Tiffany Jackson, Director of Membership Services
It’s that time of year again, where many boards are looking at scheduling their Board Self Assessment and Superintendent Evaluation. Some of you I’m sure have already done yours! Something to consider when scheduling the Board Self Assessment or Superintendent Evaluation is whether to have it facilitated by a third party, or facilitated in-house by the Board President or another designee.
This is a great question. You may ask yourself, why should our board have these processes facilitated by an independent third party like AASB? We’ve got great leaders who facilitate our meetings every month, they should be able to facilitate the process. Yes, they probably can, but it’s worth taking the time to evaluate the options and decide as a Board what best fits your needs.
It’s up to the board whether to have the process facilitated or not. There are pros and cons to having the processes facilitated by an independent party like AASB. On the pro’s side, AASB isn’t on anyone’s side, rather AASB has a commitment to advocating “for children and youth by assisting school boards in providing quality public education, focused on student achievement, through effective local governance.” This includes helping Boards ensure they’re meeting their contractual agreement to the Superintendent to conduct a Superintendent Evaluation, and policy obligation to annually conduct a Board self assessment. On the con’s side, it does take resources to invite an independent facilitator to the district for the process.
Having your Board Self Assessment or Superintendent Evaluation facilitated by a third party like AASB allows parties to focus on and participate in the issues at hand, rather than trying to remain impartial and participate at the same time. When AASB facilitates the process, It’s the facilitators job to help guide the parties through compromise to consensus. AASB has fostered a number of relationships in districts by facilitating the Superintendents Evaluation, helping Boards and Superintendents to find common ground and build upon their strengths.
By having a third party like AASB facilitate the Board’s self assessment process, you enable the board to have someone push it to have deeper conversations. A facilitator may identify areas where the board alone has identified as a strength or challenge, but not the “why” it’s a strength or challenge. The facilitator can ask probing questions of the board to help get to the root of the issue easier than if one of the board’s own was facilitating the process. Sometimes an outside view of the process helps to identify issues the board doesn’t see from the inside.
Ultimately, it’s up to the board whether to utilize a third party facilitator like AASB or not. We at AASB are happy to provide information on our services to you to help you determine if we’re the best fit for your district. Please contact the Board Development team for more information.