Memphis City Schools Needs Board At Its Best

OK, let’s all take a couple steps back and take a deep breath.

As we do it, we’re especially hoping that the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners will join us.

For all of our sakes, we need the board to move beyond its embattled view of the world, which transforms public discussions about important issues into “we against them” confrontations and which produces decisions that seem so logical within the cocoon of chaos.

In The Foxhole

It’s a dramatic reminder that the worst thing about a siege mentality is that you don’t even know you have it. It’s death by a thousand pinpricks, as action after action and issue after issue puncture the public confidence on which you depend for your effectiveness. Trapped within the bunker, the decisions seem so reasonable, but the problem is that the rest of us aren’t in the bunker.

Despite what some school board members may think, most of us who have criticized them lately aren’t at war with them. We’re at war with the status quo at Memphis City Schools, and they are victims as much as the 115,000 students in its classrooms.

The board also proves the axiom that everyone’s strength is also their weakness. That’s been the case with our school board.

New Faces

If they are the target for much criticism these days, it’s not because we don’t like them or respect them. It’s because we expect so much more from them.

Memphis breathed a collective sigh of relief when the board of commissioners was transformed, ushering in a host of new faces and new approaches. It was just what Memphis City Schools needed, something to threaten the bureaucratic culture and to bring fresh ideas to the district.

We also like the fact that so many of them were young and novices to the political system. After all, political life in Memphis needs nothing so much as more newcomers.

Skin Problems

Back to strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, because of their youth and their lack of experience, too many of the school board members lapse into an attitude that any criticism is cause for all-out war. And because their skin has not been thickened by experience in the political wars, they often are seen as prickly and obsessed with their own opinions.

This is not to say that they don’t deserve to be sensitive. As one of them pointed out in a comment to this blog, any time anything good happened at Memphis City Schools, it was because of Carol Johnson. Any time anything bad happened, it was because of the school board.

Such was the charisma and persuasive abilities of the former superintendent. Of course, it’s easier for someone in that kind of titular position to create that kind of impression, whether it’s the superintendent, the mayor or the governor. That’s because that person becomes the “face” for that agency or government and has the power to stick to the message. It’s just not possible for this to happen with public bodies like the board of commissioners - whether it’s the one for city schools or county government - because there are multiple faces sending multiple messages to the public.

Breaks In The Chain

If things aren’t pressurized enough for the board in the wake of the exit of the wildly popular former superintendent, it becomes even worse as more and more information about operational decisions and appointments seeps to the board for the first time. Already, Interim Superintendent Dan Ward is troubled by operational systems that almost seem more designed to prevent a smooth flow of information to the school board than to expedite it. As a result, board members are kept off balance as they learn information about their own school operations from constituents and bloggers.

It’s not a comfortable position to be in, and they have every right to demand better communications and more structured reporting on key issues. As one says, “What we are told one night can be contradicted completely the next night, and we never quite know what the facts are. Then, of course, there are the hundreds of things that we are never told, but when they blow up, all of a sudden, it’s our problem and our fault.”

It’s an uncomfortable position to be in at any time, but as the school board members consider the most decision they will make – who the next superintendent will be – we need them to be more clear-eyed and clear-headed than any time in their lives. They can easily reassure us if they adopted some guiding principles as they set out to hire a new superintendent, and come to think of it, it would also help if they would pledge to hire the absolutely best possible person in the country to head up Memphis City Schools.

Bureaucratic Thinking

Sometimes, in government, the atmosphere is so politically-charged and change so unbearably slow that it’s easy to forget that decisions are shaping the entire lives of people. It’s not that the people in these public positions are callous. It’s just that they are overwhelmed by the agendas and the games being played, and there’s a constant barrage of reasons to take your eye off the ball.

As a result, at Memphis City Schools, there are times when it’s almost as if we forget that ultimately, we are dealing with the lives and futures of students – as well as city itself. The children are rarely mentioned, and frequently seem to be treated as objects like the raw materials that keep the factory going.

As we think about these issues, we are reminded of something we read almost a decade ago. It’s called the “Components of Effective Governance” and was written by the California School Board Association.

Effective Districts

Here’s what it said is required for effective governance of a school district:

* The board and superintendent collectively understand and operate with implicit and explicit norms and values such as trust, honest and openness.

* The entire governance team understands, respects and adheres to ground rules that govern the internal operation of the governance team.

* All members of the governance team are perceived to be equally legitimate, no matter how different or difficult an individual may be.

* The governance team is known for its total commitment to the highest standard of student learning and achievement for all students in the district.

* The board exhibits creative thinking, knows how to handle failure as well as success, encourages risk-taking and creates a climate of support for excellence.

* The board treats all staff with dignity and respect.

* The board is respectful of all community members, even when faced with criticism and opposition.

* The board recognizes and accepts that conflicts and differences are inevitable, not necessarily “bad,” and must be faced, analyzed and managed.

* The board strives to maintain a “no secrets, no surprises” operating norm.

* The board tends to immediately turn to solutions rather than playing the “gotcha” game.

* The board assumes collective responsibility for the conduct, behavior and effectiveness of the board.

Trust And Trustees

Finally, according to the California school boards organization, the effectiveness of board members stems from their commitment to acting as trustees acting on behalf of the children in the city where they are elected.

That approach results in a board operating with a unity of purpose and within a culture of accountability and competency shared by the superintendent. And yet, “Not every one who serves on a board assumes the trustee role. Many never make the transition from being an individual with narrow interests or agendas serving on a board to being a trustee member of a governance team.”

All of us know that there is no tougher job in public life than serving on a school board. Issues are more complex, media scrutiny is more intense and criticism is never-ending.

That’s why if anything is needed right now, it is for every one to take a couple of steps back and take a deep breath. Then, let’s all figure out a way to find the next Carol Johnson, because Memphis City Schools should settle for nothing less.