Who Does What?
The Superintendent
The superintendent is much like a CEO - and is the face of their district. They are most responsible for the successes of a district and as we know are most assuredly responsible when there are failures.
The role of a school superintendent is broad. The superintendent's responsibilities can be broken down into three important roles: chief advisor to the board of education; the executive officer of the district; and the educational leader of the community. (For purposes of this piece, I'll use the pronoun "he" because our current superintendent is Dr. Taylor.)
Chief Advisor
As the chief advisor to the board, the superintendent is responsible for keeping the board informed of events and happenings in the district and also making recommendations about daily operations.
While the superintendent attends all board meetings and provides his recommendations, he is not allowed to vote on any of the issues. If the board votes to approve a mandate, then it is the duty of the superintendent to carry out that mandate. Remember, the board of education is also directly responsible for evaluating the superintendent and thus, can terminate the superintendent should they believe he is not doing his job.
Executive Officer
Like the role of a CEO of a large corporation, the role of Executive Officer of the district is very broad. As the district leader, the Superintendent has responsibility for staffing, managing the finances and daily operations. Superintendents deal with building improvements/bond issues, district policies, district curriculum, student transfers, transportation, and the list goes on.
Educational Leader for the District
Finally, the superintendent is the educational leader for the district. He is expected to build relationships within our community and as well as with other districts.
He is expected to be active in professional education organizations, familiar with current trends in education and taking the initiative in bringing worthwhile ideas to the attention of the board and our community.
The role of a school superintendent is broad. The superintendent's responsibilities can be broken down into three important roles: chief advisor to the board of education; the executive officer of the district; and the educational leader of the community. (For purposes of this piece, I'll use the pronoun "he" because our current superintendent is Dr. Taylor.)
Chief Advisor
As the chief advisor to the board, the superintendent is responsible for keeping the board informed of events and happenings in the district and also making recommendations about daily operations.
While the superintendent attends all board meetings and provides his recommendations, he is not allowed to vote on any of the issues. If the board votes to approve a mandate, then it is the duty of the superintendent to carry out that mandate. Remember, the board of education is also directly responsible for evaluating the superintendent and thus, can terminate the superintendent should they believe he is not doing his job.
Executive Officer
Like the role of a CEO of a large corporation, the role of Executive Officer of the district is very broad. As the district leader, the Superintendent has responsibility for staffing, managing the finances and daily operations. Superintendents deal with building improvements/bond issues, district policies, district curriculum, student transfers, transportation, and the list goes on.
Educational Leader for the District
Finally, the superintendent is the educational leader for the district. He is expected to build relationships within our community and as well as with other districts.
He is expected to be active in professional education organizations, familiar with current trends in education and taking the initiative in bringing worthwhile ideas to the attention of the board and our community.
The School Board
This is the first in a series of brief newsletter entries focusing on who does what in public schools? and will we hope explain, briefly, the distinct functions of school boards, board members, superintendents and others in the district. We hope this primer will help explain in practical terms how things (are supposed to) work in NJ public education and more importantly in our district.
The focus of this first entry is on the role of the school board and its members. The school board does not operate the district on a day-to-day basis; that is the job of the superintendent, who is the district’s chief executive (we’ll focus on the role of the Superintendent in next week’s newsletter). Rather, the school board sets the policies, goals and objectives for the district – and it holds its sole employee, the superintendent, responsible for implementing the policies and achieving those goals.
The school board consists of people who live in our community and are selected by the community; they’re our neighbors, are non-partisan and receive no pay for their service.
You might be surprised to learn that local school board members are state representatives. They are empowered by state law to perform a state function: governing the public schools at a local level.
The power, however, lies with the group. Individual board members have no legal status other than that of any citizen, except when sitting with other board members in a legally organized meeting. As individuals, board members cannot make decisions, take actions, or speak for the board, unless the board has authorized them to do so. This is really important to remember when you are emailing one member of the board asking for something and/or advocating a position, rather than the entire board - you may not get a response from the individual member, but from the group as a whole.
For more information on the role of a school board, click here.
The focus of this first entry is on the role of the school board and its members. The school board does not operate the district on a day-to-day basis; that is the job of the superintendent, who is the district’s chief executive (we’ll focus on the role of the Superintendent in next week’s newsletter). Rather, the school board sets the policies, goals and objectives for the district – and it holds its sole employee, the superintendent, responsible for implementing the policies and achieving those goals.
The school board consists of people who live in our community and are selected by the community; they’re our neighbors, are non-partisan and receive no pay for their service.
You might be surprised to learn that local school board members are state representatives. They are empowered by state law to perform a state function: governing the public schools at a local level.
The power, however, lies with the group. Individual board members have no legal status other than that of any citizen, except when sitting with other board members in a legally organized meeting. As individuals, board members cannot make decisions, take actions, or speak for the board, unless the board has authorized them to do so. This is really important to remember when you are emailing one member of the board asking for something and/or advocating a position, rather than the entire board - you may not get a response from the individual member, but from the group as a whole.
For more information on the role of a school board, click here.