Overview:
The Conway School Board is responsible for overseeing the Conway School District. Together with the Superintendent whose responsibility is to manage the district, they make up the leadership team for all five schools within Conway.
Composition:
The Conway School board is made up of seven people. To qualify, they must be registered voters in the Town of Conway, and they must not simultaneously serve in certain other capacities (moderator, treasurer, auditor, or be a salaried employee of the district). Board members are voted on when another Board Member’s term is up, or if a vacancy causes the board to appoint a new member.
Responsibilities of the Board:
Almost immediately after they are elected, Board Members take an Oath of Office promising to faithfully and impartially perform certain duties. The Board has a very narrow set of defined responsibilities, which includes proposing a budget (which voters must ultimately approve), hiring and evaluating a Superintendent, conducting hearings from time to time, and setting policy. Policy-making includes policies that the Board is required by law to adopt (such as RSA 193-F which pertains to bullying), but policy-making also refers to the development of its own policies for how it governs itself.
Wait, what? That’s right. The Board gets to determine its own rules. Mostly.
The School Board is a unique government body position, and its elections do not tend to draw the same attention as other big-ticket positions, like governors and members of Congress. Yet, it wields incredible power and has a nearly limitless ability to effect large-scale change in the lives of everyone in a town. As long as a majority of the board agrees to proceed on a given matter, there is no immediate legal authority stopping them from doing so. If a majority of the Board felt that it was important for students to wear green on Tuesdays, it could proceed with that action. In fact, if the board had its own rule to wear green to all board meetings, it could ignore that rule as long as a majority of the board supported that abandonment. Most boards would not tend to behave in this way, and most place a high value on integrity. However, green on Tuesdays is a very real possibility if a majority of the board takes no issue with it. Since the Board sits at the top of the hierarchy when it comes to schools, it answers to nobody if it chooses not to.
Citizens, including students and children, can only hope that the Board will act reasonably, and in their best interest as opposed to those of political or special interest groups.
Responsibilities of Board Members:
Members of the Board must only comply with a single law, known as the Right to Know Law (RSA 91-A). This law, in its simplest form, states that citizens must have access to meetings held by the board. The board is not allowed to conduct business in secret when at least a majority of the board has convened. Exceptions and finer details are certainly important to understand, and they can be found here by reading the full statute.
School Board members are nearly impossible to remove from office unless they violate RSA 91-A. They can fail to do the right thing over and over and still occupy their office. The only other ways to be removed from office are by 1.) moving out of the Town of Conway, 2.) death, 3.) resignation, 4.) a Judge’s order, or 5.) the expiration of term (there are no term limits, so expiration itself may not mean removal from office unless the Board Member is not reelected). So for example, even though School Board Members are not supposed to get involved in the school employee interview process, they can and they do get away with it. Conduct unbecoming of a School Board Member is merely a construct, and it is not really punishable in any true way.
Conclusions:
It is important to understand the scope of power that a School Board holds, and that a failure by the public to get involved can result in immediate and long-term negative consequences. The ripple effect of a Board’s actions can lead to negative economic or social outcomes, even for those without children in the district. A common theme regarding School Boards is that they are not responsible for running the schools, but should help ensure that they are run well. However, in districts across the nation School Boards are becoming a new and unfortunate political battleground. Great School Boards are collaborative and develop connections with school staff, community members, and families. They plan strategically and set long-term sustainable goals to enrich the lives of their community children. They think critically and work together for the common good. Bad boards can do just about anything they want if they go unchecked by themselves or are held unaccountable by the public.
Since the system relies so much on at least a majority of board members to have a strong moral compass, the structure of School Boards like Conway’s is the kind of system that only works as anticipated if its citizens participate.
Sources:
“Title VI Public Officers and Employees.” The General Court of New Hampshire, 2023, https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/vi/91-a/91-a-mrg.htm.
“Thinking of running for school board? Here’s what you need to know.” Reaching Higher NH, Feb. 2017, https://reachinghighernh.org/2017/02/02/schoolboard/.
“Roles and Responsibilities for New Hampshire School Boards.” New Hampshire School Board Association, 2023, https://nhsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Roles-Responsibilities-4-2020.pdf.