Resolving School Board Dysfunction and Conflict
You probably know the signs already.
Votes that split the same way every time, regardless of the issue. Executive session details showing up on social media. Meetings that run four hours and decide nothing. Board members who campaigned on fixing the district and now can’t work with the people running it. A superintendent who has quietly started taking calls from recruiters.
Board dysfunction is rarely a people problem. Nearly always, it’s a role problem, members who don’t know where their authority ends, operating without protocols, and no one willing to name what’s happening out loud.
I’ll name it.
What Dysfunction Actually Costs
Districts with dysfunctional boards lose superintendents. Replacing one costs money, momentum, and roughly two years of institutional knowledge, and the best candidates read board minutes before they apply.
Staff morale follows the board’s temperature. So does community confidence, which matters enormously the next time the district needs voters to say yes to anything.
Students absorb the rest. When politics becomes the priority, every student pays for it.
How the Work Goes
Assessment first.
Confidential conversations with each board member and the superintendent. People tell an outsider things they won’t say across the table from each other. Patterns emerge fast.
Naming the real problem.
Sometimes it’s an unclear line between governance and management. Sometimes it’s one member operating outside the team. Occasionally it’s a superintendent who has stopped communicating. I’ll tell you what I find, including the parts nobody wants to hear.
Rebuilding operating protocols.
Written agreements about how the board handles information requests, agenda items, public comment, disagreement, and confidentiality. Protocols only hold when the board writes them together.
Facilitated repair.
Structured conversations where the hard things get said with someone neutral in the room.
Follow-through.
Protocols written in June and forgotten by September accomplish nothing. We’ll build a check-in rhythm that keeps them alive.
I’ve Been in the Room When It Mattered
While directing the Lakeshore Alliance for Student Success, I worked with a steering committee whose guidance helped keep two Northwest Indiana high schools out of state takeover, while managing a $4.7 million federal grant across three separate school corporations, each with its own board and its own politics.
Getting three districts to agree on anything requires understanding exactly how boards break and what holds them together.
Common Questions
Our board is split 4–3 on everything. Is that fixable?
What if one member is the problem?
Can we do this without the community finding out?
Let's Talk About Your Board
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Tell me what's happening with your board, and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person to help.