Stories of Impact: Politicking Case Studies from SBP Fellows

Politicking Case Studies: “Building Strong Foundations: The Role of Small Wins in School Board Governance for Educational Success"

Over the past couple of years, School Board Partners (SBP) collected board achievements from SBP fellows and alumni that uplift the ways in which SBP Fellows have navigated politics and partnerships in order to make smart, equity-driven decisions on behalf of the students they serve. From Atlanta Public Schools in Georgia to Roaring Forks School District in Colorado, each case study in this final installment of this series paints a picture of the seemingly incremental pieces necessary to build toward big, audacious changes.

You can read our first two blog case studies on successful policies passed by SBP board members and financial responsibility enacted by SBP board members on our blog page.

Cobb County School Board (GA) and Incremental Wins

Nichelle Davis, SBP Cohort 5 and board member of Cobb County School Board in Georgia. The district includes 112 schools and serves over 106,000 students. Over 60% of the district’s enrollment are students of color and over 40% of students are experiencing poverty.

Nichelle’s greatest challenge serving on the Cobb County School Board is navigating a hyper-partisan board where most key votes pass or fail along party lines. Because of this, Nichelle has learned to achieve small wins by meeting with the superintendent through one-on-one conversations. As a recent result of these conversations, Nichelle was able to include student performance goals in reading as a part of the superintendent’s individual goals and thus a part of his overall accountability — a goal not previously set by the board. This seemingly small step will eventually shift the way the board uses student performance as a key measure of the superintendent’s overall performance. Holding the superintendent accountable to this measure will ensure that progress is made on this goal for students. If the superintendent wants to continue receiving satisfactory evaluations, which will lead to contract extensions, he now must clearly be able to demonstrate he is delivering on behalf of the students he seeks to serve.

Roaring Fork School District (CO) and Community Engagement

Kathryn Kuhlenberg, SBP Cohort 5 and school board chair of Roaring Fork School District in Colorado. The district includes 14 schools and serves over 5,600 students. Nearly 60% of the district’s enrollment are students of color and over 25% are economically disadvantaged students.

Prior to Kathryn’s board chairmanship, the board had no practices in place that enabled them to engage with the community effectively. When faced with the enormous challenge of identifying affordable housing for their Superintendent and other district staff, the board, under Kathryn’s leadership, was determined to obtain the input of the community through the creation of a Housing Task Force and hosting a town hall meeting. Both efforts afforded members of the community an opportunity to weigh in on the matter, giving the community a sense of ownership about matters relating to the district and their tax dollars. This has now become a part of the new practice to be used to engage the community on an ongoing basis. Kathryn and her board recognize that their community is at the center of the work they do and the decisions they must make. Establishing this process of community engagement is a significant step to fully engaging and connecting with the community moving forward.

Atlanta Board of Education (GA) and Policy Persistence

Jessica Johnson, SBP Cohort 5 and board member of the Atlanta Board of Education in Georgia. The district includes 87 schools and serves approximately 50,000 students. Roughly 80% of the district’s enrollment are students of color and nearly 70% are students experiencing poverty.

While Honors and AP courses are available for Atlanta Public Schools students, high needs schools in certain parts of the district have had minimal access. Knowing this, Jessica set out to implement a plan ensuring all students had access to these courses. As she asked questions of district leaders, she learned that there was a bottleneck in the process that was preventing the work from moving forward. She continued to inquire with district officials at every level and insisted on movement, including investigating progress during board meetings and following up with the Interim Superintendent during her one-on-one meetings. Her strategy to keep it on the agenda with as many key decision makers as often as possible resulted in the district beginning an audit of all equity practices across the district. Jessica’s persistence created incremental yet meaningful changes toward not only access to AP and Honors courses for all students, but the identification and process of breaking down barriers to access.