Even amidst this extreme situation, you have important work to do to continue to govern a multimillion-dollar public enterprise relied upon by hundreds, if not thousands, of families.
Use these questions to help guide your board’s decision-making and contingency-planning.
Board Meetings
How will you responsibly navigate the evolving regulatory environment?
- Has our state open meet law been revised? What are the new compliance requirements?
- Who on our team is responsible for staying up to date with the evolving regulations?
- If our state’s open meeting law has not been revised, our votes only count if we meet in person. How do we handle this?
- How can we allow public participation when we meet remotely?
- What protocols will put in place to conduct closed sessions while meeting virtually?
- What online meeting tools will we use to run board and committee meetings?
Board Engagement
Are you, as a team, prepared to take on the work of the weeks and months ahead?
- What kind of board culture do we need to have?
- How will we create this as a distributed team?
- What are your expectations for board member participation?
- Have you made them clear to each board member?
- Will we utilize online collaboration tools to help the team work collaboratively?
Strategic vs. Reactive Board Business
Be as strategic as possible with the very limited time you have.
- What are our priority goals between now and the end of the school year?
- Do we need to adjust these? Reprioritize them?
- How do we simultaneously maintain strategic focus and deal with this crisis?
- How do we start planning our downside scenarios and get real about the financial implications for our organization?
The Board-CEO Partnership & Governance-Management Line
The board needs to know that these questions are being answered.
- How should the full board be kept informed?
- What kind of support does the CEO need from the board?
- If there are disagreements, what does the CEO decide? What does the board decide?
- What happens if our CEO gets sick? Or any senior staff?
- What happens if our board chair gets sick? Or any other officers?
Communicating With Students, Families, & the Public
Communication is leadership.
- Who is responsible for our overall messaging direction and actions?
- How are we communicating with students and families?
- What should trustees do if a parent reaches out to them directly?
- Who is in charge of responding to inquiries from the press or the public?
- How are we ensuring compliance with FERPA? Have our staff and board been trained?
Please note:
In the midst of this fluid and rapidly changing situation, this resource is by no means an exhaustive list of every item that every charter school board will need to address.
You and your team may run into challenges that are not addressed here. When needed, consult with the appropriate expert in your local area, especially regarding legal matters.
Updated