Board Member Academy—Commit to Your Own Education

It is back to school time for students and, as a dedicated board member, that can mean you, too. Begin a commitment this fall to get the specific training you need to perform your job well. It starts with looking over the variety of courses on school finance, policy, negotiations and other topics related to school boardsmanship, available through the NJSBA Board Member Academy.

The Academy is structured to help you build your knowledge base and develop your skills. As you complete courses, you will be able to accrue credits toward the first tier of the Academy certification program and become a Certificated Board Member. This is the foundation for developing the essential governance skills needed to carry out your responsibilities. As you advance through other courses that focus on strategic planning, group dynamics, school/community relations as well as interpersonal skills, you will arrive at the second tier of certification, Master Board Member.

The highest level of individual certification in the Board Member Academy is Certified Board Leader. This new certificate will be phased in over a three-year period (2005-2008), featuring a newly revised Leadership Conference and several elective courses. Two of those elective courses that will be introduced during the coming year are Communicating Effectively and Parliamentary Procedure.

Communicating Effectively is a three-hour interactive training program, which will teach the essentials of active listening, while also covering two-way communication, giving and receiving feedback, and insuring clarity in all aspects of communication. The program will be offered regionally on December 3, 2005 at Clifton High School; on January 28 2006 at Williamstown High School in Monroe Township (Gloucester); and on March 4, 2006 at Eisenhower Middle School in Succasunna.

Parliamentary Procedure is a six-hour program that will help board members to understand the mechanics of parliamentary procedure, giving them hands-on experience in applying it to actual board situations. The program will be offered on April 8, 2006 at the Raritan Valley Academy in Piscataway.

These two new courses will be open to all board members for credits toward the Certified Board Leader designation. However, credits will be banked and not counted toward the CBL until a board member fulfills the requirements for the first two tiers of certification.