Whole Whole Board Board TRAINING TRAINING Interactive Interactive Training Training for for Excellent Excellent Boards Boards
BECOME AN EVEN STRONGER BOARD Quality training is one way the Alabama Association of School Boards is accomplishing its mission to develop excellent school board leaders. Our exemplary training team comprises AASB staff members with decades of experience working with and for boards as well as a cadre of former board members and superintendents who were schooled in the real world. The team is prepared to help you improve your skills via 44 interactive courses created to meet boards’ needs. The state requires 2 hours of whole board training per year for board-superintendent teams, but more importantly, research says school boards are more effective when all members of a school board learn together as a team. AASB’s standard and customized training sessions allow the whole board to come together and focus on a particular area of need, discuss the school system’s specific situation, ask questions and develop plans for improving performance.
LOW RATES!
Most workshops are $550 for up to 4 hours. Legal workshops are $700. Fully customizable, full-day board retreats of 4 or more hours are $950. Mileage will be charged. Discount available when boards contract for multiple sessions. When multiple boards train together, there is a cost savings.
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“Interactive whole board training" hours must be completed annually by each board-superintendent team.
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Hours of continuing education must be earned annually by each school board member. Two of those hours should reflect your whole board training.
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Hours of coursework are included in AASB’s two-part orientation. This satisfies the one-time requirement for an orientation covering specific topics.
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The training year begins July 1 and ends June 30. Training hours do not roll over from year to year. Each August, AASB must provide the state superintendent of education a report indicating whether each board member met training requirements in the previous training year. A 10% discount is applied to whole board workshops scheduled for July, August or September.
AN EFFECTIVE TEAM
Clarified roles & improved team communication
Basic Conflict Resolution
2-4 hours | $550
Whether a leadership team is actively in conflict or teetering on the brink, this training helps the team understand each member’s communication style, address ongoing issues and develop clear agreements about how the board will together going forward.
Better Boardmanship
2 hours | $550
Quality teamwork takes a good working relationship among board members and between the board and superintendent. Leadership team members will learn how to work together more effectively and develop clear agreements about how the board will operate going forward. Each team member will also learn about the others’ communication styles and how to better work with team members whose styles differ.
Boardmanship 101
2 hours | $550
This practical course uses numerous real-world scenarios to help members and the superintendent clearly understand one another’s roles. A great introduction for new board members, this training also serves as an important refresher for even veteran board members.
Boardmanship 201
2 hours | $550
Subtitled “Practical Boardmanship,” this scenario-based session allows board-superintendent discussion of real world issues that can diminish the board’s ability to function effectively. Discussion can be focused on specific issues the team is grappling with or can be focused on preventing problems that could arise in the relationships and operations of the governance team. The session typically results in the team’s drafting of operating agreements to solidify expectations.
Board-Superintendent Relations
2 hours | $550
In this session, the board and superintendent will discuss their respective roles and work with common scenarios to identify actions that are within the board’s oversight role versus overstepping into the responsibilities of the board or individual members.
Building a Stronger Board Team
2 hours | $550
Based on the work of Patrick Lencioni and researchers' findings on best practices for school boards, this session explores what sets successful teams apart and helps you identify collective behaviors that are helping - or hurting - your team.
Communicate in Style
2-4 hours | $550
Nothing torpedoes a board’s effectiveness and the relationship between a board and its superintendent faster than chronic miscommunication. Using humor and an online assessment taken prior to the training, we will identify the communication style of each board member and the superintendent. Reports are generated to give each member a deeper understanding of how he or she communicates and makes decisions. AASB then teaches the board-superintendent team to work with each style to improve team function and communication. 1
Custom Conflict Resolution
CALL FOR PRICING
Designed for teams with ongoing conflict and/or deeper divisions, this customized series of sessions aims to help teams work through the issues creating problems. The series will include individual training, facilitated team discussion and development of team operating agreements.
Effective Board Meetings
2 hours | $550
How you do business is as important as the business you do. Holding board meetings that are professional, orderly and student-focused will raise your stock with stakeholders. But it takes planning and a common understanding of how boards that get things done operate. This session blends videobased scenarios with discussion of best practices.
