This course covers the following content areas:

• Legal Policy & Issues
• Board Conduct
• Sunshine Law
• Charter Schools Act

This course covers the following content areas:

• Board vs. Admin Roles
• Selecting an Administrator
• Promoting the Vision & Mission
• Strategic Planning
• Special Education

This course covers the following content areas:

• Board Financial Oversight
• Charter School Finance
• Fund Development Resources
• Capital Improvement

The following chapters will cover the key fundamental topics for new board members.  It covers the key components of board compliance and best operational practices.  

Per state statute 1 CCR 301-88, charter school boards are required to complete annual training on non-discrimination.

2.02 (A) Charter Schools are subject to all federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination. The Charter School provides evidence of annual training on nondiscrimination laws to employees and board members, and otherwise ensures that its board and leadership stay current on all relevant provisions.

Committees serve a number of critical functions in charter school governance. They share the board’s work load so board members don’t burn out, they engage a broader set of members of the school community (including parents and community members), they allow for focused expertise on important areas of the school’s work, and they set the foundation for efficient and productive board meetings.

Charter school boards must dedicate time and energy to running effective meetings. This means being organized, strategic, and prepared for all meetings. This will facilitate the success of the school and also reduce the likelihood of burnout among board members. To this end, we offer here a few key introductory principles with much more information to follow in this module.

In the Board Roles and Responsibilities module, we learned that one of the board’s key responsibilities is enhancing the school's public standing. This includes clearly articulating the school's vision and mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community. We often hear charter schools talk about their board members being “ambassadors” for the school.  Clear, open, and effective communication is key to being a good ambassador. Paramount to this is that board members use “one voice” when communicating with the school community and external audiences.

Policies constitute some of the most important decisions that the charter school board will make, and understanding this key responsibility is critical for board and school success. Policies are broad precepts or principles designed to influence and control future decisions, directions, and actions of the board. Boards focus on broad organizational policies and leave operating processes and procedures to the charter school administration. Through policy-making, the board is able to delegate authority and still retain ultimate responsibility and control. Policies also provide a framework in which other decisions can be made and the work of the board and staff carried out. Policies assure consistency of actions, especially in difficult and stressful situations. Policies also minimize “re-deliberation” on matters that the board has previously decided. Finally, policies define the ways the school wishes to work and the board wishes to govern.

Performance management is ensuring that the school is on track towards meeting its performance goals – or more simply put, it is accountability. The charter contract that gives the school the opportunity to operate as a public school of choice is a legal agreement between the authorizer and the charter school board. The head of school is not party to the contract. Therefore, it is the board’s ultimate responsibility to ensure that the school has performance goals, monitor progress towards those goals, and take action when needed to ensure the school meets its goals.

Providing adequate oversight of the academic program does not require being an educational expert, but it does require clear expectations that are developed collaboratively by the board and the school leader. The school’s contract with the authorizer, the Colorado School Performance Framework (SPF), the Unified Improvement Plan (UIP), and mission-specific goals should all be understood by the board. Once this understanding is in place, the board can effectively fill its role of monitoring goals and expectations on a regular basis.

The School Accountability Committee, which is mandated by C.R.S. §22-11-401 and 402, plays an important role in performance management. For more information on this committee and its role, see Board Module 4: Board Committees.

We recommend that charter school governing boards get into the practice of regular evaluation of their own work and committing themselves to their own professional growth. We provide information here about a number of key board practices for continuous improvement: professional development, board meeting evaluation, annual self-evaluation, and an external evaluation. The most important strategy for making these things happen is to build them into the annual calendar. At an annual retreat, set aside some time to determine when these practices will happen in the year and make them a priority.

One of a board’s key responsibilities is to ensure effective organizational planning to intentionally progress the school toward its grand vision. A thoughtful strategic planning process is the key way boards fulfill this responsibility. Simply defined, strategic planning is the school’s process of defining its strategic direction, and then allocating resources appropriately to pursue this direction. It involves simultaneously acknowledging the school’s current reality and its ideal vision for the future; with those two pictures in mind, the strategic plan then charts the course for bridging the gap between the two. The process of developing a strategic plan identifies clear goals and strategies that can be followed by the board, staff, parents, and other stakeholders, holding accountable those assigned to accomplishing each task by measuring their progress toward each goal.

