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Board conducts governance self-evaluation; coach flags monitoring, committee and guardrail gaps
Summary
During an open work session the board completed a guided self-evaluation with governance coach AJ Crable. The coach said the board has adopted two SMART goals and an intention for a third but lacks interims; he urged faster completion so trustees can monitor progress. The session identified committee-role clarity, time-tracking and the need for board guardrails as follow-up items.
The Des Moines Independent Comm School District board moved into an open work session on Aug. 13 for a governance self-evaluation led by coach AJ Crable. Crable guided trustees through an evaluation instrument covering domains including vision and goals, values and guardrails, monitoring and accountability, communication, unity and trust, ethics and continuous improvement.
Crable walked the board through how the rubric is scored and asked trustees to place themselves in columns representing progress toward best practices. On the first domain — vision and goals — trustees diverged: several rated progress low because the third district goal lacks clear, measurable interims, while others said the board has advanced work on the third goal. The coach suggested the board had adopted two SMART goals and an intention for a third but had not yet adopted measurable interims for the third goal, which limits the board's ability to monitor progress.
The session identified several governance issues the coach urged the board to address: clarifying whether certain committees are board committees or superintendent (staff) committees; improving how the board and administration estimate and track staff time used to support governance; and considering adoption of board-specific guardrails and training. Crable said clarifying those items and ensuring interims for Goal Three are in place would enable more effective monitoring: "If there's any way to expedite that ... that would be of huge, huge benefit to the board," he said.
Trustees discussed practical constraints and timelines. Several noted that some initiatives, such as the district's "reimagining education" group, are time-bound ad hoc work and may remain superintendent-led; others said clarifying committee charters could happen within months. The coach said he would forward notes from the session to the full board and the next self-evaluation will cover July–September and occur in October.
Why it matters: The board evaluation is an internal governance tool intended to align trustees' time and attention with student-outcome goals and to ensure board actions do not duplicate or confuse staff responsibilities. The coach recommended targeted follow-up so the board can move from intention to measurable monitoring.
