Effective Superintendent-School Board Practices: Strategies for Developing and Maintaining Good Relationships With Your Board

"The authors fill a gap in the literature by providing a practical, experience-based look at how superintendents should approach the most important relationship in their professional lives. Working effectively with school boards is what it is all about, and this book shows you how."
-Paul D. Houston, Executive Director, American Association of School Administrators

"This book provides practical insights and useful ideas to help district leaders who are serious about keeping the educational interest of children first among their priorities."
-Pedro A. Noguera, Professor, New York University

"Clearly lays out the important role the superintendent has in leading the district in partnership with the board of education. This book is well worth the time of every current and aspiring superintendent and school board member!"
-Anne Bryant, Executive Director, National School Boards Association

"This book is a useful tool in building district governance teams. The authors′ collective wisdom provides valuable insight for superintendents and school board members."
-Luan B. Rivera, President, California State Boards Association

"A wonderful, clear, and jargon-free primer on how to be a successful superintendent. This book is must reading for superintendents and a real plus for school boards."
-Dede Alpert, Former California State Senator, Former Member, California State Assembly

"An outstanding fieldbook for those interested in down-to-earth strategies for navigating the complexities of providing leadership in school districts."
-General Davie, Jr., Retired Superintendent of Schools

Foster a strong superintendent-school board relationship centered on quality teaching and learning!

Effective Superintendent-School Board Practices helps current and future superintendents and school board members develop an effective governance team that prioritizes quality teaching and learning.

Designed for practicing and aspiring superintendents and school board members, this exceptional book relates the everyday experiences and challenges faced by this important district team. Combining 84 years of service as superintendents in urban, rural, and suburban school districts, the authors offer:

• Real-life vignettes that highlight problems, successes, key points, and useful practices
• Indispensable information on building relationships, creating a team, managing conflict, and staying focused on the mission and priorities of the district
• Reflective practice questions and self-assessments throughout

This rich resource offers knowledge, skills, and strategies to teach and inspire current and future leaders, based on the experiences of practitioners who have learned what works and what doesn′t, leaving valuable time to focus on student achievement.

Rene Townsend, former superintendent for ten years, is executive director of the Urban Education Dialog (UED) and Public School Services (PSS), nonprofit organizations founded by Price Charities. PSS has a mission of reducing the price of goods and services to all public school districts; UED is a forum to confront challenges facing urban school districts and exchange best practices. With seven other superintendents, Townsend coauthored Eight at the Top; they are working on book two, offering more leadership insights for superintendents. Townsend received her bachelor of science from the University of Washington, her master′s from San Diego State University, and her doctorate from Northern Arizona University. She serves on the national boards of Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) and Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR).

Gloria L. Johnston has devoted over 40 years to a career in education. She currently coaches, mentors, and provides professional development for principals, central office administrators, superintendents, and school boards. The focus of her work is on systemic strategies that lead to improving student achievement and closing the achievement gap. Her years of service in PreK–12 education included serving as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, and 12 years as a superintendent of schools. She worked in urban, suburban, and rural school districts in Illinois, California, and Caracas, Venezuela. Most recently, she served as dean of the School of Education at National University, headquartered in San Diego, California.

Throughout her career, Johnston has been an invited speaker at state and national professional conferences, served on state and national educational and research committees, and has been awarded major professional development grants. She is coauthor of two books, Eight at the Top: A View Inside Public Education, a collection of stories about the work of school district superintendents, and Effective Superintendent-School Board Practices: Strategies for Developing and Maintaining Good Relationships With Your Board, a practical, experience-based look at the most important role the superintendent has in leading a school district.

Johnston earned her PhD in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her MS in bilingual/bicultural education and BS in humanities (magna cum laude) from Northern Illinois University.

Prior to joining the 26,000-student Irvine Unified School District in Orange County, California, Gwen E. Gross served as superintendent in Manhattan Beach Unified School District, Beverly Hills Unified, Ojai Unified, and at the then one-school Hermosa Beach City School District. In addition to her 17 years as a superintendent, she has been an elementary and middle grades teacher, principal, director of operations, and faculty member at universities in the Midwest and on the West Coast. She was named as one of the “Top 100 Educators in North America” and was honored as the “2005 Superintendent of the Year” by Pepperdine University, where she has served as an adjunct professor of education leadership for 10 years.

Gross is active in many community and professional organizations, holding leadership positions in many of them, particularly with the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), where she has chaired the New Superintendents’ Annual Symposium, the 2007 superintendent symposium, served as the vice chair of the State Superintendents’ Committee, and has been named a Tri-County Superintendent of the Year. Together with several other superintendents, Gross coauthored Eight at the Top: A View Inside Public Education and Effective Superintendent-School Board Practices. She was a bimonthly columnist for the Beach Reporter newspaper serving Los Angeles County’s South Bay area and she has developed a series of creative communication documents for distribution to the many constituencies served by public schools.

Gross is received her BA from University of Wisconsin, MA from University of Akron, and PhD from Kent State University, and a postdoctoral certificate from Harvard University.

Peggy Lynch recently retired after serving for nearly seven years as the superintendent of the San Dieguito Union High School District, located in the northern part of San Diego County. Prior to San Dieguito, she was the superintendent of Brea Olinda Unified School District in Orange County, California. Her career spans 38 years and includes middle and high school teaching, high school assistant principal and principal, and assistant superintendent.

Lynch served on the San Diego County Department of Education Achievement Gap Task Force, as well as other county advisory committees. She was also co-chair of the San Diego and Imperial counties superintendents group for Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). She has chaired the Superintendents’ Symposium Committee for ACSA, as well as the organization’s annual conference. In Orange County, she also chaired the county superintendents’ organization. Her memberships include Southern California Superintendents, Suburban School Superintendents, American Association of School Administrators, and Association of California School Administrators.

She received her undergraduate degree from Parsons College in Iowa, her master’s from California State University, Fullerton, and her doctorate from the University of La Verne.

Lorraine M. Garcy serves as a consultant with the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) as the coordinator of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to provide training for superintendents in California. She previously served 34 years in education as a California superintendent, assistant superintendent, site administrator, and K–12 instructor. Garcy has been as a member of the ACSA State Superintendents′ Committee, New Superintendents′ Workshop Planning Committee, and Superintendents′ Symposium Planning Committee. Garcy also worked as director of the Superintendent Academy, North, for administrators aspiring to be superintendents, and on the California School Leadership Academy Board. In 2003, she was recognized by the California State Assembly for her service to the students of the State of California with an Assembly Resolution. Garcy received earned a bachelors degree in education from the University of New York, Oswego, a master′s degree in education administration from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her doctorate in school business administration from the University of Southern California.