Issues with individual board members

Good morning. We have an issue with one of our board members attempting to micromanage the district. We are a small elementary district with 1500 students. She is constantly emailing the superintendent with many questions . Most of the questions do not fall under board business. I have tried to speak with her as has the vice president. She will not respond except in writing. The superintendent has asked to speak with her on multiple occasions and she again wants everything in writing. She emails the superintendent at all hours and I want to politely put a stop to it. These have been difficult times for all and the rest of us believe the superintendent has done a stellar job with things. Recently we all agreed to extend the superintendent's contract. We had several conversations and all 5 agreed. This board member changed her mind the day of the board meeting and voted no creating a lot of questions, turmoil, and shade on our district. She hasn't explained why either. Any thoughts on how to deal with her?

One strategy I have also used is to put the ground rules in play that all questions are collected by the board president and then all questions and answers will be provided to the entire board once a week. Board members can copy the Superintendent on the emails but board members should not expect responses to those emails during the week. This helps foster the culture that the sup works for the Board and not micromanaging board members, and manages board expectations on when they will get answers to questions. I also include ground rules on what will be answered and what will not be answered. Eg., Requests for a compilation of data that does not exist? No. Request for our last demographic study? Yes. On retreat, we used Jamie McPherson from NYSSBA over the summer and he was very helpful in helping us reset- one activity we did was - board oversight or board overreach.

Replies

Marissa Mims February 21, 2021 at 7:31pm

Unfortunately, I know exactly what you are going through. The only way to stop this is to do so quickly and as a board. What do your board guidelines say about working with the superintendent. NYSSBA has great board operation in procedures. The board must be consistent in redirecting her or it will just get worse. If her questions are as a parent she should follow the same chain of command as other parents.
Carol Popolow Abraham February 7, 2021 at 11:09am

Rachel, we do similar but not as formal (once a week compilation). I really like this! I tend to include the board in answers as they come up. I like the once a week predictability!
Rachel Relkin February 6, 2021 at 10:19am

One strategy I have also used is to put the ground rules in play that all questions are collected by the board president and then all questions and answers will be provided to the entire board once a week. Board members can copy the Superintendent on the emails but board members should not expect responses to those emails during the week. This helps foster the culture that the sup works for the Board and not micromanaging board members, and manages board expectations on when they will get answers to questions. I also include ground rules on what will be answered and what will not be answered. Eg., Requests for a compilation of data that does not exist? No. Request for our last demographic study? Yes. On retreat, we used Jamie McPherson from NYSSBA over the summer and he was very helpful in helping us reset- one activity we did was - board oversight or board overreach.
Carol Popolow Abraham February 6, 2021 at 9:52am

I concur with the board retreat suggestion. This is such a difficult situation! I empathize with your leadership team. How has the Super been handling the emails? Does the super respond or refer all requests for information through the board president? That is one of the roles our board president has. Requests for district board related information are directed through the leadership team.
Eric geringswald February 5, 2021 at 1:50pm

Clearly the board member does not know their place or understand their role is one of setting policy and not managing the day to day. We had an outside facilitator come in to do a retreat and he was awesome. He helped build cohesion among the management team. Ray Jorgensen is his name and if you can get him to work with you he will be worth his weight in gold. If you need his info let me know.
Bill Grau February 5, 2021 at 11:28am

I agree with what everyone has said and I would like to add that you should consider emailing the expectations of board members to her and telling her that she is not meeting those expectations. Reiterate that the board does not run the district, the Superintendent does and that her actions are hampering the Superintendents ability to do his job because he is always responding to her.
Tracy Young February 5, 2021 at 11:18am

Could it be that the rogue board member feels that they are not being heard? Would it be helpful for the Board President and the Vice President to chat with the rogue board member? Perhaps you could ask that both officers be copied on all emails so that you can prioritize them for the superintendent.
Scott M. Johnson February 5, 2021 at 10:23am

I agree with the Board Retreat suggestion. It should concentrate onboard roles
Rachel Relkin February 5, 2021 at 10:21am

I recommend having a Board retreat. 3rd party neutral is helpful.
Russell Harris January 29, 2021 at 1:26pm

workshop with your attorney to review roles of board members.

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