Parliamentary Procedure
2 hours | $550
Used properly, Robert’s Rules of Order give board meetings the structure and order needed to accomplish business effectively. We'll walk you through the rules, customs and ethics that govern school board meetings. Every member of the board-superintendent team should understand how to conduct a deliberative meeting.
Superintendent Search
2 hours | FREE TO MEMBER BOARDS
This workshop is for boards faced with appointing a superintendent. Selecting a superintendent is one of the most important actions a school board takes. In this pre-search workshop, AASB walks boards through the legal requirements related to a search, discusses the pros and cons of various search options and facilitates initial discussion of the skills and qualities the board will look for in the system’s next CEO.
The Key Work of School Boards
2 hours | $550
Using an array of board-focused research, this session focuses on the core skills effective boards need to ensure all student achieve at high levels. You will learn how to put those skills into action and fundamentally change the effectiveness of your board-superintendent team’s work.
AN EFFECTIVE EVALUTION Defined expectations & meaningful feedback Board Self-Evaluation
2 hours | $450
Self-evaluation is critical to the board’s efforts to continuously improve its performance and should be done at least every other year. Prior to the session, each board member completes an anonymous online assessment of the board’s performance. AASB then analyzes the results and, in a training session, facilitates board discussion of the results.
Board Self-Evaluation + Goal Setting
3 hours | $500
Is your board operating effectively? Are there areas the board could focus on to improve its own performance? Prior to the session, each board member completes an anonymous online assessment of the board’s performance. AASB then analyzes the results and facilitates board discussion of the results, including a 1-hour goal setting session that is tied directly to the school board’s selfevaluation results. 2
Superintendent & CSFO Evaluation
2 hours | $550
School systems progress when their boards set clear, measurable expectations for their superintendent and chief school financial officer annually, and evaluate their progress. This session helps the board ensure the evaluations are both fair and productive. It also covers the mechanics of a quality evaluation process. Use this session as a stand-alone training or as part of AASB’s superintendent evaluation service.
A WELL-TOLD STORY Meaningful relationships with stakeholders Community Engagement
2 hours | $550
Schools tend to be the heart of their community. It's no wonder community expectations for schools are soaring. Discover the value of meaningful engagement. Participate in a facilitated discussion of strategies school systems use to engage stakeholders and build a lasting relationship with their communities.
Communicating in a Crisis
2 hours | $550
No school system can predict when or what a crisis will be, but every school system needs a plan to respond quickly, accurately and appropriately when a crisis strikes. Get hands-on guidance for proactive crisis communications, from working with the media to maintaining transparency and accountability in the eyes of stakeholders.
Media & Public Relations
2 hours | $550
Telling your success stories in ways that interest and engage your community requires an understanding of how public relations and media relations work in the 21st century. Learn ways to communicate more effectively with internal and external stakeholders and build public support for your schools.
Social Media Pitfalls, Potholes & Pointers
2 hours | $550
How can school systems effectively and creatively use social media to connect with their community and the digital natives in their schools? Learn tips for steering clear of social media tripwires that can spark lawsuits, lead to job loss or cause public embarrassment. Discuss the dos and don’ts of using social media as a school board member.
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DATA & GOALS
Measurable progress & performance
Data 101: Understanding Data
2 hours | FREE TO MEMBER BOARDS
Can your board identify and understand the data that will be most helpful in informing decisions? This introductory data workshop teaches boards how to read various types of reports and to use costbenefit analysis when looking at a program’s value. Boards also learn ways to help their communities get a clearer picture of school system performance. Follow this primer with Data 201 & 301 for a deeper look at data.
Data 201: Using Data to Drive Decisions
2 hours | $550
This advanced data workshop is dynamic and grounded in research. It gives you a detailed look at the various data types available to Alabama school boards and helps you identify questions to ask to ensure your school system continuously improves. It is a logical next step for those who have had Data 101 training.
