Social Media, Search Firms, & Goal Setting

QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

• Question: Some of our school board members have a social media page where they post board votes they lost and tell lies about the superintendent. How can we work as a team if we are so divided?  -- Board Member in Maine

• TESBM: Bottom line: this is a tough situation with no easy answers, especially because the idea of "team" is often misunderstood. The experience of "team" is an emergent property of aligned action in the direction of aligned intention. Here are three ideas that build upon this premise:

  • First, don't make the situation worse by trying to squash their right to speech. Effectiveness comes from them choosing to use their speech in a way that maximizes benefit for students -- aligned action -- not from being forced to do so.

  • Second, work on developing a student outcomes focus -- aligned intention -- before worrying about or focusing on aligned actions. Has the board adopted Goals? If not, do that first. Has the board adopted Guardrails? If not, do that next. Is the board spending 50% of its meeting time each month monitoring progress toward its goals? If not, do that next. Without an aligned intention for the board to rally around, aligned action is very unlikely.
  • Third, the first transformation is internal. Whatever behaviors you want to see in your colleagues, you must embody that behavior in yourself first. I don't know your situation, but these board members are almost certainly reacting to something they've experienced. Figure out what that is in yourself -- which actions/inactions of yours preceeded their behavior -- and address it candidly so that they feel less of a need to do so themselves.
• Again, once situations get to this point, it can be hard to get back to a focus on student outcomes. But that needs to be your focus, not on trying to overpower your colleagues. 

• Question: What should the role of a search firm be in a superintendent search?  -- Board Member in Washington

• TESBM: Search firms can play a strong role in an effective search, but like anything that can be helpful, they can also be harmful. This is the most important thing: school board should select their superintendents, not search firms. Red flags include:

  • If the search firm is telling the board which candidates it can consider or not consider. The board should retain full authority over the candidate pool. A firm may screen for minimum qualifications or help verify references, but it should never act as a gatekeeper that limits the board’s choices.

  • If the search firm is using its own judgment to rank candidates. Instead, the search firm should facilitate the board selecting clear and objectively rankable criteria and thing bring a red/yellow/green list of all applicants: red candidates who do not meet the board's minimum requirements, yellow candidates who meet some requirements, and green candidates who meet all requirements.

  • If the search firm is steering the process toward a predetermined candidate. Sometimes firms have relationships with certain candidates and subtly shape the process to favor them. This undermines the integrity of the search and can lead to community distrust.

  • If the firm is more focused on speed than on fit. A rushed search may yield candidates who look good on paper but do not align with the district’s values, challenges, or long-term vision. Or worse, who are not fully vetted or background checked.

  • If the firm resists transparency. The board should insist on clear reporting about how candidates were recruited, what outreach was done to ensure a diverse pool, and what data the firm is using to evaluate applicants.

  • If the firm recommends weak interview processes or easy interview questions. Softball questions do not help reveal whether or not a candidate can deal with the challenging environment that is today's superintendency. Insist on creating your own interview questions as a board by first getting clear on what you want to know, then creating a question to learn it, and then creating a rubric to score answers to the question.

• In contrast, a strong search firm supports the board by:
  • Facilitating, not dominating, the process. They handle logistics, recruit broadly, ensure the timeline stays on track, and help the board structure community engagement.
  • Expanding the reach of the search. They can tap into national and regional networks, connect with leaders who might not otherwise apply, and help diversify the candidate pool.
  • Providing objective information. The firm’s role is to bring forward all qualified candidates with complete background information -- academic credentials, leadership experience, community references -- so the board can make an informed decision.
• The superintendent is the most consequential hire a school board makes. The search firm should be a trustworthy facilitator -- the board’s tool, not its boss.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

• In the last newsletter, we shared about a district where a board member was accused of making inappropriate remarks to staff. Based on the details in the article, your comments largely endorsed the actions taken by the school board: seek external counsel to investigate first to either substantiate or unsubstantiate the claims, then only if the claims are substantiated, taking action to temporarily curtail the board member's access to staff. In our experience, this light touch by the board is often enough to inspire the board member to cure the behavior.

INTERESTING READS

• Rick Maloney describes research on goal setting in school systems.

• What a federal government shutdown might mean for K-12.

BOARD MEETING ANALYSIS

A subscriber asked us to watch a board meeting in Arizona. Here are the highlights from the regular board meetings:

• Total Public Minutes: 141
  • Public Minutes Focused on Student Outcomes: 0 (0%)
  • Minutes Not Focused on Student Outcomes: Voting-18, Procedural/Other-82
  • Key Topics: policies, personnel
•  What Coach Celebrates: 

  • Efficient business blocks: The board handled multiple motions with clear roll calls and kept action segments relatively tight.

  • Follow-up on staffing impacts: The sidebar + RIF rescission decisions were resolved decisively within the same meeting, reducing uncertainty for affected employees.

  • Transparent logistics for goal work: The board explicitly moved goal work to a special session, which — if executed as a focused monitoring meeting — can improve future Student Outcomes Focus.

• What Coach Recommends:

  • Convert “Goals logistics” into actual Goal monitoring time. Bring the board’s adopted Goals (with lag/lead measures and targets) to the table and review current results, variances, and next steps. This is the single easiest way to raise Student Outcomes Focus above 50%.

  • Trade time from executive and general commentary into monitoring blocks. Pre-brief legal/negotiations items to shorten in-meeting transitions; cap public comment with a timer and reserve an explicit Goals monitoring agenda slot early in the meeting.

     

  • Adopt a standing Monitoring Calendar. Each regular meeting should include at least one Goal progress item (data review + interpretation + “if/then” commitments). When logistics/scheduling arise, park them to the end.

     

  • Use action templates. For each business item (policy, HR), attach the intended student impact (if any) and a check-back date to prevent drift toward adult-input time.

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

• Effective Goal Setting

  • We are continuing the Policy Leadership series with a 30-minute webinar on how to adopt high quality Goal policies and what to look for in Interim Goals.

    • 11am central on Friday, October 3rd, 2025

    • RSVP Here

• 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

    • RSVP Here

• Did you miss last month's 30-minute 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, or consent agendas.

BONUS MATERIAL

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 -- including a video link, time use evaluation, and more.

  • Board Meeting Video

  • Meeting Materials

  • Completed Time Use Evaluation

• A guidance document on effective superintendent searches.

• A guidance document on effective superintendent interviews.

Thank you for reading The Effective School Board Member. You ask tough questions and twice per month we get nationally certified school board coaches to provide answers. We help school board members tell their stories and provide additional resources to help them be more effective.

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