Using a Board Bank to Match Board Members and Charter Schools

Transcription

1 PROMISING PRACTICE Using a Board Bank to Match Board New Schools for New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana SUMMARY Training governing board members often is cited as a critical factor in developing high-quality charter schools. Yet charter schools must fi rst fi nd board members with the skills, time, and aptitude to serve, which is an equal if not greater challenge for many charter schools. In this promising practice profi le, the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance describes the board bank established by New Schools for New Orleans to recruit, train, and place governing board members in the city s charter schools. BACKGROUND In all but a few of the 41 states with charter school laws, charter schools are governed by boards set up to fulfi ll the responsibilities traditionally held by local school boards. 1 Promising Practice in: Charter School Finance Charter School Governance Implemented by: State Policymaker Charter Authorizer Charter Operator Other Inside: Implementation Details Impact Lessons Learned Additional Comments Useful Resources Contact Information Typically, charter school founders are responsible for recruiting the fi rst board members. Subsequent board members are then appointed or, in some cases, elected, by parents of the students attending the school. Although school-based governance is a cornerstone of the charter school concept of autonomy, creating and sustaining high-quality boards is one of the most formidable hurdles that charter schools must overcome. The considerable time, knowledge, and expertise required to govern results in many charter schools operating with dysfunctional boards. In response, some states and charter authorizers have begun to institute training requirements. This has given rise to a new category of service providers charter school board developers. 2 Most charter schools are still charged with recruiting their own board members, a task that is increasingly diffi cult in areas where the number of new charter schools is expanding rapidly. In a few jurisdictions, innovative charter school leaders have met the rise in demand by developing a centralized board bank to help match charter schools with board members. 1 In Iowa, Kansas, and Virginia, charter schools are governed by the local school district board. In Indiana, the governance structure must be specified in the charter, but an independent board is not necessarily required. Wisconsin has two types of charter schools: instrumentality charter schools, which are governed by the district board, and noninstrumentality charter schools, which have their own boards. 2 For more on board training, see <

2 After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans school district was restructured as an open-enrollment district with a mix of charter schools, private schools, and traditional public schools. To support the restructuring effort, Sarah Usdin, a former Executive Director of Teach for America in Louisiana and a Partner with The New Teacher Project, founded New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) in April A nonprofi t organization, NSNO is dedicated to achieving excellent public schools for every child in New Orleans... [by building] a system of schools, not a school system, by encouraging the schools to determine their individual and collective needs, and by supporting them in their growth toward operational excellence and academic rigor. 3 NSNO is funded through national foundations and local philanthropy (see NSNO s Funding and Partners). Its primary mission is to incubate and support open-enrollment charter schools in New Orleans 4 and to recruit, train, and place teachers, administrators, and board members to serve the city s public schools. The incubation process involves the provision of $100,000 in NSNO incubation grants to prepare leaders to open new charter schools. A year prior to the school opening, grantees are given leadership training, operational assistance, legal assistance, teacher recruitment services, board development consulting, and a charter application review. New Schools for New Orleans also arranges site visits to existing successful charter schools and convenes meetings with community organizations to facilitate continual collaboration and innovation. 5 As Nancy Burvant, NSNO s Charter School Board Development Director noted, We invest time and resources into new-start charter schools, so it behooves us to make sure they succeed. To this end, NSNO created a board bank to recruit, train, and place charter school governing board members. IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS NSNO s board bank aims to meet the needs of both new and established charter schools in New Orleans. NSNO 3 See 4 New Orleans pre-katrina magnet schools were allowed to convert to charter status and maintain their selective geographic or academic admission requirements. Seven such schools, or 17 percent of the city s 41 charter schools, were in operation during the school year. State law requires all newly established charter schools to be open-enrollment schools. 5 See nsno_incubationapplicationflyer.pdf. NSNO s Funding and Partners New Schools for New Orleans is a nonprofi t organization funded through national foundations and local philanthropy, including the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For a complete list of local and national funders see As of the school year, NSNO had raised $17 million, two-thirds of which came from national donors and one-third of which came from local supporters. NSNO operates through multiple partnerships focused on human capital building, charter school development, and advocacy: Partners in human capital building--attracting and preparing talent to teach and lead: teachnola Teach For America New Leaders for New Schools The New Jersey Public Charter School Association reports that the Partners inability in to charter locate and school secure development launching an appropriate facility and is the supporting reason open-enrollment that newly approved public charter schools: do not primary open and Building existing Excellent schools Schools fail to expand. Walton Family Foundation Charter School Business Management Massachusetts Public School Performance Meetinghouse Solutions Nancy Euske, Hass School of Business, University of California Berkeley Partners in advocacy advocating for accountable and sustainable high-quality public schools: Algiers Charter Schools Association Knowledge is Power Program Louisiana Charter School Association Recovery School District (New Orleans) School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans The Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives has incubated four new charter schools that are slated to open in August 2008; four more are scheduled to open in August Each of the incubator schools is set up to have a founding board of approximately seven members. NSNO also works to place board members in New Orleans existing open-enrollment charter schools, of 2

