The Role of the Board
By Brett King, Headmaster
Each spring, parents, teachers, and others in
the RMCA community gather together to meet and mingle with RMCA’s current and prospective
board members. During this “Association” meeting, our
newest board candidate, Stu Featherston, will be introduced. Those
present will have an opportunity to ask Stu questions and vote to
affirm his membership on the board. Board president, Doug Montgomery,
and I will also talk about the role of the board. The article below
is a reprint of a previous Perspectives article on this topic. Please
plan to join me at the Association meeting on April 20, at 7:00 pm
in the Chapel.
The business of changing lives is a noble endeavor.
It’s the
central mission of most nonprofit organizations. Peter Drucker, in
his book, Managing the Nonprofit Organization, wrote that the “product” of
a nonprofit is “neither a pair of shoes nor an effective regulation.
Its product is a changed human being.” RMCA is such an organization,
with the high calling of pointing students to Christ in order to be
transformed to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
It is the responsibility of the RMCA Board to preserve
this mission of transformation. This is a unique and challenging
responsibility
that is often misunderstood. Although sharing some similarities, nonprofit
boards differ from public and for-profit boards. For example, nonprofit
board members are not paid, nor in many cases are they elected to represent
constituents of differing ideologies. Rather, nonprofit board members
often act as “trustees” on behalf of the entire organization.
RMCA Board members consider themselves trustees.
Daniel Vander Ark, president of Christian Schools International,
states that the purpose
of a Christian school trustee is to “guard and promote the mission
of the school as if the school is a baby whom they hold in trust for
the Lord and the parents. These trustees make decisions on what would
be good for the baby.” Just as there are common methods for the
care of a baby, boards also make use of commonly accepted practices
for the governing of their schools.
The RMCA Board has followed the principles of the Policy Governance
model to promote the care of its “baby.” This system, designed
by John Carver, is used by hundreds of nonprofit boards across the
country. The Association of Christian Schools International (ASCI),
of which RMCA is a member, has promoted its use in the over 6,000 schools
it serves around the world. An ACSI preschool accreditation team that
was recently on our campus commended us on the adoption of this model.
Like most models, Policy Governance has benefits and limitations.
Its governance principles are sometimes viewed as being overly rigid
or keeping the board distant from the organization. It is also very
different from traditional models used in schools, and therefore sometimes
difficult to grasp. The board has wrestled with these difficulties
over the years and is continuing to address them. However, there are
many advantages to the model. Foremost is the clear definition of the
purpose of the board.
At the most basic level, the board’s purpose is accountability.
According to Carver, the board is in place to “see to it that
the school achieves what it should and avoids unacceptable actions
and situations.” Or using the previous analogy, the board defines
what the “baby” should be like when it grows up and ensures
that it is properly taken care of in the process. This is done by crafting
specific kinds of policies, delegating authority to the staff through
polices, monitoring compliance with polices, and continually re-evaluating
the effectiveness of those polices; hence the name, Policy Governance.
It takes quality board members to develop effective policies. Over
the years, RMCA has been blessed by godly and competent men and women
on the board. Its members are committed to Christian education, exhibit
wisdom and discernment, and demonstrate character in their experiences.
For more information on Policy Governance or to learn more about our
board members, go to www.carvergovernance.com,
or click here to visit the school
board pages of this website.
