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A board member’s point of view
Published 6:16pm Monday, December 26, 2011One may question my objectivity or fairness in my grading of the Selma City School Board’s performance for 2011, since I am a board member. My personal reason for the self evaluation is to ascertain or pinpoint area for my improvement. Whether we are talking about administrative, personnel, or instructional matters, I know that we did some good things 2011 and made some mistakes too. Mistakes become disastrous if nothing is learned from it. I believe that we will learn from our mistakes.
The criteria that I utilized for the evaluation is not a board or government approved standardized format for evaluation, it is just a UC&P LLC creation. I Utilized 4 leadership styles that my three years experience unveiled to me as needed attributes to be an effective school board member.
1. VISIONARY LEADERS- visionary leaders are great planners who have foresight, set attainable goals, and communicate shared vision. The most important role for a school board is to establish a vision for the district that reflects the consensus of the stakeholders. I doubt if we have been good at this like we should have been; but we’ll improve.
2. MOTIVATIONAL LEADERS- are good listeners who talk and inspire others to action. If what the leaders are saying is meaningless to their team members, it is unlikely that the followers will act .The vision and mission of the district should be well conveyed to the superintendent and motivates him, who in turn motivates all district employees. We inspired almost the entire community to support the building of a new high school and we need to utilize such skills in inspiring people to foster unity and respect, among each other, in our system.
3. ARCHETYPAL LEADER or LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE- demands that a leader approach a role from ‘do as I do perspective’. Sometimes I have sat down at the podium and looked at some children attending board meetings and all I could pull from their facial expression is a song that says, “I wanna know what love is; I want you to show me” I know we’ve shown love in certain areas and we are still working hard in some areas, so be hopeful. Relative to emulation, we prayed in 2011 before work sessions and meetings to emphasize the importance of God in all that we do. While praying is worthy of emulation, we do not expect teachers or others to start their classes with praying.
4. FACILITATORS/LEADERS WHO WALK IN LOVE-insure that everybody is heard &respected .The organization or group operates as a team .Group goal is more important than people’s differences. We are working hard to become good facilitators and we’ll do more in 2012 .We want to be leaders who walk in love always. We will value and respect what makes our team members different and consequently become a cohesive team. A cohesive team has greater chances of being successful and respected.
We definitely want to be empathetic. Furthermore, leaders who know what love is know how to conquer without unjustified wear and tear.
