The Governance Academy of Visionary Education Leadership (GAVEL) is an ASBSD Board Development initiative that offers multi-level learning opportunities designed to prepare school boards to effectively govern and provide the leadership necessary to enhance their local school district.
GAVEL represents ASBSD’s pursuit of your association’s primary goal: to inspire school board members and administrative teams to value and pursue leadership development.
School board members face diverse legal, financial and education issues. GAVEL learning programs are designed for all board members. Each GAVEL training provides knowledge and skills you will need to be a leader in education. Consider attending as a board-superintendent team to reap the most rewards.
GAVEL trainings are broken into two sections: Foundations Workshops and Leadership Workshops, with three course options in each section. GAVEL courses are described below.
GAVEL Basics Workshops – This series of (3) workshops provide school boards with foundational information that boards will find beneficial in governing their school districts:
- Governance 101: Learn the basics of how to be an effective board member. The workshop walks boards and administrators through hands-on experiences to learn about Board / Superintendent responsibilities, understanding state law as it relates to school boards, the importance of policy development, teamwork, and many other topics. The workshop is essential for new board members and a good refresher for more experienced board members.
- Fiscal Responsibility: This workshop teaches board members the fundamentals of school finance. Boards will study state and local finance information to gain a better understanding of how school finance works and how it directly impacts their school district.
- Goal Setting and Strategic Planning: These services help school boards and superintendents walk through the steps of setting basic goals for their district or take the team through a detailed look at their school district data to develop a strategic plan. Developing goals to improve their school is an important school board function to give purpose and direction to improving any school district.
GAVEL Leadership Workshops – This series of (3) workshops is designed to help school board members learn about leadership skills needed to be effective school boards and school board members.
- Making the Tough Calls: School boards make thousands of decisions, and some have significant impacts on their school districts. This leadership workshop provides board members with a model of decision-making that will help them navigate the difficult decisions they face. Board members will also discuss real-world examples of the most challenging decisions they may face.
- Characteristics of Effective School Boards: What do the most effective school boards look like? What do they do that makes them high performers? While most school boards have a process to evaluate the needs of their school and set goals to improve the school district, many boards do not focus on goals to improve their own boards of education. This workshop is designed to challenge school boards to self-reflect and ask the question, are we as effective as we could be in serving our district? This session walks the school board through the research of the National School Boards Association: Eight Characteristics of Effective School Boards. It will help board members understand each of the characteristics that make school boards highly effective, and then invite the board to select one or two characteristics they would like to work on, as goals of the board, and brainstorm action steps they will take to achieve their goals.
- Effective School Board Leadership: Does serving on the school board require leadership skills? It certainly does. This workshop engages board members in a discussion of 8 real-world scenarios that describe the important skills of leadership, specific to school board governance. The session will challenge board members to think about their own leadership strengths and weaknesses and invite board members to work on improving their leadership skills. Strong leaders make strong school boards.
All participating board members earn 40 ALL points for their school board as part of ASBSD’s School Board Recognition Program – ALL.
ASBSD Board Trainer Dr. Wade Pogany has over 40 years of experience working in public education. He brings an engaging, dynamic, and thoughtful approach to his trainings. We can also customize workshops to fit your needs. Contact Dr. Pogany at 605-222-0889 or at wpogany.DEC@gmail.com to schedule a training event.