and create oral, written and multimedia communication
* They utilize appropriate technology to apply or analyze information
4. Graduates have world awareness
* They understand the rights and obligations of citizenship at local, state, national and global levels
* They learn from and work with individuals representing diverse cultures and religions in a spirit of mutual respect in school, work, and community contexts
* They are aware of issues facing the world
* They are actively engaged in community life
5. Graduates possess the knowledge and skills to be self-directed and autonomous
* They demonstrate an understanding of the attributes of physical and mental well-being
* They act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind
* They exercise sound reasoning in making complex choices
* They monitor their own undestanding and learning needs
* They understand the role of work and productivity in shaping the circumstances of their daily lives
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Current Student Goals (Series 100 in the Policies and Procedures)
Mission Statement: The Des Moines Public Schools equips students for life by challenging each one to achieve rigorous standards in academics, arts and career preparation
The Board of Directors of the Des Moines Independent Community School District believes that it is the responsibility of our schools to help each student:
* Gain the command of reading, writing, mathematics, and communication skills
* Value the laws of nature and the world of science;
* Understand and appreciate principles of democracy and citizenship;
* Cultivate abilities to think, reason, and adapt
* Develop respect for self and others;
* Succeed in worthwhile activities according to individual capabilities
* Prepare for continuing educational experiences
The Board of Directors believes that what is taught and how it is taught sustains and enriches a nation of free people. Therefore, the curriculum must make provisions for:
* Demanding the highest scholarship attainable from all students.
* Stimulating creative thinking
* Educating students in decision making based on gathering all pertinent information and evaluating it
* Developing an appreciation of the fine arts and the importance of health and recreation
* Imparting our nation’s traditions, customs, aspirations and ethnic contributions
* Acquainting students with worldwide economic, social, and political problems and with our nation’s role as a world leader
* Teaching students to think for themselves and to act with and for others while recognizing the strength of collective efforts for a common goal
* Identifying and developing the leadership potential of each student
* Training in practical skills including computer literacy
* Developing the concept of lifelong learning and personal growth
* Understanding and appreciation of our multi-cultural society
* Resolving conflict in a positive and productive manner
The Des Moines Independent Community School District is dedicated not only to the development of the common needs of all children, but also to the accommodation of the uniqueness of each child.
Adopted: April 17, 1990; Revised: June 15, 1993; January 17, 2001
Last review: 2004-05
Here is my first round of comments on the new student goals:
The overall statement should be: The Des Moines Public Schools exist so that students and graduates possess the knowledge and skills to be fully-participating members of society throughout their lifetimes.
My reasons for rewriting the overall statement include:
1. Abilities are natural talents that cannot be taught. For example, I do not have the ability to be an Olympic-level sprinter because my legs are too short but perhaps I can do some other type of running..
2. Public education in grades K-12 should provide the basics of education (i.e., the skills) that will help people function throughout life regardless of how they continue their education. For example, if I wanted to consider running marathons, I should be able to understand the training, time commitment, and science to stay healthy and competitive. Maybe I would do that through a trainer, through a college course, or by reading articles on running. The basic skills include being able to read and to include diverse information into reasoning. In this particular case, the coordination of mind and body is also useful.
3. Knowledge of specific industries and of specific jobs must be taught by the companies. How success is defined should be left to each person. For example, I do not expect the schools to tell me how to evaluate specific marathon courses or to tell me in what time I must finish. How best to train and how best to provide energy during marathons is something I would learn through the sports industry.
4. I include students as well as graduates because the general public expects students to be part of society even before they graduate. A second grader should know not to sneeze into a salad bar. A seventh grader should know how to operate a bicycle so as not to endanger other people. A tenth grader should be able to write an effective letter to an editor or speak before a school board on an issue of concern to the student. We need to hold the superintendent accountable to standards throughout a student’s K-12 education, not just upon graduation.
