In today's world, there are a number of competing demands that can turn a board on its head depending on who is demanding. Such is the case for public education school boards who are even more facing competing if not conflicting opinions and values by their "customers" and those not their customers (yes, their are outsiders not served directly) who have multiple beliefs about the way their communities and community institutions should be operated.
There is of course one answer but of course that answer will not satisfy everyone. Just the same, that answer, I believe, lays in the board's development of a mutually agreed upon Theory of Change and set of Core Values. Without these two tools, little can be accomplished in the development of policies and practices that protect as much of the common good and core consumers as the institution has been developed to serve.
I don't know specifically how much a Theory of Change and set of values have been used to inform the school board highlighted in the following story but that they at least have a template for developing policies is a step in the correct direction. I would encourage them to complete the other homework to move to the next step.
Here's the story:
ISBA upholds its LGBTQ+ model policy in response to AG questioning
The Executive Director of the Idaho School Boards Association responded on Monday to a critical letter Attorney General Raul Labrador sent last week, admonishing the organization for its role in developing model policies – especially an LGBTQ+ rights policy – for school districts and charters. Labrador’s letter came a few days after he questioned the legality of the LGBTQ+ policy on Twitter.
In her response, Misty Swanson upheld the nonprofit’s role of helping school board members “carry out their school governance role in ever-changing environments,” including its model policy services.
“We have maintained that our job is to provide schools with a framework on sensitive topics that navigates the layers of legal complexities, all to avoid costly litigation, intense investigations from the U.S. Department Office for Civil Rights, or the loss of federal funding,” Swanson wrote.
Swanson pointed out the complexities that school board members face when choosing policies to implement: “… they must navigate inconsistent court rulings, or guidance and rules issues through federal agencies, some of which can and (have) changed overnight depending on who is elected to serve as President of the United States.”
And she iterated that ISBA’s model policies are all reviewed by education lawyers. The model policies are there as options for school boards to use, or not, at their discretion. Trustees also have the ability to tailor or rework the model policies as best fits their communities.
The letter correspondence was sparked by recent uproar over an LGBTQ+ rights policy — a form of which has been adopted at about 60 Idaho school districts and charters — that protects students from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Those who have adopted the controversial LGBTQ+ rights policy “have done it with compassion, as they work with students and their families who may have an individual personal need,” Swanson wrote. Either way, trustees are in a difficult position: “no matter what a school district or charter does, they are subjecting themselves either to litigation from non-accommodated LGBT students or upset … parents who disagree with those accommodations.”
The ISBA ensures that schools can accommodate students or parents who disagree or are uncomfortable with such policies.
Swanson sidestepped or provided vague responses to some of the specific questions Labrador listed at the end of his letter, but offered to meet in person with Labrador or his staff to further discuss the policy and ISBA’s work.
Swanson seemed eager to assuage the tensions between ISBA and the Attorney General’s office, noting that the nonprofit has “traditionally had an excellent working relationship with the Office of the Attorney General in Idaho.” Labrador has served just one month as Idaho’s attorney general after defeating Lawrence Wasden, who served Idaho for 20 years, in last year’s Republican primary.