The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

I recently attended a four-hour training session for Big Sandy Leadership. I’ll be presenting the information in several articles. I will be quoting information given to the Big Sandy School board as presented by Dr. Daniel Farr MSU Professor, retired Superintendent, and educational leadership consultant. On the front page of his presentation, it said, “The impossible can always be broken down to possibilities.”

It was a very informative workshop. Over the years the role of the School Board has changed. Pre-1900 Boards served as administrative body and the superintendent served as general supervisor. In the 1900-1930’s School Boards operated with a corporate-style model of governance and superintendents assumed a more executive role. The 1940s Boards set general policy and superintendents were viewed as professional educators—a trend that continued throughout the 20th century. Now in the 2000’s Boards and superintendents working in tandem to ensure student success and serve the stakeholders in an increasingly complex political environment. The current challenge is the board-superintendent TEAM is a leadership imperative and in Montana “home rule” or “local control” allows the Team to exercise control over all education operations unless illegally prohibited. Which brings up the most important comment. Some rules/laws cannot be overruled. Just this year 34 new policies were enacted.

He went on to say that school boards are living in VUCA now more than ever. V is for Volatile, U is for Uncertainty, C is for Complexity, and A is for Ambiguity.

I thought it was interesting to view the ten hats a Superintendent must wear. There are ten roles of the superintendent. Cluster One: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and Community of care and support for Students. Cluster Two Professional Capacity of school Personal, Professional Community for teachers and Staff, Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community, and Operations and Management. Cluster Three Mission, Vision and Core Values, ethics, and Professional Norms, Equity, and Cultural Responsiveness

The main role of the trustees—is basic governmental unity to ensure a free public education. The main role of the superintendent is the legal administrator empowered by the board.

Random comments made during the presentation are: In the last four decades special education has doubled. Finding teachers is a problem all over the nation.

Good Evaluations aren’t done. A problem all over the state. It was interesting to note that Trustees do evaluations as well.

It has become clear that School Counselors are important to have for kids to learn. We have to know where students are so we can teach them at their place.

Covid just fried teachers and they left teaching making Montana short by 1,000 teachers.

Training and discussion followed concerning Strategic Planning. I’m sure there will be more concerning strategic planning in the future. The final thought I had was what can I do, as a paper, to support communication between the school, parents, and students?