Many boards struggle to move from being reactive and putting out the fire-of-the-month to becoming proactive and strategic about strong governance. Making this shift takes some planning and extra effort, but once a framework for strategic work is in place, the board’s work will become easier and the school will be on a path towards long-term sustainability.

In 2013, Jess experienced her own call to action. During that summer, she successfully completed a 23-year-old dream of bicycling 4,197 miles across the country. Solo. Jess shares the extraordinary journey of preparing and fulfilling a major life goal, and relates her experience to key lessons that empower leaders to create positive change. In sharing her story, Jess hopes to inspire and give a voice to audience members’ own personal and professional journeys, daring them to do something extraordinary to create lasting change. 

Take a deeper look at positive psychology and practical strategies for nurturing your own joy including evidence-based activities that foster social and emotional well-being. You will define joy in your own terms, learn how concepts like laughter and play, empathy, connection, and kindness impact well-being, and develop a plan to increase the joy in your life.

According to statistics, 500,000 U.S. teachers (15%) leave the profession every year. What is more alarming is that these statistics were compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, this makes teacher retention even more difficult. The educational system must continue to develop ways to appeal and draw in new teachers, but it is just as important for the system to retain the high-quality teachers who are still in the profession. Dr. Heiberger and Ms. Hardaway will discuss the stages, symptoms, and causes of burnout as well as give solutions they believe will help teachers deal with stress and beat burnout in the modern day classroom so teachers will not become just another statistic.
 

Supporting the self-care and well-being of educators and staff is an essential element of a trauma-informed school. This workshop introduces a wellness framework that is flexible and practical. It is a highly interactive workshop that offers a variety of practices to sustain well-being across a career. The well-being strategies draw on a strong research base that stems from neuroscience and contemplative science that has been applied across cultures and across the life span.

Emerging from COVID times, the opportunity for Charter Schools is unprecedented. How do we leverage the recent crisis to create a positive impact for our students and our communities? And how do we respond to the needs of our faculty and student body as they return to class? Join Kevin Baird, Chairman at the non-profit Center for College & Career Readiness and co-author of Whole: What Teachers Need to Help Students Thrive, as we look at education megatrends and collaborate to dream bigger, plan better, and achieve more for our students and our stakeholders.
 

The behavioral and mental health needs of our students are vast and ever-changing.  Determining the needs and the supports can feel overwhelming.  With tight budgets and personnel who are stretched thin, this critical work can sometimes feel daunting. Yet, we know this work is essential to improving student outcomes and resilience. This session will highlight the work of participating schools in the League’s Resilient Schools Cohort. Your peers will share their customized approaches to building resilience in their staff and students.
 

Resilience in School Environments: Understanding & Practice (RISE UP) is an online workshop for teachers, school staff, and administrators designed to explore the prevalence and potential impact that trauma and stress have on student behavior and offer methods and strategies to help support trauma-impacted students. Teaching artists from Kaiser Permanente facilitate the session employing theatre, experiential learning, and arts integration techniques to engage participants in their own discovery and practical implementation.

Educators and students alike have communicated an increased sense of disconnect during the pandemic resulting in a high number of disengaged students. Intentionally designing community and relationship-building activities into your lessons has become increasingly important. In this hands-on session, you will be introduced to a range of digital tools and strategies that promote healthy connections and help to break down barriers. Educators will walk away from this session with additional methods to connect digitally with their students.
 

Through the Governor’s RISE Grant that the League and 14 schools were awarded this year, we are learning the different facets of engagement. In this session, we hope to share what we have learned about engagement, how it is expressed, how it can be measured, and the strategies the cohort is hoping to implement in order to mitigate engagement challenges in their schools.
 

This year, school based mental health providers have navigated new needs and new challenges in both the staff and student populations at their schools. Join this session to hear mental health providers discuss the implications of the pandemic on the mental health of their staff and students and to hear their thoughts on how to support staff and students next school year.