Mastering superintendent and treasurer evaluations

Join OSBA's Scott Gerfen on the Leading the Way podcast as he tackles the vital process of evaluating superintendents and treasurers with OSBA board and management services consultants Kristi Robbins and Teri Morgan. Discover the significance of aligning evaluations with strategic plans, understanding key performance standards and effectively handling difficult conversations. Also, learn more about OSBA's role in supporting school boards through evaluations and executive searches. Sponsored by Pappas & Associates: Shaping policy with integrity.

For more resources, training and advocacy updates from the Ohio School Boards Association, visit ohioschoolboards.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there everyone, it's OSBA Scott Irfin and welcome to the Leading the Way podcast. Today's episode brought to you by our friends Athus and Associates. Big thanks to them for supporting the work we do here at OSBA. Well, today we're talking about evaluations. Uh, not the kind that you dread, we mean the kind that actually help school boards and district leaders grow, improve, and stay in mind. What matters most, evaluating your superintendent and treasurer might not sound exciting, but it's one of the most important things a board can do to support district leadership and student success. So, to walk us through why, the how, and some best practices today are Christy Robbins and Terry Morgan with our division of board and management services. And I know you two have helped boards navigate these evaluations across the state, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yes, that's correct.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

So, Christy, why are superintendent and treasurer evaluations so important? Um, how do these evaluations help strengthen a school district?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

So, first, the Ohio Revised Code um states that annual evaluations are required, and these are annual evaluations of the superintendent and treasurer. So it doesn't specify the guidelines or the format, but it is required by the Board of Education. And as you said previously, um, this uh process is amongst the most important work of the Board of Education. So the board would need to define the process and make sure that they have the process in their district policy. It's an important um task because it's an opportunity to make sure that your superintendents and treasurers receive feedback from the board, that they have the opportunity to give feedback to the board, and that they are able to align their goals for the coming year with the strategic plan.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

I think before a district really talks about evaluation, they really need to make sure they have a strategic plan and a current strategic plan with goals. Because the goals for the district should also become the goals for the superintendent and treasurer. It's not everybody going in every direction. It can't be all things to all people. So they have to make sure that for this year, this is our focus. And and go good, solid goals and a strategic plan are the that first step.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

So let's talk about the process of evaluations. Um Christy, are there similarities and differences in the way these evaluations are carried out for both of these roles?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Yeah, so in terms of process, it is similar. Um, the best practice is that uh you would begin the process of evaluation at essentially at the end of the academic year. So this time of year, spring, early summer is a good time to conduct the evaluation for the previous year. But um going forward, it's important then to begin to look at goals for the coming year. So mid-summer, um, there's also a process of it's it's more of a cyclical process. So it's not a once-a-year looking back type process, but looking forward, um, getting together with the treasurer, with the superintendent mid-year. So maybe around uh, I would say November, December time frame to see how things are progressing and give them some feedback. And then going forward, uh, you would have more of a summative piece, as I mentioned in the spring or summertime.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Terry, what are what are some of the criteria that they that you should be key criteria that a school board should be looking at doing this?

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Sure. We have um the key factors that have come down from almost a national level, which I'm sure Christy can share. And they are leadership and vision, and she can give more specifics. But the reality is you're looking at are they meeting the criteria of the leadership or vision, but also in relation to the goal. And that's where I think it becomes hard for boards is to kind of tie those together. You know, the days of do they come to work every day is not in any way, shape, or form important to an evaluation, a good evaluation. So I'll let Christy go through those we point out.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So sure. So there's Ohio treasurer evaluation standards, and there are also Ohio superintendent evaluation standards. So um the evaluation process can be built or should be built around this, these standards for the treasurer. Um, there are five: leadership, financial management, facilities, property and capital asset management, communication and collaboration, and professionalism. And for the superintendent, the five standards are vision. And so that would be a focus on the district work and continuous improvement, also communication and collaboration, policies and governance, instruction and resources. So benchmarking, their performance, their goals against these standards that are set by the state of Ohio, various evaluation systems is the best practice.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

And we've taken those standards, built them into the original OTES and OSES forms that came out from Ohio, original Ohio Department of Education. We've filled in the key standards as well as a section to put the goal that they would relate to. So if your district has a financial goal, you're gonna look at the key standards for a treasurer in relation to that goal.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

So so how involved is the school board? I mean, I I would say I would think pretty involved, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:01

It's uh it's a hundred percent their responsibility. Um and as I said, it is uh codified. So it is a requirement by law for them to conduct the evaluation. Um, they do have the opportunity to create the process themselves. There's nothing specific in the law that says they have to follow a certain type of guideline. So it is ultimately their responsibility um to set the time frame to meet with the superintendent and meet with the treasurer.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I want to get into now uh challenges and best practices. Uh, Terry, what are some of the common challenges a school board faces during that? I'm sure there are many. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

I mean, oftentimes it's a hard discussion. And so how that kind of critical communication is a piece that most board members don't feel as comfortable doing. Don't have a background in human resources. So we would say to a board, if you can't get your arms around a process, don't let the process keep you from having a conversation. Go into executive session, ask the superintendent, do you have the resources you need? What challenges are you finding? And then document in a letter and put the letter in their file. Boards, because it's a little cumbersome for them, tend to stall on doing it. And that's where we think we can help. We can come in and explain, first of all, the importance, and secondly, the process and how they can make it work for them.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

