SERVING ON THE SCHOOL BOARD
Training Modules
SERVING ON THE SCHOOL BOARD
Training Modules
Serving On The School Board
National School Boards Leadership Council is a nationwide school board member training organization. NSBLC’s goal is to train school board members to be the necessary agents for education system oversight. We equip school board members with the knowledge, ideas, and connections they need to fulfill their job duties and improve public education. School board members will learn a host of skills, from containing costs through innovative programs to writing policies and resolutions all while restoring the ideology of American exceptionalism in schools.
Education in America has declined dramatically in both academic excellence and in financial management. Public confidence in our public schools is at an all-time low. As communities and parents get more involved to help repair education systems, they are met with resistance. Our once revered public education system must change course and bring accountability to an otherwise unaccountable failing education system. Elected school board members, influenced by the education bureaucracy, are often complicit in the failures as they oversee local public education.
This organization offers you the tools you need as a school board elected representative to bring an academic focus back to your school where every child will succeed. We are sure you take your job service seriously and refuse to impart biases instead of intelligence.
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NSBLC provides initial and ongoing training for new and existing school board members. NSBLC offers training so elected school board members are equipped to be more involved in policy advocacy, policy writing, curriculum development and review, classroom materials review and approval, library holdings review and approval, student and parental rights review and approvals, spending, and forecasting management.
Training forums include Children First Education conferences, virtual webinars, special purpose workshops, Zoom and written issue briefings, and private conversations that advise on district difficulties.
To get started, review the outlines for each of the training modules below. Once you are ready to begin, please sign up to get a username and password – you will then gain access to all the training materials.
Hello,
I’m Dr. Kelly Kohls, Executive Director and founder of the National School Boards Leadership Council (NSBLC).
I am an educator, and a businesswoman with an acute understanding of education and love of our country.
By virtue of an extensive background in the fields of healthcare and education I witnessed extraordinary changes in our politics and public education, changes that I understood most citizens were not aware of and were not likely to approve of. The more I saw the more I realized how deep seated and at times insurmountable the problems appeared.
However, as I communicated to others, I found that although they were incensed, they would not only want to know more but they would often take that information and do something meaningful with it. I was more than encouraged by this, in short, the experience inspired my involvement in the formation a new way to train school board members in for founding of the NSBLC.
The desire on the part of common sense, salt of the earth people throughout America to serve as school board members is undeniable but their ability to be effective is greatly compromised by the environment they are finding themselves in once elected.
The NSBLC serves to fill a void in the industry of school board training, one that I personally experienced as a school board member. In that role, I recognized the absence of support to do anything more than rubber stamp the failing system that existed when I got there.
As citizens we have the responsibility to elect school board members to oversee and hold our public education system accountable, but it is a mistake to think that by just getting new board members things will get fixed, because that’s just not reality. Being a responsible board member is onerous enough on its own but board members intent on making change have a great deal to overcome and need help.
Currently, there are many organizations that influence the elected representatives on our public-school boards, but none more dominant than the nationwide “professional” organizations instituted to specifically educate school board members. These organizations claim to have the best interest of the districts in mind and teach school board members how to be “good school board members”. Sadly, school board members get an “orientation” and continued “training” by a professional organization that is simply an extension of the teacher’s union including their political agenda.
The teachers’ unions have become the richest and most powerful organized political voting block in America, and they push a strong anti-America, anti-free markets, and anti-faith agenda.
I spent 4 years on a public-school board and 2 years on a public career center school board. In those years of service my experiences with these organizations – such as the National School Board Association (NSBA) and its state level surrogate, the Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) – allowed me to see how their influence rendered school board members ineffective at holding our public schools accountable. Elected school board members should be the oversight personnel making sure the district is containing costs, pursuing academic excellence, and keeping children safe from negative influences but across the country they have become feckless, simply saying yes to anything they are asked to approve. These organizations, through their inordinate influence of school boards, not only affect policy but all contract negotiations in the purview of the school district as well as the hiring of superintendents and treasurers.
Our students, parents, and our country desperately need school board members trained to surveil, intervene, and set policy that will correct the current public education failures. This is the mission of the NSBLC.
If you are a member of a school board anywhere in the United States, a membership to the NSBLC will give you the tools and support to control the destiny of your students, your school district, and your community.
If you are a businessman or woman or concerned citizen, please join me in this effort by effectively sponsoring members of school boards around the country when you purchase memberships on their behalf.
