From the Field: The Foundations of the Principles
By Patrick Allen
Journal | May/June 2024
During a Friday Focus Workshop at the Joint Annual Conference this past November, I was asked a question I hadn’t even considered during my time at IASB – when were the Foundational Principles of Effective Governance developed? The concepts behind the Foundational Principles have always been in existence, and effective boards have followed them, even when they were not yet formalized. I wanted to be able to give an answer to the board member who asked this question, so I told the participants that I was going to grab my phone and send a message to a former IASB employee who might know the answer. After sending the message, I got a response, and a lot quicker than I thought I would. The Foundational Principles were formalized in 1997.
This led me to wonder about this formalization process that happened around 1997. I think about how instrumental the Foundational Principles are in everything we do today. They are discussed during every board self-evaluation. They are brought up at Division Meetings. They are a focus when my colleagues and I are determining what panels we will do at Joint Annual Conference. They are mentioned when board members call for advice when dealing with issues on their boards.
If they are such a “foundational” part of the work that happens within IASB today, what was it like before 1997? What did board self-evaluations look like? What was the focus of panels at Friday Focus workshops at Conference? I decided to get to the bottom of these questions, so I called the former IASB employee I discussed earlier. His name is John Allen. He was a former school board member for 12 years in Marion and worked at IASB in the 1990s as a Field Services Director. He also happens to be my dad. I spent a Monday afternoon at dad’s house and asked him these burning questions.
Son: Hi, dad. Thanks for spending some time with me to answer some questions that I have.
Dad: It is my pleasure. It is always great to spend time with the best son in the world. (paraphrased)
Son: Before the Foundational Principles were formalized, what did board self-evaluations look like? What was their focus?
Dad: The concepts of the Foundational Principles have always existed, we just never had them down on paper or called them anything. When we would get together around the watercooler or at our regular department meetings, we always talked about these concepts and how they fit in with good school board governance, but we didn’t have a name for them. We spent a lot of time speaking about how boards set policy. We wondered about what we mean when we say boards set policy and ask what should boards do. Some of us, and then all of us, read John Carver’s book Boards that Make A Difference. Just the title is inviting, right?
Son: When it was decided to formalize these concepts into what are now called the Foundational Principles of Effective Governance, what did this group look like?
Dad: Simply, it started by asking “Is this board work?” and eventually lead to “What is board work?” By way of background, IASB Field Services staff historically had been superintendents. In the ‘80s, IASB hired local school board members and people with business and educational or corporate training backgrounds. So these conversations evolved from different perspectives. In addition, as staff we were encouraged to consider how IASB could increase its value to member districts, so this gave Field Service something concrete.
Son: From these informal conversations, how did the group become formal?
Dad: We continued these conversations during our regular Field Service Department meetings. We decided to bring in others from around the Association, who also worked with school board members, like Policy. Communications was instrumental in helping us develop and edit our thoughts. We eventually had three offsite trips where the only focus was the eventual Foundational Principles. Between these meetings, we engaged other organizations, like IASA, and used them as a sounding board for our concepts. We wanted to get looks from many different angles to see how these concepts would fit in the landscape of school board work. Further, we made sure that Carver’s book was available at the Joint Annual Conference bookstore for early adopters. We also let some of the boards know we’d be available to dig more deeply into how the Foundational Principles could work on their boards.
Son: I know I am skipping ahead a bit, but once these were finalized, how were they implemented? Did IASB have a formal announcement?
Dad: We were purposely low-key in implementation. We did not want to appear heavy handed and come across as IASB is now telling all school boards how to behave. There was not a formal announcement of any kind. We as Field Service Directors just started to discuss these items during our board self-evaluations, and they, over time, became foundational to our work.
Son: What impacts did the Foundational Principles have on future work that you did?
Dad: They began to establish consistency across all Field Service Directors in regard to our board self-evaluations. We had a focus that was clearer than what we had previously had. We still talked as a team about how they were working, and used feedback from each other and our members, and we adjusted as we needed to so that we could be clearer and more concise so that the Foundational Principles could stand the test of time.
The Foundational Principles of Effective Governance have stood the test of time. While the issues that face school boards have changed constantly since 1997, the core governance focus has not, and will not. School boards will continue to face difficult issues within their districts. If they aspire to follow the Foundational Principles, they will be able to effectively lead their district through any crisis it might face.
Dad left IASB in 1998 and continued to work in education until he retired in 2008. He enjoys reading, riding his bike, hanging out with his grandkids, all things Illini, and Cardinals baseball.
Dad, in conclusion: I am really pleased that the Foundational Principles are still being used. Board work is very important community work and it seems using effective governance can assure that individual school boards focus on building a great future for all communities.
Patrick Allen (Son) is a Field Services Director with the Illinois Association of School Boards