The election is over and you know who is joining your board in January. Here is the thing about the next eight weeks: your new board members are going to learn how a school board works from somebody. If it is not you, it will be a Facebook group, a neighbor with a grudge, or the memory of how their church council does things. By the time they take the oath, they will have ideas and probably a bunch of questions.
Get there first.
Why we built this
We love public education. We have spent our careers inside it, and we have watched too many good districts get knocked sideways by a board that meant well and did not know the rules. We also get calls from schools all day, every day, so imagine you knew none of what you know now yet are stepping onto the board in a few weeks. Somewhere along the way we realized that if we want to change the system for the better, lawyers answering questions one phone call at a time is not going to do it. Board members need better information up front, in plain language, before the problem shows up. So we wrote it down and we are giving it away for free.
What it is
The KSB New Board Member Toolkit is a short, plain-English guide for a first-year member of a Nebraska school board. It covers the board’s job versus the superintendent’s job, open meetings and closed session, student discipline, special education, personnel, superintendent evaluation, the budget calendar, how to handle “got a minute?” at the gas station, confidentiality and social media, conflicts of interest, and why training is not optional. Every section is a few pages, written for people who are not lawyers, and most link to a Portal training that goes deeper.
It is free
The toolkit and everything linked inside it, including the Portal trainings on closed session, student discipline and special education, are available at no charge to every Nebraska public school district, subscriber or not. Where the toolkit refers to board policies, it links to KSB’s policy service; if your district uses a different service, point your new members to your own policy book for the equivalents.
Do this today
Email the link to each incoming board member. Not next month. Not at the reorganization meeting. Today, while they are still asking questions instead of forming opinions.
If a new member calls us with a question about something in it, we will politely refer them back to the superintendent but are happy to answer any questions you get from new members. Surprises are for birthdays.
Click here to access the toolkit
Questions about anything in the toolkit? Call us. That’s what we’re here for. Reach out to us at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com or at 402-804-8000.