Your Board bylaws should place a limit on the number of consecutive terms that a Trustee may serve. Unfortunately, Trustees who leave the Board often immediately lose touch with their school. As a consequence, some of the most committed and able people may well lose interest and never consider renomination to the Board. Take steps to keep Trustees who are in their “off” years involved—perhaps to serve again in the future.
Continue to include former Board members in regular Trustee mailings and e-mail announcements throughout the year, and send them appropriate school literature and reports. Tapping their expertise and opinions when appropriate allows them to serve as a valuable, knowledgeable “network” while easing away from total commitment. Other strategies to keep a former Board member involved include:
- inviting the former Trustee to major school functions,
- asking the person to serve on a Board committee as a non-Trustee,
- involving the former Board member in fund-raising tasks that match his/her primary interests, and
- planning ongoing social contacts with the former Trustee and family.
For more on the roles of Board members, see the ISM publication The Trustee Handbook, particularly the sections concerning Board profiling and developing strong Board committees.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Trustees Vol. 10 No. 8 Encouraging Ideal Trustees to Serve Again
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 36 No. 6 The Role of the Committee on Trustees in Board Succession Training
