Researching the School Board

Aspiring Superintendents Newsletter

Winter 2008-09

You may not think much about board members before meeting them at a first interview. Why invest the time and energy to learn about them if the process goes no further than a first meeting? Actually, there are at least three reasons why you might take the time and make the effort to learn as much as you can before meeting board members in person.

First, you can significantly increase your comfort and confidence leading up to and during the initial and subsequent interviews if you have some familiarity with the people who may change your future. Second, an understanding of board members as individuals can give you insight regarding how they might think, where they might be coming from and looking for and what it might be like to work with each of them. Third, familiarity with the board as a whole and how board members work together can give you insight into what it might be like to work with and for the board. The bottom line is that the more you know about board members individually and as a group, the better able you will be to respond with insight and understanding to their interview questions and build rapport with them during the selection process. Your knowledge also gives you a potential advantage over other less informed candidates.

So how do you go about conducting research on the school board with whom you will be interviewing? Obviously, a good place to start is with a visit to the school district’s website. Many school districts include on their websites profiles of each board member including length of service, general family information such as children in school, geographic area of the school district each board member represents and, in some cases, occupation and educational background.

If the school board is organized into committees to do its work, you might find on the website which committees that board members serve upon, who chairs which committees and even the topics and issues on which each committee focuses. This information can offer a hint about areas of particular interest to and expertise of board members.

You can learn a significant amount about how the board works by reviewing recent board meeting minutes, also often archived on many school district websites. Obviously, you will want to review recent and current issues considered by the board. This information can be helpful to your selection of examples and experience to share during the interview. However, you can learn much more from board meeting minutes. Pay attention to how the board typically votes. Are votes typically unanimous? If votes are split, is there a pattern? Do splits occur around certain types of issues, such as budget or social issues? Does it appear that split votes fall along consistent lines, implying that the split may be deeper than a specific issue or group of issues. Equally important, pay attention to the length of board meeting minutes. Often, school boards that are not getting along demand more detail in their minutes to ensure that differing perspectives are captured. You may also see more amended minutes as board members seek to have their comments or positions recorded to their satisfaction and for future reference. You will want to be careful about “over reading” meeting minutes, but at the very least what you learn can guide further inquires, if necessary.

If the school board broadcasts its meeting via local access cable television or video streaming, you may have yet another source of valuable information. Obviously, you can learn a lot just by watching. Yet, you need to remember that you are seeing only a slice of the board’s work and what you are seeing may be influenced by the contents of an individual meeting agenda, the composition of the audience or other external issues, pressures or concerns. If a video broadcast is not available, be cautious about appearing personally to observe the board before your first interview. Some board members are likely to see this action as too forward and intrusive or even lacking a sense of propriety.

Beyond school district websites and video of past meetings, you can further expand your understanding by visiting the websites of local media. Articles and reports on board meetings and board actions can often confirm suspicions and dispel uncertainties while providing some context for and analysis of what you may have read or seen. However, you will want to remember that members of the media also have their own perspectives and motivations as they report that could color what you read.

If you have access as a result of information from the district website or elsewhere to occupations of board members, consider collecting some additional detail. “Googling” board members can often give you key insights and background. (They probably are “googling” you, too.) Knowing that a board member is an attorney can be helpful, but knowing that she is a labor attorney is even more valuable. Further, you might take a few minutes to learn about the organizations, corporations or small businesses with which board members are associated. The role a board member plays in an organization, the general health of the organization and recent events impacting the organization can all be helpful to understanding board member behavior and background and can provide valuable insights regarding how best to approach them.

If the school board has engaged a search consultant, this person can be a valuable source of information about board members individually and as a group. He or she will likely have already interviewed with the board when selected to assist with the search and probably has met with the board on multiple occasions to plan the search and learn about the leadership profile the board is seeking. These insights can be very helpful to your preparation leading up to a first interview.

Finally, don’t forget to use your own network to learn what you can. However, remember that what you are hearing is at least second hand and may have been passed through even more perceptions and agendas before coming to you. So, be careful about depending on rumor and unverified data as a sole source for any aspect of the boards’ work, character and relationships.

Without question, the pressure and pace of the interview will give you plenty to absorb and manage. So, take the time and make the effort in advance to learn as much as you can about the board.