Monday, May 19, 2008

New Governance For The School

Changing the school governance from a strong individual (senior pastor) to a school board (Junta) is both an interesting and challenging process. I have a feeling that the challenges have just begun. Playing roles one has never played or even observed before is full of surprises for everyone.
Today I spent about two hours working with the Director of the school on the topic of how she plays her role in a Junta meeting. First, the idea that one would outline, in writing, the details of every issue and present this document for Junta member’s consideration before the meeting is new. Secondly, the point that one needs to be available at the meeting to respond to questions and reactions of the Junta members is also new.
We are attempting to move from a procedure of announcing a new program to the public and THEN doing the research to see if it will work to researching first and then announcing a well planned program. Our school is suffering from a series of announce and then plan projects. Four announce and then plan programs have not worked and then retrenchment is required. Needless to say, that doesn’t do much for credibility of the institution.
Our next Junta meeting is Thursday evening. Before that time, we hope to meet with the president of the Junta to review the role she should play at a Junta meeting. We have discovered to this point that nothing can be assumed when it comes to playing new roles. We have some very good and sincere people who want the best for the future of the school. Whether or not the new governance will work depends a lot on our ability to teach the new governance roles.

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