SLPS governance committee outlines new-board onboarding, schedules candidate meet-and-greet before April election

The St. Louis Public Schools Governance Committee on Feb. 14 reviewed its new-board onboarding plan and agreed to compile an online packet of resources for prospective and newly elected board members. The committee also scheduled a candidate meet-and-greet on March 11 at 4 p.m., to be held before the March 11 board meeting, so prospective candidates can meet current board members whose seats are not up for election.

Committee members said much of the onboarding material already exists on the district website and in materials borrowed from MSBA, but the resources are scattered and should be consolidated into a single location prior to the April 8 municipal election. The committee asked staff to compile links to standing items such as recent board meeting minutes, key presentations from the prior 12 months, a board-presentation calendar, and an onboarding template; staff committed to provide the materials for review at the next Governance Committee meeting on Feb. 28.

The committee reviewed a proposed onboarding schedule that would include an initial orientation prior to swearing-in, followed by monthly administrative briefings over the first four months (budget, transformation plan, state requirements, superintendent evaluation and legal/advocacy overview), and a recommended board retreat after the initial four months. Members discussed training requirements: new board members are required to complete MSBA training in their first year, which was described in the meeting as 18.5 hours involving video modules plus an in-person day-long session.

Budget and logistics were discussed: the board has a modest travel/meeting budget and the committee asked staff to propose a structured budget line to support an annual board retreat and associated onboarding costs. Members said they would forward MSBA model slides and examples to the committee to guide content for each onboarding session.

Next steps: staff to compile the online onboarding packet and confirm the March 11 meet-and-greet; governance committee to review the compiled materials at its next meeting and to finalize the orientation calendar and budget requests.