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Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2006

Written in stone or fluid document?
Staff finds Principles still relevant for boards

by Linda Dawson

Linda Dawson is IASB director of editorial services and Journal editor.

Before mankind identified papyrus and parchment as useful ways to record ideas for posterity, people took chisel in hand to gouge out messages on cave walls or rocks.

The image of Moses holding a stone tablet as God carved the Ten Commandments has been depicted by artists as well as immortalized in a movie featuring Charlton Heston. Such words were written with permanence.

But Moses and papyrus predate the #2 lead pencil with an eraser, white correction fluid or computers that allow deletion of whole paragraphs with a single keystroke. The development of ways to easily change what has been written — beyond just tearing it up — has led to greater use of the saying: "This isn't written in stone."

School boards, as well as businesses and non-profit organizations, often develop mission statements, visions and lists of core beliefs as part of strategic planning exercises. Then they develop goals, based on those initial statements, and action plans to achieve those goals.

In the process, many refer to their goals and action plans as "fluid documents," indicating their expectation that goals and actions might change. Over time, even the mission and vision of a district may change, depending on changes in circumstances or demographics.

Core beliefs are less likely to change. However, that does not mean board members should not reexamine those beliefs periodically as part of being good stewards of their organization.

During the past year, as The Journal examined what it looks like when school boards frame their work using the Foundational Principles of Effective Governance, Illinois Association of School Boards' staff began to revisit those Principles to determine if they continued to reflect the most important aspects of governance for school boards.

Since their creation and adoption, the association has seen both staff turnover as well as staff growth. Would new employees see the same value in the Principles? Would those who helped with the initial work feel their words were still relevant?

Background

Nine and a half years ago, IASB staff had a vision. They wanted to create a framework to guide school board members toward more effective governance in their districts.

A July 1997 meeting at Heartland Lodge in Nebo, Illinois, allowed staff to explore what school board governance would look like if it were based on leadership principles that represented best practices observed in actual school districts. While influenced by John Carver's work with corporate board leadership, staff recognized early on that school boards — as publicly elected bodies — have unique responsibilities and face political realities that are not a part of life for not-for-profit or corporate boards.

With those "realities" in mind, IASB staff set about its work of developing what they envisioned as a timeless set of principles that would look and sound like the work of school boards. By annual conference in Chicago that year, staff presented a panel to introduce their proposed governance framework.

Following that initial presentation, discussions continued regarding language and meaning while the Principles were integrated into all of IASB's training materials. By the fall of 2000, the association took a bigger step by developing a video that would become the cornerstone of new board member training.

Since then, a governance group with members of the policy, field services, governmental relations and communications departments has met on a less frequent basis to discuss how the Principles were being used and how that, in turn, was reflected in actual school board governance.

Revisiting the Principles

"The Foundational Principles of Effective Governance represent a philosophy that underlies and aligns the work of IASB staff," said Cathy A. Talbert, associate executive director for policy services. "Since 1997, we have used the Principles in board training and other IASB services. Revisiting a discussion of the Principles allowed veteran staff to reaffirm commitment to these tenets and new staff to develop their understanding and commitment."

In the process, IASB staff looked at the wording of each Principle as well as the wording of the supporting statements that help guide discussions of what that Principle looks like when "lived" by a school board.

The result? Staff members, both veterans and newcomers, agreed that wording of the six Principles themselves should be retained as originally stated. The only changes made were to the supporting statements, and even then the intent was to offer clarification rather than change the meaning and direction.

"While the original supporting statements helped us convey the ideas of governance to school boards, the new supporting statements are easier to follow, have a better flow and should help boards understand the concepts better," said Angela Peifer, senior director of school board development.

Because the six Principles themselves have not changed, nothing needs to be changed with the video used in new board member training. The video features vignettes of a school board exemplifying — or not exemplifying — the Principles.

New copies of the Principles, however, have been printed and reflect the revisions by listing an initial adoption date of 1998 and a revision date of August 2006. These copies will be distributed at all future board trainings and will be posted on the association's Web site.

Revisiting the Principles is a way that staff can practice what they preach, according to Michael D. Johnson, IASB executive director.

"The association believes it is important for staff to model the process of continual improvement," he said. "By revisiting their work on the Principles, staff members who represent all facets of the organization that work directly with boards show that they are willing to do just that: look again at a process that has been used with success with an eye for making it even better."