Four Ways Boards Add Value to Schools

This is the second of two pieces on ways governing board members add and subtract value from their schools. [Click here for the post on subtracting value.]1. Advocate for your school in public. Some years ago, a hospital marketing study showed that every patient directly or indirectly tells 256 other people about their stay, thereby influencing their own decisions about where to receive health care. Every trustee is in a similar position regarding their school, and has a duty of loyalty to advocate on the school's behalf with prospective students, potential funders and future candidates for board membership. If you who hold the school in trust don't believe in it, who will (or even should)?2. Make your financial contribution early and at a leadership level. All-in is a given for trustees and annual (and capital) campaigns, but it also means donating at a significant level as a way of signaling your dedication to the institution. Put simply, the school should be your primary philanthropic priority (ahead of your university or the local art museum) while you are on its board.3. Recognize that your own child's experience and perspective may not generalize and is not a basis for governing. Your child may or may not like a teacher; regardless, his or her experience (and yours) is no basis for evaluating teaching and trustees should not be playing that role in the first place. Great governors insist on a rich and valid stream of data (in the plural) before forming opinions or making decisions.4. Prepare, show up and participate. Attendance at committee and board meetings are table stakes, but preparation for those meetings by reading board materials and preparing one's thoughts in advance are priceless, to coin a phrase. Great trustees show up for meetings, on time and ready for engagement.Are there other ways trustees add or subtract value? Let me know your thoughts.