School Board 101

Q.     What is the purpose of a school board?

The Plainview-Old Bethpage Board of Education "establishes policies and adopts regulations for the operation of the district's eight public schools. Its seven members serve without pay and are elected by the qualified voters of the district for a term of three years. Responsibility for administering Board policies is vested in the Superintendent." School boards are (or at least should be) "the pulse of the community."  They are very much like a corporation's board of directors and play leadership/governance roles.  School boards do not involve themselves in the day-to-day administration of school districts.

Q.     What authority does the school board really have?

The New York State School Boards Association describes the role of school board members, who must work together to accomplish the following:

• Create a shared vision
• Set student performance standards
• Oversee development of assessment program based on those standards
• Account for student achievement results
• Adopt the annual budget, aligning district resources to improve achievement
• Create a healthy environment for work and learning
• Build strategic partnerships
• Sustain the district’s progress through continuous improvement
• Adopt and maintain current policies in written format
• Hire and evaluate the superintendent
• Ratify collective bargaining agreements
• Maintain strong ethical standards