Pam Knowles

What does your secretary role entail?

“I am responsible to read the minutes for each meeting and make sure that they’re accurate and I’m pretty good at proofreading so I can see where things are in the stakes and talk to our executive secretary and she’ll fix those and I sign specific documents for the board, the president and the secretary are responsible for signing those. Financial documents and things like that. We have added that the secretary is responsible for birthday cards and other things, special events, making sure people get flowers and cards and things like that.”

How are positions reassigned, what is that process like?

“The president usually discusses it with the other board members and finds out what their aspirations and what they would like to do on the board and communicate that with other board members and as we have our discussion we decide who would probably be a good slate to fill the positions and then we introduce that slate at the board meeting.”

Layla Spanenberg

Are there any requirements that a member must meet to fulfil a position?

“Not necessarily. The current school board, and it has been this way for a very long time, typically we do not have a freshman board member serve in an executive position on the school board. We give them an opportunity to focus one year learning what the different roles entail, there is a pretty significant learning curve for being a school board member and we what to ensure that our newest board members fully understand what their role is, they have an opportunity to learn along the way. That following year, really, later this fall when we have those discussion on who would best meet the needs of the school district and be interested in certain board roles.”

What does your president role entail?

“I am the spokesperson for the board, but I think there is a big misconception with the school board president or other school board roles. Our board, we have five positions and each of us contributes equally to the board. We have the president and the president’s responsibility is to run the meetings. The president’s responsibility is to organize the agenda and plan the agenda with the superintendent.”

Is there anything I missed that you think readers should know?

our school board speaks with one voice. We have five individuals with very distinct diverse backgrounds that come together and share opinions and ideas but at the end of the day we vote at our board meetings. Everything is open, we follow open door laws. We work as a team to ensure that we follow our guiding principles and try to achieve the strategic plan that we’ve set forth.