3 which there were 34 during the school year. In spring 2008, Burvant was hired to work full time as charter school board development director, overseeing NSNO s board bank and board development. The recruitment, training, and placement process involves multiple steps that occur during a period of several months. 1. Contact Community Gatekeepers. NSNO works with gatekeepers to identify potential board members and has the gatekeepers circulate an appeal to their colleagues, coworkers, and friends apprising them of the urgent need for engaged citizens to serve on charter boards. Gatekeepers are predominantly identifi ed from the NSNO network for fundraising and development. Some gatekeepers are philanthropists, while others come from other nonprofi t organizations and the for-profi t sector. 2. Conduct Information Sessions. NSNO conducts information sessions for people considering charter board service to explain different service options serving on an incubator board or an existing charter board, serving as a board member, or serving as board chair. During each session, NSNO collects applications to populate the board bank. 3. Offer the Charter Boards 101 Workshop. NSNO has partnered with Marci Cornell-Feist of Meetinghouse Solutions to present a workshop for those who express an interest in serving on a board after attending an information session (see Who Attends Charter Boards 101?). The workshop discusses the responsibilities given to charter school boards, the time commitment required to serve, and the specifi c skill sets, expertise, and qualifi cations that help charter boards run effectively. As part of this workshop, current school board members share their experiences and fi eld questions from the potential board members about the rewards and challenges of board service. NSNO has participants complete a level-of-interest survey to gauge board service preference, after which it collects resumes from prospective members to make high-priority placements and to fi ll in gaps in skills. 4. Undertake Board Bank Tracking. NSNO tracks potential board member data in an Excel spreadsheet. Who Attends Charter Boards 101? At a Charter Boards 101 workshop in June 2008, a highly skilled and diverse set of potential board members attended; most of them had no or limited experience serving on a nonprofi t board, but all noted a desire to give back to the community as their reason for attending. Attendees included medical professionals, faculty of local universities, a shipping broker, attorneys, a state planning consultant, a public relations/advertising executive, and former educators. Some prospective members were retirees looking for a meaningful outlet for their skills; others were young professionals who wanted to serve on a charter board and saw board membership as a worthwhile addition to their lives but had limited spare time because of work and family commitments. Some attendees were recent transplants to New Orleans, while a few had attended New Orleans public schools themselves. Nearly all attendees spoke of their belief that strengthening the city s public schools was the best way to rebuild New Orleans after the devastation of 2004 s Hurricane Katrina. Each prospect is categorized by skill set, and prospective chairs are identifi ed. 5. Determine Best Fits for New Schools. NSNO shares board bank data in a deliberate manner with charter school operators in advance of a matchmaking event (see next step) and discusses with charter leaders the characteristics of an ideal charter board member. We really try to emphasize the match that needs to be there in terms of mission and philosophy, notes Cornell-Feist. We want board candidates to interview the school leaders the head of the school and the board chair and school leaders to interview the candidates. 6. Hold Matchmaking Events. NSNO convenes board bank members, school leaders, and existing board members. A matchmaking event is a forum for candidates to learn about the different schools philosophy and goals, the grades served, and the average time commitment expected at a given school. It is structured much like speed dating; school leaders are stationed around the room, and board bank groups rotate around the room every 10 minutes. After the matchmaking event, Burvant meets with school leaders 3

