Board Officer Institute
Board officers, as team leaders, are critical to board-superintendent team effectiveness. To support Texas school board officers in the successful fulfillment of their responsibilities, TASB offers a series of training sessions specifically designed for school board officers. Board Officer Institute, formerly known as Board Officers' Academy, allows you, as an aspiring, current, or new board officer, to mix and match training sessions to meet your needs. These sessions are available at a variety of TASB conferences as in-depth or breakout sessions, as live virtual events after board elections, and some are Online Learning Center (OLC) courses.
Visit the Board Development Services Events page and look at the programs for the various conferences to see if any of these sessions are available. In addition, visit our OLC to see a list of available courses, including Board Officer Institute: A Journey to Excellence and Foundations Workshops for Board Officer Institute.
Discover sessions for:
Communication skills
Communication is the Response You Get
If you’d like to be more confident in presenting to local service groups, churches, and at other public settings then this session is for you. Learn some basic and intermediate skills to becoming a better presenter. This is an interactive skill building session so be prepared to roll-up your sleeves and practice what you learn.
Working with the Superintendent
The board president and the superintendent must work together to effectively coordinate the work of the board with the work of the superintendent. The quality of the coordination will impact how well both entities accomplish their shared and individual missions. This short online course is designed to provide useful tips and communication tools to foster a meaningful working relationship between the board president and the superintendent.
Successfully Working with Challenging Individuals
School board members and administrators deal with all kinds of people. In this interactive session you will learn some quick strategies to understand and work with challenging people.
Board Officers' duties
Board Officers’ Duties and Responsibilities
New and aspiring officers will learn the statutory legal duties, local policies, and expectations of board officers. A TASB attorney and a Board Development Services consultant will discuss what is required of the board officers, common legal “red flags,” tips, and resources to help board officers effectively complete their duties. Interactive exercises will help attendees draft a proper meeting notice and handle public comments with grace.
Directing Your Focus as a Board Officer
This session is an opportunity for board officers to hear from experienced trustees and superintendents on what it takes to be an effective board officer. Panelists will share their pitfalls and successes in how officers lead a board and work with a superintendent in to ensure district success.
Meeting management
Practical Parliamentary Procedures
Understanding the basics of Robert’s Rule of Order is a must for new board officers or anyone who hopes to be one someday. Be ready to get involved in this learning experience and become part of the action. You will step into a meeting as your learn how to appropriately use parliamentary procedures to turn your school board meetings into the efficient, civil, decision-making events you only dreamed were possible. This session also covers strategies for moving on when discussion bogs down and tells you how to handle challenges to the process.
Effective Facilitation Skills - Navigating Through Smooth and Choppy Waters
Get ready to drop into a meeting in this highly interactive session. The activities in this session will teach you basic facilitation techniques not found in Robert's Rules of Order that a presiding officer may use to effectively guide discussion and address situations that could prevent the board from accomplishing its business. Become a master of keeping discussions on track as you learn to run more effective meetings.
Legal and Governance Perspectives on Meetings
Is there a difference between meeting legal requirements and following best practices in your board meeting? There doesn't have to be. A TASB Legal Services attorney and a Board Development Services consultant answer common questions about meetings and give you two important perspectives on public participation, voting, keeping minutes, the effect of abstentions, and more.
Important Tools for Meeting Preparation
This session introduces two important tools for meeting preparation: an agenda calendar and a customizable background information form for agenda items. We'll also provide you with tips for renewing draft agendas.
Focused and Productive Board Discussions
This online course is designed to help board members and board presidents understand how to facilitate a discussion that is focused and productive—one in which the board is addressing issues that will truly advance the organization. This "short course" will move provide tips and tools to move the board discussion to a higher level.
Introduction to Parliamentary Procedures
This online course is designed to help you understand the fundamentals of procedural actions, and introduces you to the essential tools of Parliamentary Procedures using Robert’s Rules of Order. Board members need to understand Robert's Rules of Order, and the common rules and procedures for deliberation and debate in order to place the whole membership on the same footing and speaking the same language. The conduct of all business is controlled by the will of the whole membership. Robert's Rules help you conduct constructive and democratic meetings, to assist, not hinder, the business of the assembly.