Great School Boards

School board adopts modified Robert’s Rules – is this legit?

By Ann Macfarlane / August 9, 2023 / Comments Off on School board adopts modified Robert’s Rules – is this legit?

A recent news story described how the Conway School District in New Hampshire adopted a modified version of Robert’s Rules of Order, after extensive debate on the topic. Was this a reasonable way to proceed? Absolutely! You can write your own rules of order Not every school board, local government body, or nonprofit board of…

Read More

Robert’s Rules succeed in high school classroom

By Ann Macfarlane / July 5, 2022 / Comments Off on Robert’s Rules succeed in high school classroom

Guest post by Wayne Jennings, Ph.D. Jurassic Parliament is delighted to share this real-life example of how the students of Wayne Jennings, an innovative high school teacher, brought Robert’s Rules alive in their classroom. Meetings in schools Meetings involve a group in making important decisions. At the student-group level, elected or volunteer student officers run…

Read More

Let’s teach our kids Robert’s Rules!

By Ann Macfarlane / September 26, 2021 /

Guest post by Ted Weisgal                           Scenario #1 Through Tee Ball, an introduction to Little League®, 4–7-year-olds begin learning baseball. Children are properly outfitted with helmets, bats, balls, and gloves. Each stage of learning involves drills. Scenario #2 A student becomes an officer. They attend a meeting. After formalities like roll call, someone, floundering, says, “I…

Read More

When public pressure is intense, what can you do?

By Ann Macfarlane / January 21, 2021 /

At a recent workshop, a director from a school board split by pandemic-related decisions asked me what board members can do in the face of intense public pressure. These are tough times for local non-partisan government bodies, for sure. Here are some thoughts about what can be done. Download PDF Listen to your constituents, while…

Read More

Parliamentary procedure for junior and high schools

By Ann Macfarlane / May 2, 2019 / Comments Off on Parliamentary procedure for junior and high schools

This week I had the pleasure of presenting Jurassic Parliament to Kate Plesha’s student government class at Roosevelt High School.

Read More

School Board President Role and Responsibilities

By Ann Macfarlane / April 2, 2019 /

This list of school board president role and responsibilities was presented by former Board President John Burton and Superintendent Sam Jarman of the Alpine School District at a workshop organized by the Utah School Boards Association.

Read More

When too much “hands on” gets in the way of progress

By Ann Macfarlane / April 29, 2015 / Comments Off on When too much “hands on” gets in the way of progress

As a longtime fascinated observer of civic and nonprofit boards, I’ve noticed some interesting things happen from time to time. Some examples: An elected board member who is a CPA decides that he’s not satisfied with the district’s financials, so he prepares his own version for the directors to review. A director who believes ardently…

Read More

One simple guideline can make meetings more productive

By Ann Macfarlane / April 29, 2015 / Comments Off on One simple guideline can make meetings more productive

Meetings of one type or another can take up to half of the average work day and keeping them productive can sometimes be a challenge. But there’s one simple guideline that can save time and improve the content of daily meetings by a thousand percent and it’s this: No one may speak a second time…

Read More