Questions for School Board Candidates

Questions for School Board Candidates
The School Board Vote is quickly approaching….MAY 19 is the Annual Budget Vote and School Board Election.
What are the Responsibilities of a Board Member
Schoolchildren should always their ultimate focus, school board members act officially at the board table, working with other board members to serve students and accomplish the following:
Create a shared vision for the future of education
Set the direction of the school district to achieve the highest student performance
Provide rigorous accountability for student achievement results
Develop a budget and present it to the community, aligning district resources to improve achievement
Support a healthy school district culture for work and learning
Create strategic partnerships with the community stakeholders
Build the district’s progress through continuous improvement
Adopt and maintain current policies
Hire and evaluate the superintendent
Ratify collective bargaining agreements
Maintain strong ethical standards
Characteristics of a Board Member

The following are attributes that all effective board members should possess.
Effective Communicator: Can describe what he or she wants and describe what others want; a good listener
Consensus Builder: Capable of working toward decisions that all can support and willing to compromise to achieve goals
Community Participant: Enjoys meeting a variety of people, can identify the community’s key communicators and reaches out to the community
Decision Maker: Is comfortable making decisions and can support group decision-making
Information Processor: Can organize priorities and schedules to handle large amounts of verbal and written information
Leader: Willing to take risks, be supportive of board colleagues, district staff and community
Team Player: Helps promote the board’s vision and goals

HERE IS A LIST OF SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR THE BOARD.
What motivates you to want to become a board member?
What attributes are essential for successful school board members?
What do you see as the board’s roles and responsibilities?
What role does policy play/have in the functioning of the board?
Do you have sufficient time/energy to devote to this position?
How would you handle the requests, if approached, by an individual? Special interest groups?
What qualities, behaviors should board members exhibit?
What is your vision for education in this community?
Do you understand the role of the superintendent? Describe the superintendent’s role.
Do board members/the board have a role in the day-to-day operation of the district?Can you/should you support a board decision that you were not in favor of?
What do you see as the primary work of the board?
What kind of relationship should a district/the board have with its community? With its parents and families?
How can a board know if its goals are being accomplished and its policies carried out?
Who should set the rules governing board procedures, methods and behavior? Who should enforce them?
With one or two meetings a month, all school boards are limited in what they can do. How does/should the board decide what’s most important?
How can the board be accessible to your community?
What responsibilities do board members have regarding advocacy?
What are the leadership responsibilities of school board members?
What are the current challenges facing education/school boards?
What is the most important responsibility of a school board?
What is the public relations role of a school board?

If the candidate is unable to answer many of these questions, then you might need to re-evaluate supporting them for a BOE Member.
REMEMBER EVERY VOTE COUNTS SO REMEMBER TO VOTE ON MAY 19TH 2015