School Leader

It’s 8:40 on a Wednesday night. Your board just wrapped up a heated discussion followed by a contentious vote. The room feels tense. Board members are deliberately not making eye contact with each other. Members of the audience are hastily...

When the New Jersey School Boards Association created the Carole E. Larsen Master Board Certification in 2007, it sought to honor a dedicated staff member whose hands-on approach to training improved the way school boards operate throughout the state.  Nearly...

We live in hyper-partisan times. Beyond politics, much of modern life is curated specifically to our personal tastes—from the media we consume to the algorithms that feed our preferences. While celebrating individuality is a cornerstone of American culture, I am...

There is great uncertainty, unrest and dissonance within our country today. Regardless of where one falls along the political divide, the daily uncertainty is evident in how issues are viewed, interpreted and acknowledged across all forms of wider communication. This...

Conflict on a board of education is not necessarily a sign that something is wrong. Members bring different experiences, perspectives and priorities to the table, so there will likely be disagreements from time to time. It can even be a...

Of late, there has been no shortage of ethics complaints filed against board of education members by members of the public, school district administrators and most commonly, by their board colleagues. Based on a review of the agendas posted by...

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role with the New Jersey School Boards Association is watching board members from different districts come together at county association meetings. They arrive representing communities of different sizes, demographics and priorities. Some...

There is something special about September. Across New Jersey, school buses are once again rolling through our neighborhoods. Classroom doors are open. Teachers and school professionals are welcoming students back. And approximately 1.4 million public school students are beginning a...

A school board meeting should be about students. That sounds obvious. It should not need to be said. Yet across the country, we are seeing what happens when partisan politics enters the school board room. Consider what happened in Stratford,...

Politics has always been part of school board governance. Party politics does not need to be. Boards make decisions about budgets, curriculum, staffing, discipline, school safety and the use of public money. Those decisions invite disagreement, sometimes intense disagreement. That...

A board member may have deeply held beliefs. Still, once elected, legal and ethical mandates dictate that board members must utilize their independent judgment and act in the best interests of the entire school community. Non-partisan school boards in New...