4 to get feedback on which board candidates they are interested in pursuing. Burvant then encourages them to meet individually with interested candidates to vet them further before offering some positions on the board. NSNO also invites candidates to attend board meetings of the charter school they are interested in to ensure a fi t in mission. In the case of operational charter schools, NSNO strongly encourages candidates to serve as a nonboard member on a committee for a few months to determine whether this is the right opportunity for them. 7. Follow Up. NSNO provides ongoing governance training throughout new schools fi rst year and in future years to help create and sustain highly effective charter school governing boards. Burvant noted that the timing of these steps is fairly fl uid; a potential board member might attend an information session several months before being matched with a school leader (see From Interest to Participation: One Board Bank Member s Journey). IMPACT NSNO has placed and/or trained board members on nearly every open-enrollment charter school board in New Orleans. Four of the original incubated schools have boards From Interest to Participation: One Board Bank Member s Journey Charline Wright, one of the attendees of NSNO s fi rst matchmaking events, shared the story of her involvement with the board bank, from learning about NSNO to becoming a member of the founding and now operational board of Sojourner Truth Academy. Wright, an associate at Davillier Law Group in New Orleans, moved to the city in 2004 after graduating from Cornell Law School. She noted she was not particularly looking for civic engagement, but a friend who knew that NSNO was recruiting board members thought Wright would be an ideal candidate with her legal expertise and passion for education. Wright attended an information session in February 2007 at which Usdin described the need for charter school board members. Wright felt that Usdin s message resonated with me personally because it was an opportunity to engage immediately and make a meaningful difference in a reform with the potential for largescale impacts. Her involvement then took this course. March 2007: Wright attended a Charter Boards 101 workshop and expressed her interest in serving on the board of one of NSNO s fi rst round of incubator schools. April 2007: Wright was contacted by several incubator school leaders. She attended a matchmaking event but did not yet make a commitment to any of the schools. July 2007: The founding principal from Sojourner Truth Academy sent Wright information about the proposed school, including its mission and goals, and then the two met for coffee. Wright agreed to join the school s founding board. August 2007: The recently formed board fi nalized its charter application. By the end of the year, the founding group, including the new board, had been interviewed by the state board of education and was granted charter approval. Spring 2008: The founding group held a retreat to provide training and to formalize the delineation of roles between the board and the school leaders. Several relationship-building events for board members and school leaders were also held during the spring. Monthly board meetings focused on student recruitment, fundraising, and development of a board package to orient new board members. Fall 2008: Sojourner Truth Academy is slated to open, at which point the board will transition from a founding board to an operational board. Wright noted that all of the original board members have stayed on to serve once the school opens. that were matched through NSNO s board bank process, and Cornell-Feist reported that the partnerships between the school leaders and the boards, the boards time management, and the boards composition have so far proven stable and effective. Burvant explained that the NSNO board bank has brought new players to the charter school community and to public education at large: So many members in the community are getting involved in public education for the first time. They are typically people who did not send their own children to public schools, but they see serving on a charter board as a way to get involved. At the same time, graduates of the New Orleans public schools also want 4

