Monterey County Grand Jury • 2017-2018 • Agency Response
Response to: The Role of Local School Boards

School Boards Make a Difference, Improving Education: The Role of Local School Boards*

Published: August 31, 2018 4 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F3

Findings and Recommendations 6 findings

F2
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. F3. 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. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees there are proactive steps that can be taken by the Monterey County Office of Education in collaboration with school boards to support strong, ph.A. accountable governance teams. San Antonio appreciates the Monterey County Office of Education's efforts at providing trainings and support for governance teams. The San Antonio Union Elementary School Board also recognizes that more geographic friendly training opportunities would benefit all governance teams in Southern Monterey County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
School Boards should adopt a bylaw to make initial training and ongoing workshops mandatory. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees that ongoing training is critical to being an effective member of the governing team. This recommendation, however requires further analysis of the financial impact of this action. While the grand jury report lists the cost of participating in the CSBA Master of Governance of Program as $1500 per board member, this does not include travel costs, the impact of a potential minimum expenditure of $9000 for this training on the fiscal health of a small school district, the impact of moving this amount of funding away from other resources, and the cost of time off work for individual school board members.
F4
Promoting effective local governance requires better public information, communication, and a strong commitment to board development. The San Antonio Union Elementary School Board agrees that public information and communications can always be improved.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Schools Boards should provide clear, concise, and easy to find communications on their district's goals and outcomes on their district's website. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees. The District's Local Control and Accountability Plan including the district's goals and student achievement results are posted on the school's website and can be found at http://www.sanantoniousd.org/lcap/lcap. In addition, San Antonio Elementary School is required to post the School Accountability Report Card (SARC) which includes the schools' goals and student achievement results by February 1 each year. The school's SARC can be found at http://www.axiomadvisors.net/livesarc/Presentation/SARCAdministration/Portals/SideMenu/Portal.asp x?CDS=27661676026629&LanguageID=1&Preview=False which is linked to the school/district's website http://www.sanantoniousd.org/index.
F5
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. The governance team agrees school boards can make a commitment to adhering to best practices, training, and ongoing professional development.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
School Boards should provide information on their district's website about the role and responsibilities of school board members to educate parents, the public and potential school board candidates. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees that providing information about the role and responsibilities of school board members is valuable to the public. The California School Board Association (CSBA) identifies the role and responsibilities of school board members as: Setting direction ٠ Establishing an effective and efficient structure • Providing support • Ensuring accountability • Providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools •
F6
While the Monterey County Office of Education cannot dictate how school boards govern, they can provide strong leadership in promoting a culture of effective school board governance. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees that the Monterey County Office of Education can provide strong leadership in promoting a culture of effective school board governance. While the Monterey County Office of Education cannot insert itself into local culture, it can provide and facilitate local trainings on current research and best practices in education and governance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
School Boards should provide access to informational sessions to educate potential school board candidates on the duties and commitment associated with serving on a local school board. The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees and looks forward to providing an information session for school board candidates prior to the November 2018 election.
F7
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 San Antonio Union Elementary governance team believes that the MCOE website is sufficient and finds that the updated SAUESD website is sufficient and user friendly as well.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
School boards can do better in fulfilling their responsibility to communicate with school district stakeholders The San Antonio Union Elementary governance team agrees that communication can always be improved and requires ongoing effort.
No recommendations for this finding

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.