One constant I have noticed throughout my career in education, and particularly as a superintendent, is that the hardest moments are rarely about the crisis itself. They are instead about whether the trust was already there.
That trust lives most visibly in the relationship between a superintendent and their school board. It is the relationship that shapes everything else: how decisions get made, how challenges get communicated, and how a school system holds together when the pressure is high. When that relationship is strong, it reaches into every classroom and strengthens every corner of the organization. When it fractures, students, families, and staff feel those effects, too.
When I think about what makes superintendent-board relationships work, I always come back to the same place: curiosity.
When the budget shortfall lands, when a decision becomes public before you were ready, when the school board meeting fills with families and employees who are frightened and frustrated, what carries you through is not the talking points in front of you but the conversations and relationships you’ve cultivated prior to that moment.
You cannot build that in a crisis. Instead, you must build it into your foundational relationship with the board.
Know Your School Board
When I think about what makes superintendent-board relationships work, I always come back to the same place: curiosity.
Before I could lead effectively alongside my school board, I needed to understand what brought each member to the table. What do they care about most? What are they most afraid of getting wrong? What experiences shaped the way they see this work?
Every board member brings a unique perspective that may differ from mine, from community knowledge to lived experiences. When I understand what each person brings to the work, I can lead with them rather than around them. I know who the champions are for different issues.
Never get caught off guard by where someone stands, who they are, and what they value. That kind of knowledge is built conversation by conversation, over time.
Find your Champions — and Know They Will Change
One of the most important things I have learned is that board support is not monolithic. You will not always have every member aligned on every issue, and that is not a failure. What matters is knowing who your champions are — and recognizing that the right champion for a budget conversation may not be the same person who champions instructional policy or community partnerships. Know who can rally the troops, who will ask the tough questions to help you gain traction, and who has the network to help you gain community support.
But underneath every policy decision is a relationship between a superintendent and a school board, between a board and a community, and between a school system and the families it promises to serve.
Come Back to What You Share
Every superintendent-board relationship will be tested. The makeup of the board changes over time, and pressure has a way of surfacing tension that felt manageable when things were calm. What holds a relationship together through all of that is a shared commitment to honoring your why.
In Roanoke City, that north star has always been serving our students to ensure they graduate with a diploma and a resume. When we return to that, we can move through disagreement without losing each other. We can have hard conversations without losing the thread of common purpose.
I have seen firsthand what happens when a superintendent and a board lose that thread. The work does not stop, but it slows. Energy that should go toward students gets redirected toward managing internal tension, and the people most affected are students and staff. The relationship is the work.
We talk a lot in public education about systems, strategy, and structures. All of that matters. But underneath every policy decision is a relationship between a superintendent and a school board, between a board and a community, and between a school system and the families it promises to serve.
That relationship is most effective when it is built in the ordinary moments: proactive calls and messages to give the board a heads up about a school incident, a commitment to regular board retreats, a quick check-in, and two-by-two meetings to give the board time to prepare for upcoming school board meetings.
We must not only care about the students and families we serve; we must also invest the time and energy in those who serve alongside us — to show them the same level of care. This work is not just about managing the line between government and operations, but building a story together, one that always keeps our students at the center of every conversation.
