Top 3 transparency challenges for today's school boards
Establishing and maintaining a culture of trust and transparency between school boards and the communities they serve is no easy task. School boards face many transparency challenges that can impact the level of trust and engagement from the local public.
However, by acknowledging and combating these common transparency challenges, school boards can successfully promote and preserve trust and openness within their communities.
By leveraging the right technology, school boards can prevent and eliminate common transparency challenges that they face. Cultivating trust, community engagement and openness with the public supports the board in doing its best work for the success of the school district.
What you'll learn
- What the three top transparency challenges facing school boards are today
- How the right technology can be used to help overcome each of these challenges
- How publicly elected boards can deliver transparency with support from technology
1. Sunshine laws
School board members should be knowledgeable regarding local sunshine laws to combat transparency challenges.
Sunshine laws are regulations that require a certain level of openness and information from school boards. Sunshine laws help combat transparency challenges between school boards and the public constituents they serve. The purpose of sunshine laws is to ensure that the government and its entities behave and accomplish business in an ethical way. Since public schools are part of an elected government, school boards are obligated to comply with sunshine laws. It is imperative for school boards to familiarize and adhere to their states' sunshine laws, as regulations vary by state.
Regardless of how each state approaches sunshine laws, the main function of these statutes is to make certain that the public is aware of the decisions being made on their behalf and the work that is being accomplished by their representatives. While it can be tempting to use technology like e-mail or conference calls to discuss what may seem like unimportant or non-sensitive business, this can be a major violation of sunshine laws. These violations are serious, and in addition to creating greater transparency challenges and distrust between the public and local government bodies, they can also lead to jail time, fines and the school district being taken over.
The right technology can simplify the school board's responsibility to abide by sunshine laws while reducing transparency challenges. By providing access to school board meeting information and documents (agendas, minutes and related materials), board management software can store information in one location that is easily accessible by school board members, administrators and the public. A climate of trust is fostered when school boards fulfill their responsibilities guided by sunshine laws.
2. Complex communication channels
School boards may struggle to maintain clear and consistent communication across many channels. The use of multiple platforms, such as websites, social media and newsletters, can lead to fragmented information and make it challenging for stakeholders to access and understand crucial updates.
The lack of a centralized and easily accessible communication channel can result in miscommunication, confusion and a diminished sense of transparency among parents, teachers and the community.
Implementing board management software linked to a public transparency website helps streamline communication by centralizing all essential information in one platform — a single source of truth. It serves as a hub for updates, which not only enhances the clarity and consistency of communication but also ensures that crucial information is readily available. This in turn fosters a stronger sense of transparency and reduces the likelihood of miscommunication and confusion from multiple channels.
Maintaining one key communication channel contributes to a more informed and engaged community, reinforcing trust in the school board's commitment to transparent governance.
As Diana Baker Freeman, board member and Senior Modern Governance Advocacy & Initiatives Manager, Diligent points out, "School districts often maximize communication channels to ensure messages get to parents. Texts from a coach about practice, emails from teachers about grades and flyers from the office reminding students to turn in forms all become jumbled and can lead to a feeling of chaos.
However, board communication needs to be professional, clear and easy to locate. The board is the definitive leader in the educational setting about important district-wide topics, especially in case of an emergency. Community stakeholders need to have confidence in the communications from the board. It should rise above the noise of the day-to-day and stand as the sole source of truth in policy, fiduciary and emergency matters."
3. Access to information
School boards often face transparency challenges related to the access of information, whether it be meeting information, minutes, agendas or other related materials.
Providing access to relevant information, such as board meeting minutes, decisions and financial reports, can be a hurdle. Limited accessibility to these documents may leave stakeholders feeling uninformed about the board's activities and decision-making processes, and community members may question the transparency of the board — eroding trust and hindering collaborative efforts between the board and the community.
By leveraging the right tools, school boards can streamline relevant information for public access. In compliance with open meeting laws enforced by their state, school boards can also use board management software to provide meeting materials, district goal information and even videos of meetings in a central online location.
Technology can address transparency challenges faced by school boards by providing user-friendly and easily accessible tools that engage and inform the public about key issues while enabling residents to share their thoughts or concerns. The communities that school boards serve need access to information to promote accountability and input. Members of the community are stakeholders, and stakeholders have a right to know what the return is on their investment.
Providing the appropriate level of information with the public promotes community ownership and trust while reducing transparency challenges. Board management software can maintain pertinent board materials (such as policies, agendas, minutes, legislation and other important documents) and make this information easily accessible to board members and the public. Meanwhile, a public transparency website offers a unified and easily navigable and searchable source where parents, teachers and the community can find information efficiently.
Creating easier access to materials for community members to stay informed is key in leveraging technology to reduce school board transparency challenges. School boards often face transparency challenges, which can make it difficult to establish and foster a community of trust and engagement. It is through the school board that the community can be heard and the schools can be held accountable for their performance.
Technology and transparency
Technology is an important tool in facing and combating transparency challenges. In today's society, technology and school board transparency go hand in hand. It is discovering how the school board can best leverage technology to eliminate transparency challenges to promote growth and trust. A secure, streamlined tool can be used to inform and empower public constituents while promoting school board transparency, community trust and engagement.
Diligent Community leverages many key features key to supporting and fostering school board transparency (allowing participants to gain access from any device and ADA compliant). It is an efficient, effective and seamless platform that simplifies the work of the board while supporting board transparency.
Using a single board management software platform, like Diligent Community with its expansive features, school boards have an increasing number of opportunities to apply technology in ways that will eliminate the transparency challenges often faced by school boards. Investments in technology for school boards are truly worthwhile, as school board transparency supports the board in its best work and encourages community engagement.
