You might’ve heard that you should plan your complete annual board calendar all at once (usually at your annual board retreat).
Without a full plan, charter school board members are left wondering if they’re doing the right things at the right times.
They’re not just things that new board members wonder about. These questions remain a constant among board members and CEOs who are experienced with board governance, even when they’ve served on their current board for years.
Our sample annual board calendar is one of our most popular downloadable resources. While we go in-depth here, we encourage you to download the calendar to share with your board members now. And refer back to it as you look for timely reminders to send to your board to keep them engaged throughout the year.
What to share this resource with your board? Download a PDF of our annual calendar. Take a moment at your next board meeting to make sure your team is on track. Or take time at your annual retreat to plan your complete annual board calendar together.
JULY – SEPTEMBER
As you prepare for the upcoming school year, your focus should be on defining your board recruiting needs, CEO expectations, and fundraising groundwork.
The Governance Committee
The summer is the perfect time for your Governance Committee to give your board composition and structure a careful review — and get your recruiting plan in place.
Make sure you know who you have on the board, when people’s terms are ending, who you’ll need to recruit for this year, and that you’ve got a deep enough bench to handle succession planning.
Use your review to build a three-year recruiting roadmap — or review the roadmap built for you in BoardOnTrack. {If needed, determine whether any trustees need to complete their profiles to ensure your BoardOnTrack recruiting roadmap is complete.}Plus, ensure you’re prepared to recruit, train, and retain those stellar trustees by reviewing your individual and committee-level roles and responsibilities.
Finally, determine whether bylaws need to be revised to align with your recruiting or expansion plans. If so, you’ll need to get that scheduled on an upcoming full board meeting agenda.
The CEO Support & Evaluation Committee
Before the first day of school is also the time to begin laying the groundwork for your CEO evaluation process. This is led by your CEO Support & Evaluation Committee, if applicable.
- Review the CEO’s short- and long-term succession plan for him/herself.
- Finalize goals against which to measure CEO’s performance for the year
- Review with BoardOnTrack recommended annual support and evaluation process
The Development or Fundraising Committee
While all of this is happening, your Development Committee should be gearing up by drafting an annual fund development plan and clarifying the full board’s role in fundraising for this year.
OCTOBER – DECEMBER
With the school year in full swing, your committees should be busy doing meaningful work.
The Governance Committee
Continuing on the great work your Governance Team did in the preceding months, they’ll share their three-year recruiting roadmap at a board meeting.
If you haven’t finalized them, ask each officer and committee chair to complete a job description based on BoardOnTrack samples. These documents help clarify how the roles of the full board, committees, and CEO, differ but complement each other. The full board will approve your revised job descriptions.
If your roadmap includes a plan for expanding the board, ensure you’re ready to discuss this with the full governance team. Your expansion plan, nomination policy, and policy for adding non-voting members to committees will need to be approved by the full board before you can begin to implement them. BoardOnTrack members can find samples in the Resources library on the platform.
This is also a great time of year to evaluate your board meeting effectiveness. Great meetings are the top tactic for boosting board member engagement…and unproductive meetings are the most common way to tank engagement. Consider:- How much time are you putting into strategic, forward-looking work vs. reacting to what’s happening daily?
- How well-attended are your meetings?
- How well organized are they?
- Are you complying with the open meeting law consistently?
The Finance Committee
Now’s the time for your Finance Committee to collaborate with the CEO and finance staff to develop scenarios and meaningful time frame for multi-year budget projections.
These scenarios should include staff and CEO pay scales and any necessary research and revisions; the projected number of students and new staff slots; anticipated per pupil tuition; and any facilities plans.
Use those scenarios to create multi-year, multi-scenario budget projections. Review those projections with the CEO and finance staff. And then present them to the full board.
The fall is also the time to complete the annual audit and share your findings with the board.
The Development or Fundraising Committee
Your Development Committee kicks it into high gear now by creating a plan for the year and sharing it with the full board for approval.
Include in your plan a statement of clear expectations for individual trustees. Determine what, if any, education you’ll need to provide trustees to meet those expectations.
Once you’ve got approval, waste no time leaping into implementation. But first, ensure you’ve got a process in place to track individual trustee support of the development plan.
The CEO Support & Evaluation Committee
Continue to prep your CEO evaluation process. Set dates and reminders to prep for December and March CEO check-ins.
At a full board meeting, review and vote to approve the CEO’s goals and short- and long-term succession plans. At each monthly committee meeting, report on progress towards the CEO’s goals.
In December, check with your CEO to ensure you’re on track to meet the goals agreed upon at the start of the school year. In advance of your check-in, gather input from the board, ask the CEO to complete a self-reflection, and ensure that the staff satisfaction survey is completed, so that you can incorporate all of this in your check-in.
The Academic Oversight Committee
Your Academic Oversight committee gears up by providing board training, in conjunction with the CEO, on what assessments the school uses and what each one assesses.
Complete the first committee check-in of the year. And at your next full board meeting, update the board on key learnings.JANUARY – MARCH
The Governance Committee
Your Governance Committee will continue to implement your recruiting and/or board expansion plan, and continue to evaluate board meeting effectiveness regularly.
This is also the time of year to conduct an individual trustee assessment. Use the results to inform nominations at your annual meeting. To do so:- Develop a plan in conjunction with the Board chair to provide feedback to each trustee
- Hold individual trustee meetings to give feedback on performance to date
The Finance Committee
In the new year, your Finance Committee will Review the first draft of the budget for the next fiscal year and then Present the first draft of the budget for the next fiscal year to the full board
Work with CEO and finance staff on revisions for the first draft and Present the final budget for next fiscal year to the full board for approval
The Development or Fundraising Committee
Continue to implement the plan, Track individual trustee support of the development plan, Conduct board education as needed
The Academic Oversight Committee
Provide board training in conjunction with the CEO on what assessments the organization uses and what each one assesses
Complete the second committee check-in of the year on interim assessments using the BoardOnTrack assessment check-in question list
Update board on learning from second committee interim assessment check-in
The CEO Support & Evaluation Committee
At each committee meeting, report on progress towards CEO goals.
In March, conduct another CEO check-in to review their progress towards the year’s goals. As you did for the December check-in, gather input in advance from the board, ask the CEO to complete a self-reflection, and ensure that the staff satisfaction survey is completed.
APRIL – JUNE
The Governance Committee
As you edge towards summer, your Governance Committee gears up again. In addition to continuing your year-round activities {recruiting, board expansion, and meeting efficacy}, your committee will:
- Hold individual trustee assessment meetings
- Make recommendations for additional terms based on individual trustee assessments
- Conduct Orientation for New Trustees
- Conduct annual meeting
The Academic Oversight Committee
Review end-of-the-year state assessment data at a committee level. And share your review with the full board. Note that the timing of this varies greatly by state, but where applicable, we recommend completing this in the spring.
The Development or Fundraising Committee
Continue to implement your fundraising plan, track individual trustee support of the plan, and provide board education as needed.
The CEO Support & Evaluation Committee
At each committee meeting, report on progress towards the CEO’s goals.
Conduct your end-of-year CEO evaluation, incorporating staff surveying as needed.
If you haven’t already, download our sample annual board calendar. This can serve as a terrific resource to keep your board engaged and focused on current and upcoming events.
