How to Conduct a School Board Meeting: 5 Expert Tips

1. Enforce School Board Meeting Policies

School boards usually contain policies to guide each board meeting. The board bylaws include parliamentary procedures to help board members make critical decisions. Each school board typically has specific bylaws or policies. 

These policies guide board meetings to ensure they run efficiently and empower members to practice good corporate governance. Therefore, identify the policies that apply to your school and enforce them during board meetings. That way, the meeting processes will flow smoothly and you’ll ensure democracy prevails when the board makes decisions. 

2. Invest in Meeting Management Software

The right board management technology helps meetings run more efficiently and board members work more effectively. Meeting management software moves all the documentation and board materials to the cloud so members can communicate and collaborate from anywhere. 

Some of the features and benefits of board management software include:  

• Easy-to-use agenda builder to create templates that make the agenda-making process seamless in future meetings. 

• Ability to store meeting documentation and notes in a central hub so board members can quickly retrieve information from previous meetings. 

• Zoom integration to enable board members to meet virtually.

• A reliable voting system so members can easily vote on motions.

• A secure platform with features like encryption passwords, two-factor authentication, and bio-identity.

3. Distribute Meeting Agenda

How you prepare for the meeting influences its success. Drafting and sharing the meeting’s agenda offers an excellent way to make a board meeting run effectively. An agenda shows the board members how the meeting will flow from one topic to another and directs the meeting to ensure a smooth transition between processes.

Therefore, you need to share the agenda with the board members before the meeting. Ensure the agenda includes the main themes of the meeting and the order in which board members will discuss key topics. 

4. Collaborate with Board Members

Excellent board collaboration enhances communication between the director and school board members. Teamwork builds mutual trust among the members and fosters open-mindedness when individuals have opposing opinions. 

Consider the following tactics to boost collaboration among school board members: 

• Leverage technology to streamline communication: Collaboration comes to life when the board members can share their opinions seamlessly. To achieve this, consider using meeting management software to boost interaction among board members. Platform features like messaging and video chat streamline communication and allow individuals to express their sincere perspectives in meetings.

• Make collaboration a core value in school board meetings: Foster a comfortable atmosphere that encourages every member to participate in the meeting. Since some members may not feel comfortable speaking in a room full of people, modern board meetings ensure collaboration prevails because members can remotely share their opinions without the pressure of speaking to a room full of people.

5. Distribute Post-Meeting Action Items

Taking action is the pillar of effective school boards, making post-meeting action items essential. Action items are tasks that arise from the board meeting and require members to take next steps

Assign these tasks to an individual or a group of members after the meeting so board members will leave knowing exactly the actions to take to achieve the school’s goals. 

Distributing post-meeting action items also enhances accountability since the board will assign an individual or a specific group to complete a particular task. However, you need effective board meeting minutes that clearly show the flow of events during the meeting.