Front Page: Community Engagement
By Theresa Kelly GegenAs we engage on the topic of community engagement in this issue of the Illinois School Board Journal, we will start with excerpts from a Thought Exchange piece by Steve Lamb.
“If you asked a group of school board members what their primary job is, most would probably say ‘local control and accountability.’ It seems obvious doesn’t it? Who better to hold a superintendent’s feet to the fire than representatives of the community, with a strong vested interest in providing the best education possible for our children?
Good point, but we beg to differ.
Yes, local control, accountability, and of course governance, is important. However our experience — engaging hundreds of school districts, with tens of thousands of stakeholders — continues to suggest that in fact the most important role that a board member can play, is that of champion and steward of community engagement.”
Currently a Governance Services Consultant for the California School Boards Association, Lamb wrote “Community Engagement: THE Job of a School Board Member,” in 2014, when he was with the Oregon School Boards Association.
What did Lamb mean? He continues to explain:
“We’re all familiar with the saying ‘we are the company we keep.’ In a similar vein … ‘a community is known by the schools it keeps.’ … It’s through the board’s community engagement that residents develop their attitudes toward the district. And those attitudes strongly affect their support for, or against, local education….
Which brings us back to the importance of school boards ... Their engagement inspires confidence in the community and optimism in classroom, which leads to improved student achievement. And who wouldn’t want that?”
Who indeed!?
And, what do we say here in Illinois? IASB’s Foundational Principles of Effective Governance state that “The obligation to govern imposes fundamental duties on the board” and second among the principles (but first in the heart of this Journal) is:
The board connects with the community. The school board engages in an ongoing two-way conversation with the entire community. This conversation enables the board to hear and understand the community’s educational aspirations and desires, to serve effectively as an advocate for district improvement, and to inform the community of the district’s performance.
A board in touch with community-wide concerns and values will serve the broad public good rather than being overly influenced by special interests.
The function of the board of education is to provide local control over public education, representing the community and its aspirations for its local schools. IASB can, and does, offer resources (for example, this Journal, workshops, Conference Panel Sessions, reports, collaborations, and more) on the topic of community engagement. And we hope you will take advantage of these resources. Still, it’s vital to remember that the best community engagement decisions, like so many board of education decisions, are local ones.
We can debate whether Community Engagement is the most important job — feel free to let me know if you have a strong opinion on this. But we can agree that engagement with the community is vital. Community engagement best practices evolve with the changing times, yet Lamb’s point holds true a decade later:
“Which brings us back to the importance of school boards. They are the critical link between the classroom and the community. Their engagement inspires confidence in the community and optimism in classroom, which leads to improved student achievement. And who wouldn’t want that?”