Monterey County Grand Jury Report "School Boards Make a Difference." Response from Bradley Union School District*

Student achievement suffers when school districts are unproductive or dysfunctional. It can be very costly and take years to address problems if the Monterey County Office of Education and/or California Department of Education have to step in to support or save a school district. The Bradley Union School District Governing Board agree that this find is true and accurate. While the cause of unproductive or dysfunctional schools is not always black and white, the outcomes are predictable.

There are proactive steps that can be taken by the Monterey County Office of Education in collaboration with school boards to prevent many pitfalls of poor governance. The District believes this to be a true statement.

The Monterey County Office of Education and local school boards can do more to promote effective local governance that is accountable to the community and produces better district outcomes. This statement is dependent upon circumstance. In the case of a poorly governed school district, this statement is true. Many districts are well governed, but suffer from outside financial pressures that wouldn't be easily rectified by collaboration alone.

Promoting effective local governance requires better public information, communication, and a strong commitment to board development. Commitment to board development can be an important factor, but the terms 'better public information, communication...' is vague, and may or may not be an important component to school success.

Although each school district has individual priorities, school boards can each make a commitment to adhering to best practices, training, and ongoing professional development when it comes to school board governance. Each school district does have individual priorities, which means it may have different definitions of best practices, and definitions of school success. The BUSD Governing Board doesn't believe in standardizing procedures or definitions of what is 'successful.' However, they do agree that an educated and involved school board is essential to a school meeting its individual needs and requirements.

While the Monterey County Office of Education cannot dictate how school boards govern, they can provide stronger leadership in promoting a culture of effective school board governance. The BUSD Governing Board believes that MCOE can contribute with training opportunities, advice, and solid oversight, however, we believe the statement 'stronger leadership' implies judgement of past leadership quality. We do not have insight or knowledge to determine weak leadership in the past, and MCOE has been helpful to the BUSD Governing Board on many occasions, as well as having offered regular training and networking opportunities for board members.

Information posted on Monterey County Office of Education and school district websites is insufficient and not user-friendly. It does not provide the public with adequate information about what school boards do, how to evaluate school board performance, or how to assess school district outcomes. The BUSD Governing Board does not have direct knowledge of the quality of MCOE's website. However, the BUSD website has all information required by law to be posted on the website, and feels it is user friendly. Further, it feels the website is not the best vehicle for the goals stated in the finding. The BUSD Governing Board believes that the best way for families, staff, and community stake holders to take understand the goals, the performance, and the adherence to school goals is to attend board meetings, meet and discuss issues and concerns with the superintendent and board members, and attend town halls, school site council, and other community outreach events. Schools, and school goals are more than words on a website, and the best way to understand a school's success is a hands on process.

School boards can do better in fulfilling their responsibility to communicate with school district stakeholders. This is an open ended statement, which may or may not be true. The BUSD Governing Board does not have further comment on it.