There are many objections that I have to specific bullet points. Under the heading for graduates have world awareness, I object to the first item because there is not global citizenship. There is a global society, but we are not yet citizens of a global government. Moreover, I do not like the simple requirement for understanding about rights and obligations. There needs to be a clearer standard regarding the connection between rights and obligations and the extreme importance of that connection to society.
Similarly, I object to the item calling for graduates to be aware of issues facing the world. This is not a proper standard. The standard should be to understand how a single issue impacts local communities, nations, and the world, and even individuals.
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Here is the second round of comments on the new student goals:
First, a correction/addendum: I missed a subheading when I typed up the list of new end goals. “Graduates demonstrate the ability to adapt successfully to changes in educational, workplace and community settings.”
What if adapting is wrong, either for the individual or for society? Do we want politicians who adapt to the changing winds in a campaign or do we want one who holds true to his or her beliefs? While flexibility is a desired trait in a fast-changing world, the goal should be possessing the skills and knowledge to assess changes and to understand one’s choices in either adapting or opposing the change.
The bullet items under graduates demonstrate strategies for life-long learning are a good example of how the new end goals try to capture every current theory but end up only cluttering the objectives. This category has six bullet items. The three that specify types of thinking should be removed. Different people exhibit different types of thinking (e.g., intuitive or creative and innovative). That is why a workplace, an elected board, or any successful group should have a variety of people. The third type of thinking listed in the goal is competent thinking. I have no idea what this is supposed to mean, but it pulls up thoughts of merely agreeing with whoever is in charge. The two items that should be kept are for graduates to understand systems, processes, and underlying structures and to demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving abilities. The last item should be changed from anticipate future trends, which is a passive action, to the more proactive to understand how current events may project into future trends, which gets to the key point of understanding cause and effect.
The current goals summarize the life-long learning goals with the simple, but grammatically-incorrect statement: Cultivate abilities to think, reason, and adapt. (It should read: cultivate skills to think, to reason, and to choose adaptation or protest.).
The category for graduates demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a rigorous core curriculum is one in which I have only one concern. The last bullet item calls for graduates to demonstrate an understanding of the value of fine and performing arts in society. The item should call for understanding of the role of arts in society. Teaching the value of arts implies conveying some generic sense of cultural appreciation and use of artists to promote a city as world class. Teaching the role of arts requires teaching the history of art and how it evolved as the class of wealth changed from the churches to the business community, how the size of art changed when oil paints replaced egg-based tempura, and how the emotions of a piece of art can capture the anguish or fears of a group of people.
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The above comments, and the original commentary, are provided to inform the public about the new graduation end goals. However, they also are intended to show how the general public can, and should, be involved in helping to set those goals. Similar analysis should also be applied to the school board’s rule under Policy Governance, as well as to the standards by which the superintendent will be evaluated.
At the November 6th school board meeting, the district’s communications official, Phil Roeder, answered a question from Director Jon Narcisse about the cost of the advertisements run in the Des Moines Register announcing public meetings on the graduation end goals. Roeder said the cost of a quarter page ad was $1,100 times 4 neighborhood sections. The ad ran 3 times in each section. Voters within the DMPS district should ask how spending $13,200 for these advertisements, including their timing, their limited reach, and the limited information they conveyed, represents the values those voters expect the school board to possess and to exhibit.
I was interested to note one item in particular in the 32-page Policy Governance document available at the November 6th board meeting. Under the board members’ code of conduct, a sentence clearly states, “Should a Board member apply for staff employment, he or she must first resign from the Board.” This is amusing because Phil Roeder waited until he had been hired to handle the district’s communications before he resigned from the Board this past summer. Nevertheless, the next section allows Board members to volunteer within the district. While there is no fiscal conflict of interest in terms of no money being paid for salary or wages, volunteer work within the district can create awkward situations for everyone. There are many other ways to volunteer that do not require being under the authority of the superintendent.
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[...] board Member Connie Boessen talked briefly about the school board’s responsibilities under Policy Governance, school Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring reviewed the community conversations process overseen by [...]