Data 301: Exploring Your ACT Gaps
3 hours | $550
In this session, the board-superintendent team will review achievement gaps highlighted by their high school ACT results and begin discussing the causes and solutions. The session includes discussion of the board’s role in closing the gaps vs. the roles of the superintendent and staff as well as information about questions board members should be asking.
Facilitated Goal Setting
2 hours | $550
Goals are crucial to the success of any organization. Strategic plans generally establish long-term goals, but what if your board needs to plan for the short term? If your board-superintendent team is determining its annual goals, AASB can help you identify critical school system data and set goals for improvement. This workshop can stand alone, be used as a precursor to strategic planning or serve as a stopgap between strategic plans. It can be used as part of AASB’s strategic planning service.
Strategic Planning
2 hours | $550
Why is strategic planning so crucial and what does the process involve? What are the dos and don’ts? Get practical advice and learn the role of the board. This session can be used as a stand-alone training or as part of AASB’s strategic planning service.
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FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT Enhanced understanding of school finance Bids, Buildings and Blueprints
2 hours | $550
Management of capital assets is generally thought of as the CSFO’s job. But this course offers insight into laws and issues related to capital planning as well as the types of data a board should study before planning begins. It also provides a primer on key laws, including the bid and public works laws, which impact capital planning decisions and processes.
Board's Role in Budgeting
2 hours | $550
If your board’s role in the budgeting process is limited to a work session to review the proposed budget right before you vote on it, this course is a must. From working with the superintendent to identify goals and priorities early to identifying issues that should be included in the budget presentation to the board, this session will help your board stay in its lane while ensuring the budget meets system needs.
Financial Questions Boards Should Be Asking
2 hours | $550
Does your board know the key indicators that reveal the financial health of your system and that can serve as an early warning that you’re headed for financial trouble? This training explains the data to monitor and the questions your board can ask to ensure the system is – and stays – in the black.
Introduction to School Finance
2 hours | $550
AASB encourages your team to brush up on the basics of school finance, including the laws, rules and new developments that drive local funding decisions. AASB will also teach you to read and understand financial statements. Follow this primer with Monitor Your Financial Health for a more strategic look at fiscal accountability.
Monitor Your Financial Health
2 hours | $550
Financial stewardship and accountability are two critical areas of board leadership. Your board should have a solid understanding of the system's financial health. Learn about Alabama's School Fiscal Accountability Act and your chief school financial officer's fiduciary responsibility to the board. This advanced-level workshop complements Introduction to School Finance.
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STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Sharpened focus on student learning
Chronic Absenteeism
2 hours | $550
Students who miss 15-18 days of schools – excused or unexcused – are at substantially higher risk of failure and other long-term consequences. In this session, you will learn about the causes and impact of absenteeism as well as what approaches have succeeded in increasing attendance and the board’s role in addressing the issue.
Barriers to Student Learning
3 hours | $550
This interactive session examines the unintended consequences of certain policies and practices that disproportionately impact various student groups. Learn strategies to proactively address hidden biases that create barriers to student learning and engagement.
Improving Schools: Focusing on What Matters Most
2 hours | FREE TO MEMBER BOARDS
What expectations has your board set for teacher and student performance? Do you have a sense of urgency about student achievement? In this research-based session, we will explore the ways the board can have a meaningful impact on student performance without encroaching on the roles of the superintendent and staff.
Governing for Achievement Project 5 SESSIONS OVER 1 YEAR | $3500 The Board's Role in Raising Student Achievement This intensive, research-based training series is designed to help board/superintendent teams build their governance capacity and focus on improving student outcomes. Just as it takes ongoing lessons and practice over time for professional development to create permanent alterations to teachers’ classroom behaviors, this series provides at least 11 hours of training over 12 months. It provides enough practical experience during and between trainings to permanently change board culture.
