Coutre, Bartle ready to ‘hit the ground running’

Newly elected school board members from across the state gathered in Phoenix in December for the Arizona School Boards Association’s annual New Board Member Orientation.

Among the attendees at the Biltmore Conference Center were Scott Bartle and Patti Coutre, who were elected in November to seats on the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board and will begin their terms in January.

The New Board Member Orientation was a daylong seminar that was part of the 53rd annual ASBA/ASA Conference, a three-day event conducted each year by the Arizona School Boards Association and the Arizona School Administrators.

“It was a jam-packed day of the dos and don’ts and the ins and outs of being a school board member,” Bartle said.

“It is really imperative that everybody goes through that process.” Coutre agreed. “It was very valuable for me,” Coutre said about the New Board Member Orientation. “It addressed a lot of the open meeting laws, which are extremely important to know.”

ASBA lists four main goals for its New Board Member Orientation:

• To provide new governing board members and superintendents with an accurate look at school governance, including roles and responsibilities.

• To help new board members understand the legal and ethical responsibilities of the office.

• To provide an overview of Arizona school finance and budgeting.

• To create opportunities for new board members to ask questions and develop professional relationships with other board members, superintendents and ASBA staff.

One of the event’s central premises emphasized that school board members always need to do what is best for the children in the district.

“There seemed to be a recurring theme that when you make your decisions you ask yourself, ‘Is this going to be in the students’ best interest?’” Coutre said.

The orientation consisted of 10 topic-based workshops, including one that was titled “You Are the Advocates for Children” and another described as “Putting Students First — Why We’re
Here.”

A seminar titled “Board-Superintendent Relationship” defined the roles of board members and superintendents. Presented by John Gordon, ASBA director of leadership development, and Karen Beckvar, ASBA leadership development specialist, the seminar stressed that the school board and superintendent must work cooperatively.

“The best board member is the one who is part of a team,” Beckvar said. “You have to be in sync with where you’re going.”

Beckvar said board members must understand the difference between their responsibilities and those of the superintendent.

“The board’s role is to govern,” Beckvar said to the future school board members. “The superintendent is the one who is actually going to run the district. They have the qualifications to do so — you don’t.”

Beckvar and Gordon emphasized that the school board’s role is to establish a plan and set the district’s goals, while the superintendent’s job is to implement the plan and make sure the goals are achieved.

“The superintendent cannot manage unless they know where you want to go,” Gordon said.

“As board members, we’re not looking for you to be education experts,” said Beckvar. “We’re looking for you to represent the interests of the community. It’s not your job to solve problems. It’s your job to make sure that problems get solved.”

Beckvar told attendees of the that during their terms they are always going to be perceived by the public as school board members, whether they are sitting at the dias in the meeting room, watching the Friday night football game or shopping at the grocery store.

“Your community is making judgments on you based on your behavior,” Beckvar said. “This is a 24/7 job.”

Beckvar said that board members are ambassadors for their school districts.

“You are a role model, whether youwant to be or not,” Beckvar said. “You only get to choose whether you are a positive ambassador for your district or a negative one.”

Coutre took note of the seminar’s emphasis on school board members maintaining a positive relationship with the community.

“Part of what they stressed, something I have felt very strongly about, is open communication, getting the community involved,” Coutre said.

The New Board Member Orientation also included a workshop titled “School Finance Basics,” which Bartle said was particularly beneficial.

“It is important to have a working knowledge of what school finance is all about,” Bartle said.

Brian Mee, assistant superintendent for business services for the Pendergast Elementary School District in Phoenix, explained Arizona’s education financing formula and how it relates to school boards.

“We cannot print money,” Mee said. “The bottom line is we have X amount of dollars — which is shrinking — and we must stay within that limit. It is very important that we prioritize.”

Mee said school boards must make budget decisions that include whether to pay people more or to pay more people.

“Those are hard decisions, but those are decisions that have to be made,” he said.

Coutre and Bartle said the New Board Member Orientation provided them with information and background that will help them make the difficult decisions as members of the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board.

“I feel more confident, more knowledgeable, so that I can make the right decisions,” Coutre said.

“Undoubtedly we are going to learn more as we progress through our four-year term,” said Bartle. “But this prepared me to hit the ground running in January.”