CFBISD trustees reflect on Thompson Leadership Institute, plan community engagement and board self-evaluation

Trustees at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD work-study on April 9 reported back from the Thompson Executive Leadership Institute and used a hands-on activity to assess how the board might change governance and public engagement.

President Cassandra Hatfield summarized the institute as an elite, nomination-based, year-long program focused on innovation, measurement and leadership practices. She and trustees Kim Brady and Iliana Garza Rojos brought a one-page handout with statements they asked pairs of trustees to sort into categories—"keep," "grow," "rethink," or "consider." The exercise was intended to surface priorities for board work and community outreach.

Trustees surfaced several themes. One group highlighted a statement that "every organization is designed to produce what it produces" and discussed the board’s role in authorizing the superintendent to make changes to improve persistently low-performing campuses. Another recurring theme was encouraging innovation and accepting some risk, with trustees saying it is important to celebrate attempts even when they do not fully succeed. Several trustees emphasized the need to keep the board’s role distinct from administration: "the board's job is not to fix problems," one trustee said, and instead trustees should set expectations and measure progress.

On community engagement, trustees converged on exploring public-facing work such as town halls and listening sessions. The board discussed combining listening (to learn community priorities) with outbound communication (to explain district strategy and needs), and connecting those efforts to legislative advocacy. Trustee Paul Gilmore urged turning instructional evidence into legislative storytelling to secure more funding.

Trustees also discussed board self-evaluation. Kim Brady proposed building a "board progress measure" tied to one priority (for example, public engagement or long-range planning) and using that measure as an evaluative tool alongside or instead of the more extensive TASB self-evaluation. Staff offered that the board could design GPMs (growth/progress measures) and incorporate listening circles as part of measurement.

Next steps: trustees tentatively agreed to explore town halls and to develop measurable board progress indicators tied to the governance priorities identified in the activity. They suggested inviting outside facilitators for quarterly board sessions and using commitments from programs such as Raise Your Hand Texas to expand community understanding and advocacy.