“Education is about children and as long as our efforts are aligned toward children we are on the right path.”
Deborah L. Hendrix President, Board of Education
Board of Education Coherent Governance
The Harrison Board of Education is now working under a governance model system called Coherent Governance. Instead of having the previous 300 or so district policies, the Coherent Governance model now streamlines board policies down to 30 clear and concise policies holding the Superintendent more accountable for daily district operations, challenging curriculum, high-quality teachers and most of all, student achievement.
The board policies are monitored on a yearly basis. If you are interested in reviewing the monitoring reports, please check with the Board Assistant in the Administration Office.
The idea behind Coherent Governance is to make the work of the Board more focused and to clearly define the areas of accountability dictated to the Superintendent.
The new policy structure is broken down into four sections:
1. Governance Culture (GC), 10 policies that define the role and responsibilities of the Board.
2. Board/Superintendent Relationship (BSR), 5 policies that define how the Board and the Superintendent work together. These policies also explicitly define the Authority and Accountability of the Superintendent and direct the purpose and considerations for the Superintendent's annual evaluation.
3. Operational Expectations (OE), 13 policies that dictate the role and responsibilities of the Superintendent and the operational expectations as defined by the Board.
4. Results (R), the mission and 3 policies that state the educational outcomes expected by the Board.
The change to a Coherent Governance model does not change any of the District's or Board's responsibilities as required by law. The board is not abdicating their power to the Superintendent, it is requiring more specific accountabilities for the Superintendent. It merely moves the day-to-day operational practices out of Board policy and into District policy and allows the Board to concentrate more effectively on the areas of governance for which they are charged. This new set of policies will set precedence for the current and future boards to know and operate within the governance policies they were elected to follow.