Moving to a new "place" on internet...

The GreatGoverning blog is moving.

All past and future posts, pages and links are and will be here, at www.casbgreatgoverning.com.

About auto-emailing of postings:

• All presidents, superintendents and board members of the Class of 2011 will soon receive your first auto email from the new blog site, no need to do anything.
• Entire teams – Sorry, someone on your governing team will need to let us know about re-subscribing the team (just email Alan at ahentschel@casb.org) OR teammates can self-subscribe at the bottom of the new second page
• Everyone else – Sorry, in advance!  You can let us know at ahentschel@casb.org OR self-subscribe on page two

Quick highlights/links at the GreatGoverning site:

• continuation of weekly posts (and all the searchable, old posts, too)
• habits and standards of great governing
• mentoring questions
• essentials for new members and new teams
• prompting questions for team development
• useful/practical snapshots of workshop tag sheets

Ahead:

• a series of tips and insights for possible/declared candidates
• collection of frameworks and tools for appraising board and superintendent performance
• collection of accountability committee frameworks
• return of "eCafes," coffee conversations with leaders from around the state

Last note:

• This site will remain viewable and searchable through June, then will be removed.

Haiku..on balance....

The art of balance,
natural for a beagle.
But what about you?

So, I've been home from work for a few days due to the snow and I've been paying attention to my two beagles. These critters live a balanced life. They know what's important and what's not. They act on the important (food), and don't act on what's not (anything that's not food). Anyway, that got me to thinking about school boards.

How's the balance in your board life? Have you identified the important and the unimportant? Surely, everything that comes the way of the board isn't important.

And the perfect candidate is....

Candidate season is fast approaching...well, maybe it's already here, and I want to know what you are thinking. I've got queries....posers. How do you think about potential new board members? Do you look for experience, and if so, what kind? Do they need to know how the district works? Do they need to be a parent, or retired teacher, or business person, or....what? Who is the perfect candidate?

Sometimes we might want them to be like us. Sometimes not. It depends, doesn't it, on how the district is doing and what the board make up already is. Do you think the board should reflect the make up of the community, or should it more reflect the make up of the organization? Do you work within your political party to find members, or do you look for interested persons elsewhere? Should this person be an extrovert or introvert? Should they be budget minded, or detail oriented, or does it matter?

Designing the BigConvening...

Designing and planning for the BigConvening went "all March Madness" at last week's gathering of board members, superintendents and other education leaders.

Using great basketball teams as a catalyst, CASB "Coaches of Excellence" used soloing, discussing and prioritizing elements as they addressed three continuous improvement areas:

• Defensive coordinator - protecting what's wildly important (values, strengths, effective traditions...)
• Scout coach - identifying and assessing challenges, developing matched-up content
• Offensive coordinator - advancing, moving, reinventing, refreshing, winning

Aren't you concerned about.....

I learned a new term the other day..."Concern Troll"... during a discussion with one of my sons (while bonding over the engine of an old Mercedes...but that's not the point) about how school boards can sometimes lose focus on an issue. During discussion, someone will say "Should we be concerned about this possible concern....?". It could be brought up by a board member or someone else. Sometimes this type of "comment/question" can derail discussion and action. The key is in your approach to the stated concern.

5 links / WE, 191 and beyond...

Passionate about aligned, unified effort? Desire great teaming and networking? Hoping for powerful "WE not ME" systems of leadership? Can't wait for a new generation of collaborating and maximizing? Go, here, now, then have coffee with a trusted fellow leader, soon.

Frontline wisdom about new "191 work" abounds in a brief video at CDE's educator effectiveness website, here. Catch Moffat County superintendent Joe Petrone and others sharing insights about start--up challenges, ownership and the "right work."

Six minutes with "Fundamentals of Blended Learning" will help you envision and rethink HOW we can educate "21st Century style." Go here for the creative video by Education Elements.

Why It Takes More Than a Genius to Lead a School, is full of tremendous leadership insights for governing teams. Go, here to tap in. Hints of the content: "[M]ultipliers are leaders who look beyond their own genius and focus on extracting and extending the genius of others." / "A leader's greatest value comes not from having the answers but from having the right questions. The critical leadership skill of today is not personal knowledge but the ability to tap into the knowledge of others." / "The educational system needs multipliers right now especially when leaders must do more with less." 

Okay, four links!!

Spring haiku.....

Spring has sprung today,
And we all know what that means...
Learning continues.

It never stops. There is no moment in time when you can say "Okay, learning starts now." Or, "learning stops now". We all know these things, that learning flows and kids learn at different rates and kids have different needs and......on and on. We talk about this but we act like we don't know. We allow our districts to not keep up with what we know. How do we break this cycle and catch up to the 21st century?

Initiatives, I suppose. Someone needs to take initiative. I know the legislature throws a lot at districts,

Excellence in Prairie...

"Eight minutes with the board" was a memorable take away following a next-steps workshop with the Prairie board of learning/educating, yesterday.  Above,  the governing team listens to a teacher describe a typical day of aligned instructional leadership, challenges and engagement.

The effectiveness workshop featured a "rolling conversation" touching on strategic work, essential norms, wildly important focus, policy leadership, and constituent engagement (content list below). Next steps for this good-to-great team:  Refreshing the local framework for great governing and engaging CASB's policy team for a no-fee policy audit.

A "futuring" note:  Prairie excitement is widespread as daily construction and destruction continues with new learning facilities.  For a glimpse, go here.

Rappin' & TCAPin'...

Here's Salida grad Adrian Jiron helping his St. Vrain elementary class be refreshed, focused and enthusiastic about TCAP.  

"TCAP's in the building!"

The boomerang board member.....

Candidate season is coming up quick and that got me to thinking about boomerangs. Actually, spring got me to thinking about boomerangs, but I'm not going to quibble. Back to the topic, I'm wondering what you and your board do with "former" board members. Admittedly, many board members leave their respective boards and don't look back, but what do you do with those that just don't want to go away, the ones for whom the passion and excitement doesn't stop when they walk out that boardroom door, the ones who keep coming back around.....and around....and around....