What do school board members deal with?

amother

Mint

Thu, Dec 14 2023, 4:07 am

smss wrote:

They hire the head of school, but then they should trust him/her to hire the rest of the staff and not stick their noses in. IMO.

I wish the board at my school would get involved and fire the principal at my school who has been doing a miserable job. Both parents and staff are unhappy with the administration. The kids don't care, they just have no clue and I think they don't even realize it's the principal, because this principal is so not visible, just stays in the office most of the day. The board has quietly approached a few people and asked for honest feedback but most people are too nervous....everyone wants a decent evaluation and principals can be vindictive if they feel threatened. Something about the way the board is set up, they don't have direct ability to fire the principal, only the dean is able to do that. (Nobody likes the dean, either. He's jumped from school to school so we are hoping he's not at our school too much longer. He's been at 3 different schools in different states in the past 10 years, so probably at some of the schools that posters here either work for or have sent children, too ...I knew it was a red flag when the board hired him, but they didn't ask for any of our input!)

amother

Viola

Thu, Dec 14 2023, 6:03 am

It depends on the school.

School boards used to be more active and have more power in frum schools. In the 1970s some of them not only abused their power to override the decision of those who were actually working in the school about educational issues they also made very stupid financial decisions. Despite their members being partners in some of the most prestigious law and accounting firms in the US. After that they got a bad reputation and most schools particularly those who opened after that tried to limit their power.

It's always easier to make bad decisions for someone else and to lose other peoples money

mha3484 ↓

Thu, Dec 14 2023, 7:01 am

Where I live, they are a check and balance on the hanhala. We also have a vaad ha chinuch for this too, for haskafic matters. The board is more financial. Its a real mix of income levels which I think is great. Some very wealthy and some very middle class regular people. Also some older families who have graduated but still want to be involved and some newer ones with younger kids.

They provide financial oversight, plan for future growth, serve as a reality check for the administration. Fundraise. Set tuition. Present a different perspective on whatever topic they are discussing.

I would never send to a school where the menahel/menaheles has all the power and is responsible to no one. Everyone needs to answer to someone.

amother

↑ OP

Thu, Dec 14 2023, 7:03 am

mha3484 wrote:

Thank you to all who answered.

I think that ideally it should be like it was said, a checks and balances on hanhala, working with vaad hachinuch.
And also that they only hire head of school and let him or her do the hiring

Would love to hear other ideas and insights

↑ mha3484

Thu, Dec 14 2023, 7:19 am

I think though that even with hiring and firing we are all human and can subconsciously be nogeah bdvar and some staff who really need to be fired stay too long.

My son had a rebbe that was a full on disaster and it took getting a new menahel and a lot of parental complaining to get the rebbe out of a classroom. He does a different job in the school that we all think its a great fit for him so it all worked out in the end but it took a lot for that change to happen. The first menahel didnt see an issue, the current one started to see the issue and tried to fix it and when it wasnt fixable he moved positions around but its an example of why the head of the school should have to answer to someone else.