QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
Question: The full board is fired up about coaching, but one board member keeps publicly demeaning the coach and the coaching during board meetings every chance they get. What should we do? -- Coach in California
TESBC: This will happen. While it feels like your problem as a coach -- since you're the one being demeaned -- it's really a problem for the board. The board must decide if it's getting enough value for its students from the coaching to justify the expense and involvement of a coach. If so, board members need to publicly say so when challenged, regardless of who is doing the challenging. If the board does not -- or if board members claim to value the coaching but won't publicly defend the choice to have a coach -- you probably won't be working with that client much longer. Boards need to self-advocate for professional development; it's messier if the person being compensated for the PD is the only person advocating for it.
Don't expect board members to know they need to take the actions described above. Advise the board chair (and any other board members who ask) that if they don't speak up, they'll appear defensive or in agreement, harming the coaching. If board members value the coaches' support, they need to stand up for it, or it will disappear due to political pressure.
Question: One of the board members is actively running candidates against other board members in a bid to take over the board (and get rid of us). What, if anything, should I be doing or not doing? -- Coach in Texas
TESBC: Most important: stay out of electoral politics. It’s inappropriate and unethical for a coach to be serving the board as a whole while politically undermining an individual board member. This is one reason why we have a firm policy against coaches coaching in their own communities.
What you should be doing, however, is reviewing the implementation timeline to ensure that community training before elections is included. The board should be actively providing pre-boarding for prospective school board members. Then, once the ballot is locked, provide another round of pre-boarding. After elections but before new members are sworn in, provide another round of pre-boarding. All this needs to be in the implementation timeline far in advance of the election cycle to avoid appearing in response to any particular candidate.
INTERESTING READS & LISTENS
This recent paper evaluates conflict in school boards and its evolution. They'll make their database of school board meetings searchable which could be beneficial for additional research into school board effectiveness.
There are so many claims made in "research" that, as coaches, we often have to wade through. To help, here's a guide to analyzing research for people who aren't researchers.
BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS
A subscriber asked us to watch the meeting of a school board in Ohio. Here are the highlights from the Board meeting:
Total Minutes: 350mins
Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 15mins
Key Topics: HR, student services, goal monitoring, transportation, SPED
What Coach Celebrates:
You placed a discrete results-focused monitoring segment on academic outcomes (state report card vs. similar districts), including comparative trend analysis and clarifying questions about data visualization and foundational skills. This is aligned to Outcomes monitoring.
Tight handling of motions after reconvening ensured that essential actions (non-certificated hires; special education contracts; payment-in-lieu; easement) were resolved on the record.
What Coach Recommends:
Adopt SMART Goals about student outcomes. We were unable to find this board's goals or a strategic plan on its website.
Lift Outcomes monitoring to ≥50% of meeting time. Replace department “reports” with structured Goal/Guardrail monitoring: one Goal at a time, each with a current result vs. target, analysis of variance, and next-step commitments with deadlines.
Publish a Goal Monitoring calendar in BoardDocs and anchor discussion to it. That makes it easier to align broad updates (e.g., recruitment, services) with specific Goals or Guardrails (e.g., grade-level math proficiency, early-literacy on-track, chronic absenteeism).
During monitoring, insist on SMART questions (Strategy-focused, Measure-focused, Ask-oriented, Results-focused, Time-bound). As an example tailored to the presented data: “Based on the Q2 target for % proficient in Algebra I, which strategies caused the week-over-week trajectory of growth needed to close the 2pt gap?”
Timebox procedural elements (pledge, norms, agenda adoption, comments) to ≤10 minutes total and consolidate executive sessions where lawful to reclaim public time for Goals.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES
Effective School Board Officer Selection
During our monthly free 30-min webinar, we'll discuss things school boards should be considering when it's time to select officers for the school board and policy options regarding officer selection.
11am central on Friday, December 12th, 2025
Did you miss last month's 30-minute free webinar? Email Greg for a make-up session on any of our growing list of topics, including governance policy, delegation policy, effective budgeting, superintendent evaluation, professional services management, strategic planning, consent agendas, and more.
BONUS MATERIALS
For paid subscribers, here are links to additional resources (to gain access to the links below, please consider subscribing):
Additional details about the analyzed meeting:
Board Meeting Video
Meeting Agenda
Strategic Plan <if one exists>
Time Use Analysis
Guidance documents related to this issue:
Effective new board member pre-boarding (which we argue is more effective than after-the-fact onboarding).
Effective school board officer selection strategies.
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