QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
Question: Do we have a sample superintendent contract? -- Coach in Ohio
TESBC: No. But we do identify key ideas that should be included in a superintendent contract for it to support a school board's focus on student outcomes. Clauses that should be part of a superintendent contract include:
Evaluation: based solely on Goals and Guardrails
Termination: based solely on non-performance of Goals or Guardrails, or on illegal/unethical/immoral behavior
Professional Development: pay for them to have a coach who is proficient with Goals and Guardrails, and for them to have an annual 360 evaluation
Bonus: if done, based solely on significant exceeding -- not merely achieving -- the Goals
You're probably noticing a theme here. In short, in every way that the contract can reinforce a focus on student outcomes, encourage boards to do so.
Question: In one issue of TESBM, you encouraged the board to censure a board member for acting up but in another issue when board members were misbehaving, you said it should be tolerated and there was nothing the board could do. Which is it? Which should we be coaching boards to do: enforce the rules or let things slide? -- Coach in Texas
TESBC: This is an important question, so thank you for asking. The difference is board policy. Board policy is the written form of the community's vision and values. So when a board member violates board policy, the board has an obligation to act to represent/protect the community's vision and values. In those moments, quiet 1-on-1 conversations are the best approach. But if that doesn't work, the board should slowly escalate, possibly eventually arriving at censure.
But in the second example you cite, the board member hadn't violated board policy. Was their behavior undesirable? Certainly. But unless a board policy was violated -- unless the community's written vision and values were at stake -- the board should not take formal action against the board member. Could the board use this moment to inform modifications to their existing policies to better align with the vision and values of the community? Certainly. But formal action such as censure is only appropriate in the event of board policy violation.
INTERESTING READS & LISTENS
This review of school system strategic plans in New Jersey has us thinking of replicating the study at a national level. Contact us if you're interested in participating.
Rick Maloney points out that the school board's vision has to look farther down the road than just the current circumstances.
While not coach related, Rick Hess does a good job of offering a reminder about how hard teaching is and how important systems are -- as we know, including the part boards play in those systems -- in not making the job harder.
BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS
A subscriber asked us to watch the meeting of a school board in Louisiana. Here are the highlights from the Regular Board Meeting:
Total Minutes: 95mins
Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0mins
Key Topics: legislative updates, proclamations, recognitions
What Coach Celebrates:
Meeting progressed efficiently (procedural time only 3.2%), with minimal overhead between items.
Chair reinforced adherence to agenda specificity and Robert’s Rules, helping reduce drift.
What Coach Recommends:
Adopt Goals: We couldn't find a current set of goals or a strategic plan.
Center Student Outcomes: Once you've adopted Goals, schedule at least one Goal monitoring item monthly (≥50% of dais time). Even a concise 10–15 minute monitoring touch‑point on an Interim Goal (predictive of a Goal) would materially shift this meeting’s alignment.
Right‑size Recognitions: Move proclamations/recognitions that are not Goals oriented to consent or pre‑board segment or time‑box them to protect monitoring time.
Bundle Info Updates as Pre‑Reads: Convert legislative updates into a written 1‑pager with Q&A limited to exceptions; use dais time to connect updates to specific Goals/Guardrails.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES
Effective Guardrail Setting
We are continuing the Policy Leadership series with a 30-minute webinar on how to adopt high quality Guardrail policies and what to look for in Interim Guardrails.
11am central on Friday, November 14th, 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
Time Use Analysis
Guidance documents related to this issue:
Effective clauses for superintendent contracts.
Effective strategic planning practices.
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