GAP Workshops: 1. Committing to High Expectations. This session covers what’s at stake for students who are performing below grade level and includes efforts to create a sense of urgency among the board/superintendent team for addressing those students’ needs. The session also builds board members’ understanding of the impact of quality teaching and the lack thereof and the importance of expecting more from employees, students and the board itself. 2. Our Culture & Beliefs. This session introduces the seminal research that found board members’ and employees’ beliefs about education, learning and the system’s potential to impact learning are pivotal to the system’s ability to raise achievement. The session also gives boards the opportunity to study in-depth the results of a survey of their own board and employee beliefs and the degree to which the conditions needed for success are present. 3. Key Elements of Improving Teaching & Learning. In this session, the governance team learns about the importance of having strong building-level leadership, the board’s role in governance vs 6
management, the elements of powerful professional development for teachers and the need to sea limited number of critical goals. The board-superintendent team also will identify its own expectations for the outcomes of professional development and will begin to discuss the data and information they need in order to set goals for improving student outcomes. 4. Where Are We Now? This session equips the board-superintendent team to understand the current status of student achievement in their system and to set goals for improving it. This includes hands-on practice working with their system’s achievement data and how to interface with the superintendent and staff team. 5. Oversight for Excellence: The Ongoing Work of the Board/Superintendent Team. This session ensures that the board-superintendent team have the skills to sustain the work developed in the previous sessions. It includes creation of a data-monitoring plan as well as messages to be communicated throughout the community about the team’s vision and relentless commitment to improving student outcomes. In addition to the training, the work begins with administration of a survey to identify the culture of the board and system as it relates to expectations for student learning. It also will measure their beliefs about students’ ability to learn at higher levels and the staff’s responsibility and ability to ensure that happens. The data will then be infused throughout the lessons of the five training modules.
BOARD & THE LAW
Familiarity with critical laws & regulations
Board’s Role in Personnel Hearings
2 hours | $700
This scenario-based training walks the board through the pitfalls superintendents and boards can face when dealing with personnel matters and personnel hearings. Learn the right and wrong ways to handle persistent parents, board member bias and aggressive attorneys.
Charter School Law
2 hours | $700
Deciding whether to become a charter school authorizer requires a clear understanding of the benefits and obligations associated with Alabama's charter school law. Learn the basic components of the law, along with specific issues your board should consider before making this game-changing decision for your school system.
Ethics & Nepotism
2 hours | $700
When family or business interests intersect with your school board duties, missteps can be costly. This training session provides a deeper understanding of what the nepotism and ethics laws allow – and prohibit – when it comes to board members, the superintendent and system employees.
Fair Labor Standards Act
2 hours | $700
No board plans to run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act. But noncompliance happens and often means expensive lawsuits, low employee morale and trouble for a school system. Learn what rules apply to exempt, non-exempt and contract employees and the right questions to ask your superintendent to avoid wage-and-hour issues and other ticking time bombs. 7
Legal Considerations in Personnel
2 hours | $700
This roundup of personnel-related legal topics can help your board avoid costly mistakes. Learn important information such as avoiding discrimination claims, posting vacancies, what you can and can't disclose about personnel and how to manage employee grievances.
Open Meetings & Public Records
2 hours | $700
How you do business is as important as the business you do. This session focuses on when and how you notify the public of meetings, how to use executive sessions and the limits on what boards can do outside the public's view.
Sexual Harassment in the #MeToo Era
2 hours | $700
Sexual harassment is a serious issue, but school systems with the right policies, procedures and staff training can lower their liability exposure and better protect staff and students. A school system’s improper response — or failure to respond—to allegations could lead to legal nightmares. The scope of this issue can extend from students and employees to third parties, so don’t be caught off guard.
Special Education
2 hours | $700
The laws governing special needs students are complex and missteps can be costly. The session provides an overview of the expectations and strategies for avoiding pitfalls.
Students First Act & Teacher Accountability Act
2 hours | $700
There is much superintendents and boards should know about employment actions, including when and how to reassign, transfer and discipline employees and principals. This training details the Students First Act and Teacher Accountability Act's rules for personnel actions and walks the board through common mistakes boards make when serving as judge and jury in those actions.
Students and the First Amendment
2 hours | $700
From free speech to religion, the rights given to students under the U.S. Constitution can be complex for schools and school boards to navigate. In this session, you will learn how to preserve students rights using a series of legal cases that have made boards’ obligations clearer.
