The authors of the NSBF report conducted a survey of urban school board members and of the general public in each district, and found that the school board members were much more likely to be satisfied with the state of the schools than was the general public. Thus, part of school reform has involved motivating school board members to view the problems in a manner that will be credible with the public without becoming alarmist and negative about the schools. Noting the resource deficit that urban districts face along with their educational challenges, the NSBF report calls for major changes in the approaches taken by urban school boards. Thus, as an urban district, the community needs to ask whether the PUSD Board is acting effectively to carry out its mission, whether the mission is focused on real issues, and whether a needed sense of urgency attaches to these efforts. With all the attention being currently paid to school boards, it is also worth remembering that school boards can do too much , and thereby hurt the ability of a district to support student achievement.
Boards can micromanage and interfere in the daily operations of the schools.
They can interject themselves as individuals, rather than as members of a collective whose power is applied in the context of the Board meeting. School boards don't run the schools. They provide leadership for the schools, not management of the schools. They hire, evaluate and remove the superintendent, they approve the budget, they set goals, make policy, and provide accountability. Do those jobs well, and boards will be successful.