Sincerely
Dr. Kelly Kohls
For speaking arrangements or to talk about the formation of your own statewide school board training organization feel free to call Dr. Kelly Kohls at 614-695-5533 or email at NSBLC4ed@gmail.com.
The foundations of your school board position
Welcome to Moms for America School Board Training Module 1, during this module you will learn the basics to your school board position. School boards are elected or appointed to represent their community while ensuring the students served by your district get the academically challenging education and excellence they deserve. Throughout this section of our training you will learn and practice legal and ethical conduct that ensures you will be a successful school board representative that holds your district accountable to the public. As always please send us any questions or comments you have about this content.
MODULE ONE OUTLINE
A. Preparing for your school board position
B. What to expect at your first meeting
C. Your Oath of Office
D. Become very knowledgeable about “Robert’s Rules of Order”
E. Become knowledgeable about your district bylaws and policies
F. Know the laws in your state that pertain to your position
G. School Board Job Description
H. Code of Conduct
I. Sunshine Law
– Open Meetings Act
– Open Records Act
– Executive Session
J. Additional Compensation
K. Influencers to the Board
L. Know your rights and responsibilities
M. Forming Board Committees
N. Making motions and writing resolutions
Preparing for success
Welcome to our training Module 2. In this module you will learn some of the nuts and bolts to achieving accountability in your district. While the district may focus on the management of the capital investments and the personnel, you should be laser focused on how this organization operates. This includes how it could be more efficient, deliver better academic opportunities and outcomes as well as how it can be accountable and transparent to the community it serves. As you become familiar with the formal and informal structure of your district, you will better understand the input from your citizens and others outside your district.
MODULE TWO OUTLINE
A. “Organizational Chart”
B. Communicating with your community
C. What is “Transparency”?
D. “Children First Budgeting”
E. Understanding your negotiated agreements
F. School board relationships with outside organizations
G. Legal counsel and memberships
H. Community input at board meetings
When results matter
Your school board position holds many responsibilities. This module will assist you in finding your district academic and financial details. You will need to use the academic and financial details you gather and communicate them to the community you serve as well as to the district personnel. Once you communicate the details of the academic and financial status of your district you will need your board to take action to remedy any academic or financial problems.
This module teaches you about student and parental rights which must be protected by you and your district. Use this information to keep your district personnel and board members informed about the rights of the people they serve.
MODULE THREE OUTLINE
- District goals that put the students first – you are responsible to set the district direction.
1. Finding and using district financial records
2. Finding and using district academic achievement records
3. Minimum competencies to progress to the next grade - Protecting student rights
1. Curriculum
2. Student Surveys
3. History
4. Social Emotional Learning
5. Critical Race Theory
6. Sexualization
7. Equity versus equality - Protecting parents’ rights
1. Parents’ rights in education are superior
to those in the education system
2. Opt out forms – should they be necessary?
Current and emerging issues
Throughout Module 4 you will learn the details about the listed subjects that the district may not want you to know. The details listed in this module will give you more information to share with your community, your fellow board members, and your district personnel.
MODULE FOUR OUTLINE
- Student Health Issues
- Cameras in the classroom
- Raising the academic bar
- Universal Preschool and all-day Kindergarten
- Bullying – how to identify the right bully
- Teacher Tenure
- Masks, quarantine and vaccinations – the money
- Open Campuses
- Working Toward Unity
Communicating with your community is a large part of your job. Do not let anyone tell you to forward community comments, suggestions, or complaints to your district administrative staff. If you feel that the community member simply needs to know who to go to then send the link to your district published organizational chart. Most community members will reach out because they have already tried to be heard by the district staff and did not get resolve. It is your job to get the details to the questions so that you may understand if an issue exists and if a policy needs to be changed to remedy the issue.
Trusted Resources
This section is a valuable resource to help you find reliable and trusted resources of information and tools to use while you represent your community by being on the school board. Many people and organizations will try to influence your actions as a school board member. Your ability to filter this input will help you accomplish your goals of holding your district accountable to the community they serve.
- What do experts say?
- Advantages of school choice
- List of trusted law firms
- List of trusted organizations
NSBLC State Chapters
NSBLC has a goal to maintain a chapter in every state that trains school board members to be the oversight agent that the community believes they are electing, and to be the final guardian for all district mission components within the district such as curriculum, spending, and personnel.
For speaking arrangements or to talk about the formation of your own statewide school board training organization please click here to call Dr. Kelly Kohls, or click here to email.
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