|
|
Supporters of the superintendent have criticized Board of Education members for involving themselves - and interfering - in operational decisions. The board should focus on policy, they argue, and leave decisions about hiring, firing, discipline, etc., to the superintendent, who is effectively the school district's "CEO."
I'm not foolish enough to stick my nose into that fight, but will say this:
The quality of boards of directors and the responsibilities and roles of the people who serve on them has been one of the most overlooked issues facing organizations from the largest corporations in the world to the smallest of local nonprofit organizations.
The issue received some attention briefly after Enron and WorldCom crashed and burned, out of nowhere, and people thought to ask where their corporate boards of directors, which included well-known and highly respected leaders of business and government, had been as these companies placed their stockholders' and employees' futures on a foundation as flimsy and deceptive as a house of cards.
That brought new scrutiny and regulations relating to the ratio of "outside directors" on a publicly traded corporate board compared to "insiders," or full-time employees of the company such as CEOs and CFOs whose own livelihood was theoretically so wrapped up in the decisions made about the company that they needed an "outside" board of directors to keep the focus on always doing what will benefit shareholders first.
Enron, WorldCom, the complicity of their accounting firms and the resultant Sarbanes Oxley act also brought a huge new emphasis on the role that the audit subcommittees of boards of directors should play.
But here we are again. Major financial institutions across the country and the world are collapsing. Where were the boards of AIG and Lehman Brothers as the CEOs of these companies were apparently driving the train off a cliff?
Why do the executives and retired CEOs who populate some of these boards allow decisions to be made or organizational problems to fester that they never would have stood for when running their own company?
On the other hand, there are plenty of examples out there of boards full of Type A personalities jumping on the first misstep a company's CEO makes, never allowing stability of top operational leadership to take hold. The CEO of Walgreens stepped down last week after only two years on the job after the company had to withdraw from a bidding war with CVS to acquire a small regional drugstore chain in California.
Back in Torrington, and in many communities like it across the country, the boards of nonprofit agencies and government entities that are so crucial to the quality of life of the population are mostly winging it.
Some wing it very well. Others' success are based largely on the strength of their CEO or executive director. And recruiting and supporting that top operational employee is, in itself, one of the most important functions of a board of directors. Think, for example, about the Torrington Development Corp.'s recent choice of former New Hartford First Selectman Bill Baxter as its interim executive director.
But the fact is there's no class they send you to, or magic instruction manual, that tells you how to be a good board member. And there's no formal recruitment program. The job typically falls to the super-volunteers, the fraction of a percentage point of community members who are involved in "everything," members of everything, and at the end of the day make sure that the money gets raised, the envelopes get stuffed and the doors stay open.
Over-volunteering can, theoretically, be a disservice to some of these boards, as the super-involved person is able to do barely more than show up for meetings at some of the umpteen different organizations they serve with. And the focus falls more on getting that volunteer work done than making sure that the structure, policy and long-term financial strength of the organization are on solid footing.
But if not them, who will do it? There are plenty of vacancies already on boards and commissions in Torrington and surrounding communities.
It would only take a few dozen more of the thousands of businesspeople, retirees and others who have expertise and at least some time to offer to step up and be involved to allow those who already are to step back and provide more meaningful focus on the challenges our local organizations are facing.
Matt DeRienzo is publisher of The Register Citizen. He can be reached at 860-489-3121, ext. 350, or by -email at mderienzo@registercitizen.com.