So, Christy, how can these evaluations positively impact uh a district's culture and performance? I would assume they could impact them quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yes. Again, if the process is handled in a positive way and is intended to provide clarity and accountability and goals for the superintendent and for the treasurer, um, the rest of the district, who also would be evaluated eventually, will see that the board is taking it seriously with the superintendent and the treasurer. And it does impact um the approach to evaluating staff, teachers, other administrators throughout the district. So it has a really positive impact on the culture and performance if it's handled appropriately, if it's handled well, and if it's planned. So you need to be planful in making sure that you set a time aside, that the superintendent and the treasurer understand that that the conversation's gonna take place and they come prepared.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

You both have served as school board members. You both have been through this process. Terry, tell me a little bit about some maybe some real world scenarios that a board member might run into. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Um often most of the time, this is a really positive experience and it goes very well. But I can share, because I had the experience on the other side of that, how important this documentation becomes over the years, particularly if it comes to renewing a contract for a superintendent or treasurer or dot. And so having the ability to say, we talked about this issue 2023, 2024, and it's not getting better. And again, you don't have to say you're not doing your job, but what you have to say is the way you're handling this doesn't make you and the district a good fit. We need to do a search and find someone who's a better fit, which of course we could help with too. Um but again, having the documentation is so important legally, of course, but to give an explanation. I mean, you're not saying you're a bad superintendent, you're saying we didn't like how this didn't help achieve our goals or how this hurt achieving our goal. So having that um paper trail basically is extremely important.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Christy, how about you? Some of your experiences.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Um yeah, so um I went through this process a few times in the two terms that I served on the Westerville Board of Education. And um we we worked toward making it more of a discussion where um, again, we heard from the superintendent and the treasurer um through a self-assessment that they completed against the various standards that we mentioned previously. And we were able to provide feedback, both constructive um and reinforcing feedback. And it helped for us to be able to plan for the next year. So, as Terry said, if there are things that we believed as a board were not aligned with the strategic plan, with the vision, the mission, the values, then we were able to take a step back and realign those items and have those conversations.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

What advice uh would you give to a school board that's uh struggling to implement an effective evaluation process?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Well, I would have them call OSBA. Um we often uh uh do workshops in district this time of year in particular, where districts are realizing and boards of education are realizing it's time to do the evaluations for the superintendent and the treasurer. So we could help walk through um the process that we recommend that we consider best practice. And we can also walk through um difficult conversations. Yeah. If um there's an expectation that there may be some challenging conversations, we can provide some tips to help the boards with that.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

The one thing that I can say is oftentimes in workshops, we'll hear from the superintendent or treasurer that the board has never given me any guidance. They haven't done an evaluation. And I feel like I'm kind of floundering. I'm definitely reactive. I'm putting out all the fires every day, but I don't feel like I can be proactive because I'm not sure of the direction that the board would like me to go. So it's it's only fair to get that trusting team approach to make sure that at least you're having a conversation, executive committee, and and doing a letter of documentation that you did have that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

And Scott, I would also add, um, I think we said earlier, it's an opportunity for the Board of Education to ask for feedback in terms of how they're doing, how they're supporting the treasurer, how they're supporting the superintendent, um, and what the needs might be from that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

So uh how can our school boards, uh obviously a phone call away, get in touch, provide the resources. I know we have some of these resources on our website, which I can put as a link in the show notes. Um just closing thoughts from you both on this whole process and what boards should be considering.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Well, I would say it's a process that um, you know, again, if it's planned well, if it's if you focus on the fact that you are having these type of discussions throughout the year rather than once in a year type review, um, it can be very beneficial to the board and the superintendent and the treasurer in terms of their relationship. Knowing what's expected, um, providing professional development opportunities if need be, and adjusting um, you know, change is going to happen. So goals may need to be adjusted. But I would say having those conversations throughout the course of the year and following the process that we've outlined against the standards that have been set by OSES and OTES will really get you to where you need to be.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

The evaluation should never be a gotcha time. And so, more than anything, I think boards need to realize if you have something that is continually happening that you are concerned about, talk about it, have that difficult conversation one-on-one. Maybe it's just board president and superintendent, but you can't let all of those things build up and then you go into an evaluation and like, oh, this is a problem. This is a problem.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

I mean, that never builds a good trusting relationship, let alone that it's not fair to make sure that you're telling the superintendent treasurer ahead of time what the expectations are, and then they know whether they can beat them.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

And I would say if um you are focused on the process uh throughout the year, then the actual conversation when the evaluation takes place at the end of the year becomes much more future focused rather than looking back and talking about issues that probably should have been talked about months before.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

So, one thing, one final thing I wanted to talk about too is uh not only do we help with the evaluation process, we also are out there uh doing searches for both of these roles, correct?

SPEAKER_02 15:04

I I think one of the best things that we bring with our process for a search, and what is most critical is the objectivity. Oftentimes, if a board tries to do a search themselves to find a new superintendent or a new treasurer, they know someone. It's in a small town where the brother-in-law wants the job. You know, all of those things that can lead to more negative input than you need. Right. And so having a very subjective, objective, step-by-step process really helps the board. And that's what we like to facilitate.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

And the experience that we bring, all three of us who facilitate searches, uh, whether it be superintendent or treasurer, we're former board members. Yes. So uh we have all three been through the process, sometimes multiple times, when we served on boards of it. So um we can bring that perspective to the board.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yes, and the third you're talking about is Quinn Maseco, who's the uh third consultant in your in your division. Uh Christy and and Terry, thanks so much for your insights today. Because I I know this is uh a process that every board's gonna be going through, and now's the time of year. So I wanted to have you guys on to kind of talk a little bit about this. So thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

And thank you to our sponsor, Pappas and Associates there, shaping policy within technique.