5 to get involved to ensure the schools recover from the devastation of Katrina along with the rest of the city. [Serving on a charter board] was an opportunity to engage immediately and make a meaningful difference in a reform with the potential for large-scale impacts. Charline Wright, board member, Sojourner Truth Academy LESSONS LEARNED In the two years since NSNO was founded, several implementation challenges and keys to success in running the board bank have emerged. Implementation Challenges Burvant notes that one implementation challenge has been to expand the number and diversity of gatekeepers who help with board member recruitment beyond Usdin s network. Ideally, NSNO would like the board bank to have diverse board members representative of the schools families. This will require fi nding gatekeepers who can reach out into other spheres, Burvant says. She adds that timing the events during the training and placement process to sustain interest is a challenge. For example, the information sessions are typically held in April and May, the Charter Boards 101 workshop is conducted in May and June, and matchmaking events occur in July. This lag time between when potential board members fi rst express interest and when they are matched with a specifi c school means Burvant must maintain regular contact to sustain interest. At the same time, NSNO has found that the organization needs to step back and let school leaders take the lead after the initial matchmaking. Getting the schools to follow up in a timely manner with the candidates after matchmaking events has been a challenge. High-caliber people are busy and have expectations that they will be contacted quickly, says Burvant. She emphasizes the need to prime the school leaders on what is expected of them. Although NSNO works with the incubator leaders on this, it is more diffi cult to make this point with the citywide schools with which NSNO is not as closely involved. Although a board bank is a concept applicable nationwide, Cornell-Feist observes that without a sense in the community of needing to give back, it is hard to attract high-quality board members. [Organizations in other cities interested in trying the board bank process] need to harness a spirit of giving back for it to work. From the perspective of board bank members, Wright notes that although NSNO gives you as much information as you can get before you actually get involved, there is considerable on-the-job training that is diffi cult for new board members to capture before actually serving on a board. This makes the incubator approach particularly important; with this approach, board members have a better understanding of their role once the school is operational. Keys to Success Burvant reports that much of the success of the board bank can be attributed to the leaders involved. Potential board members respond to Usdin s obvious passion and drive. Usdin herself noted in the June 2008 Charter Board 101 workshop that she is known for never making it through a speech on the topic dry-eyed. Furthermore, Burvant believes that involving Cornell-Feist, who is well known in the fi eld of charter board development, and committing to ongoing training makes the board members feel valued. She notes that board bank members regularly tell her that serving on a charter school board is their one ray of hope. They ll say, Everything else is discouraging about the rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina, and I don t have the time to do this but I do it because it s so important. Burvant adds that education is seen as the cornerstone of recovery. Another important factor in the successful operation of the board bank, according to Wright, is the organization s respect for the autonomy of charter boards. NSNO provides examples of timelines, checklists of things to consider, and initial policies, but the schools are encouraged to make them their own, she notes, rather than NSNO prescribing the specifi c bylaws, rules, and regulations under which each board must operate. She adds, We re all working under the same framework of general policies and procedures, such as the optimal number of board members and successful models of what works, but we also are encouraged to take the specifi c school goals and the unique context of each school into account. Wright believes NSNO places a high priority on building a relationship with the school, rather than getting involved with the operation of the boards. She says, The board has navigated the diffi cult process of establishing a charter school fairly well 5

6 due, in large part, to the relationship-building among board members and the school leaders that NSNO facilitated. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS From the organization s inception, NSNO has recognized the need to provide extensive ongoing training for charter school board members. It offers approximately 75 hours of governance training to the participants in their incubation program before the doors of the school even open. This training and coaching aims to help charter school boards and school leaders build an effective and effi cient team that works together to build a high-performing, highly accountable charter school. NSNO works with each school s board on how to: write bylaws and monitor legal compliance; oversee fi nancial operations and budget compliance; partner with school leaders to ensure academic excellence; host community forums; recruit students; and develop fundraising strategies. NSNO also offers individualized coaching and consultant services to help troubleshoot problems as they arise. In addition, it convenes quarterly training for board members around the city to create open forums within which board members from different schools can exchange ideas, discuss challenges, and build a community of charter school board members. USEFUL RESOURCES Walter Isaacson, The Greatest Education Lab, Time, September 06, provides information for prospective board members, including: a description of board member qualifi cations; a board bank application; charter board service information; a charter school operation guidebook; a charter school legal guidebook; and training information for existing charter boards. CONTACT INFORMATION Nancy Burvant Charter School Board Development Director New Schools for New Orleans 200 Broadway, Suite 108 New Orleans, LA nancy@nsno.org Marci Cornell-Feist Meetinghouse Solutions 82 Shaker Road Harvard, MA marcicf@charter.net This Profi le is one in a series highlighting promising practices in charter school fi nance and governance implemented by state policymakers, charter authorizers, and charter operators across the country. This Profi le was written by the Center on Educational Governance for the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance (NRC). Promising practices are selected from nominations received by the NRC on the basis of innovativeness, evidence of positive impact, and potential for transferability and usefulness. The NRC has not conducted program evaluations of the initiatives profi led and does not endorse particular policies, practices, or programs. For more information on this Profi le, please contact the Center on Educational Governance at (213) The contents of this Profi le were developed under a grant from the Department of Education (Grant No. U282N060012). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal government. To nominate a promising practice for inclusion in this series, go to nomination.asp. 6