Derek Keenan, EdD, ACSI Vice President for Academic Affairs
This issue of CSE focuses on one of the most important parts of the Christian school community—the school board. A new term, boardmanship, has been coined to encompass the whole arena of the policy and direction-setting elements of a school. Boardmanship includes the skills administrators need to work with the board as well as clearly defined parameters within which board members can work to carry out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Some of the most challenging issues and painful problems in schools revolve around the board and how it functions—or does not function.
In the Nonprofit Board Answer Book, Bob Andringa and Ted Engstrom say, “Discovering a clear role brings energy and freedom to individuals as well as organizations.”1 We trust that this issue’s articles by experts, including school administrators and board members, will assist in defining the appropriate roles in such a way that each of our schools, in its leadership structure and its organizational practices, will be an exemplary testimony before God and a watching school family.
We are appreciative of Jossey-Bass Publishers and author Dr. John Carver, who gave us permission to present, in excerpted form, the first chapter of Boards That Make a Difference. Dr. Carver is an astute observer and consultant to the nonprofit leadership sector, and he is widely recognized for his model, which he calls policy governance. The proposed model involves a rather dramatic redefinition of the board’s role and, in relation to that configuration, defines the board’s responsibilities in a way that points toward a highly effective leadership pattern. We would encourage school boards and administrators to evaluate their current practices in light of the “Carver model” and utilize the resulting evaluation as a basis for strategic and intentional improvement.
ACSI has not adopted the policy governance model as the answer to the problems that Christian school boards typically encounter, but we do see it as a means to practically and pointedly initiate a much-needed discussion. Leadership teams (board and administration) can do a great deal to prevent school crises by having this discussion and clearly defining their roles and responsibilities. It is a great opportunity for both personal and collective growth.
We trust that, as you enter the holiday season when the birth of Christ is paraded everywhere in appropriate and inappropriate ways, God will grant you a joy in ministry that is pervasive. In Christian school education the Christmas season is a wonderful, busy time of work and worship followed by some days of rest. If there ever was an equation for joy, I believe that is it.
Bob Andringa and Ted Engstrom , Nonprofit Board Answer Book (Washington DC: National Center for Nonprofit Boards, 1997).
Editor's Note: Boardmanship 2.2