IMESD organized an event for superintendents and board members of its component school districts on September 29-30. The Regional Board Conference at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton provided opportunities for school board members to receive professional development about their role and for superintendents to learn about interacting with their school boards. About 37 superintendents and board members attended.
“Our first conference was a success!” said Dr. Mark Mulvihill, IMESD Superintendent. “The participants felt the presentations and discussions were timely and helpful. The conference provided an opportunity for board members to learn current information, network with one another, and receive input from local leaders.”
The conference began Friday evening with dinner and a presentation by Haley Percell, Chief Legal Officer for OSBA (Oregon School Boards Association). Percell’s Legal Hot Topics and Questions covered board policies and responsibilities, public meeting law and public records. She emphasized that individual school board members have no authority to act on their own, their power is when they are a voting quorum. Percell said most board business is addressed by already adopted board policies. “Sometimes where boards have issues is failing to follow policies, failing to update policies, changing policies without following procedure and changing policies without consulting with district legal counsel,” she said. OSBA offers support and expertise in many areas to Oregon’s school boards.
On Saturday, conference participants chose from five break-out sessions. One session was Public Complaints, led by La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza. He said complaints should be handled at the lowest level at the school first, between the parent and the teacher. If not resolved, next steps are principal, director or superintendent and finally, the school board. “It should be rare for a complaint to reach the board level,” Mendoza said, “and part of a superintendent’s role is to make sure voices are heard.”
The Roles and Responsibilities of Board Members session was led by IMESD representatives including Superintendent Mulvihill and board members Kelly Bissinger, Chair, and Joe McElligott, Vice Chair. Bissinger said a school district must have a stated, active mission and the board must use that as their plan. McElligott said what makes their board effective is knowing the mission and the strong relationship the board has with their superintendent. “It takes a lot of work for a superintendent to cultivate trust with the board, including regular communication and transparency,” McElligott said.
Superintendent Board Relations was led by Umatilla School District Superintendent Heidi Sipe and Board Member Josiah Barron. Sipe, who is in her seventeenth year as superintendent, said she feels like it’s a new job every year because there are new challenges. Their district is very committed to robust board training. “Board members get elected to do a very important job and they need to know how to do it, so our district commits funds to train our board,” Sipe said. Board Member Barron said having strong relationships between board members doesn’t mean they are a whole group of “yes” people. Barron emphasized that “sometimes there is tension in the room, but we are all together at the end of the vote.”
OSBA Past President Scott Rogers, who serves on the Athena-Weston School District board, led a session on Board Development. He also emphasized the importance of training your school board, which his district did through OSBA. Rogers said having the superintendent and board members collaborate about district and board goals is essential.
Another session was Regional Rural Advisory with Emily Smith, OSBA Board Secretary & Treasurer. The goal of this current OSBA group is to provide voice from rural school districts, which make up the majority of the state’s districts. Smith said the plan is to have the group become a nine-member formal caucus with voting rights on the OSBA Board. “Many of the challenges rural districts face may be similar to large, urban districts, but rural ones are affected differently,” Smith said.
