January is School Board Recognition Month. This is an excellent time to express appreciation to your school directors, while at the same time showing your community how your board and your district are focusing on improving student achievement.
According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA), school boards can support student achievement by focusing on eight key actions: vision, standards, assessment, accountability, alignment, climate, collaborative relationships and continuous improvement. Through their actions in these eight areas, school boards can continually put student achievement at the center of what they do and can engage educators as well as community members as they do it.
The Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) has a number of suggestions for recognition activities for your school board directors at http://www.wssda.org/wssda/webforms/en-us/events/sbrm/sbrmtips.asp.
Recognition activities can be very simple such as hand-written or illustrated notes from school children or more elaborate such as student performances for the board. Other ways to recognize the work of your board include:
· Use your reader boards to thank board members for all their hard work.
· Add a special thank you to the board in school newsletters.
· Invite board members to a special luncheon or tea in their honor.
· Have a student interview a board member for a newsletter story.
· Attend a board meeting to see how a board functions and thank the board during the time members of the audience can speak.
Board members spend countless hours working on behalf of students to improve student achievement and provide the best possible education to equip all students with the skills for college and careers. A little “thank you” goes a long way.