Title IX and Athletics
2 hours | $700
Boards of education operate under the watchful eye of the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces multiple federal laws meant to prohibit discrimination, including Title IX. Learn how this law designed to combat gender discrimination in schools can impact athletics and other program offerings.
Working With Your Board Attorney
2 hours | $700
Your board attorney is a key player on the leadership team. How do you choose an effective one? What should you expect to pay? What are the rules of confidentiality? What do you do if the relationship goes bad? These are just some of the practical, real-world questions that will be answered.
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EVEN MORE OPTIONS
In addition to our 44 Standard Workshops, AASB offers these whole board training options: Custom Workshops
Whole board training can focus on a specific area of need for your school board. These may be areas identified during your own board conversations, the evaluation process, strategic planning, annual goal setting, accreditation, state intervention or through community feedback. AASB can design a custom workshop or board retreat to help. For extensive customization, call AASB for pricing 334.277.9700.
Book Studies Board-superintendent teams can elevate and enrich their learning with book studies. Choose a thoughtprovoking book from our list. Then schedule an AASB facilitator to guide discussion of the key leadership concepts. On the shelf are books about change, student achievement, teamwork, leadership and more. Call for the list.
Poverty Simulation Experience one month of poverty in one hour with AASB’s Poverty Simulation, an eye-opening opportunity for board members and school staff to build awareness and empathy for students living in poverty. When your full board participates, the Poverty Simulation counts as your two-hour Whole Board Training credit. The simulation requires 30-80 participants and approximately 20 volunteers. Contact our Leadership Development team orvisitAlabamaSchoolBoards.org/PovSimfor more information.
Train With Neighbors School boards within driving distance of each other can share whole board training expenses to save money and enjoy an opportunity to learn with their neighbors. Coordinate the topic, date, time and location, then contact us to handle the rest.
Also Available: Candidate Training (Call for Length & Pricing): Sometimes – through situations such as the conversion from an elected board to an appointed board or the creation of a new school system – school boards will see the potential for a large turnover in members. When that occurs, AASB can provide training for would-be board members about what board service entails. The session is designed to help candidates understand the position they are seeking, the requirements and time commitments and the scope of the board’s and board members’ authority. Startup Board Training (Call for Length & Pricing): Whether a city system has formed a new school system or a new charter board has been created, this session provides a solid introduction to the law and practices that help a fledgling board avoid costly or embarrassing mistakes. 9
Choose from 44 Standard Workshops Barriers to Student Learning Basic Conflict Resolution Better Boardmanship Bids, Buildings & Blueprints Boardmanship 101 Boardmanship 201 Board’s Role in Budgeting Board's Role in Personnel Hearings Board Self-Evaluation Board Self-Evaluation + Goal Setting Board Superintendent Relations Building a Stronger Board Team Charter School Law Chronic Absenteeism Communicate in Style Community Engagement Communicating in a Crisis Custom Conflict Resolution Data 101: Understanding Data Data 201: Using Data to Drive Decisions Data 301: Exploring Your ACT Gaps Effective Board Meetings
Ethics & Nepotism Facilitated Goal Setting Fair Labor Standards Act Financial Questions Boards Should be Asking Introduction to School Finance Key Work of School Boards Legal Considerations in Personnel Media & Public Relations Monitor Your Financial Health Open Meetings & Public Records Improving Schools: Focusing on What Matters Most Parliamentary Procedure Sexual Harassment Social Media Pitfalls, Potholes & Pointers Special Education Strategic Planning Students First Act & Teacher Accountability Act Students and the First Amendment Superintendent & CSFO Evaluation Superintendent Search Title IX and Athletics Working with Your Board Attorney
What options are eligible for Whole Board Training? Training taught by the Alabama Association of School Boards (AASB) or external training preapproved by AASB is considered “eligible” for whole board training. The External Training Provider Application is available for download at Alabamaschoolboards.org/training/external-training-application. To learn more about the guidelines for earning pre-approved whole board training using an external trainer, visit Alabamaschoolboards.org/training/external-training-guidelines.
www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org
800.562.0601
training@AlabamaSchoolBoards.org