District clerks find job is ever-expanding |
On Board Online • Schools Today • February 2, 2009
By Brian M. Butry
Communications Coordinator
So you think being a school board member is tough? Imagine a job in which you:
- Oversee the particulars of the school budget vote and school board election.
- Handle freedom of information requests.
- Advertise positions and process employment applications.
- Prepare materials for board meetings.
- Record the minutes of each board meeting.
This daunting list of tasks belongs, of course, to school district clerks. They are the eyes and ears of the school district, the superintendent and the school board.
“Most people in a district have no clue what a district clerk has to do,” said Lynn Ferrari, who holds the clerk position in Westchester County’s Rye school district. “And there’s no map that exists to tell you how to do it.”
True enough, the position was different in every school district contacted for this article. Many clerks double as the superintendent’s secretary or the secretary to the school board. Some serve as public information officer, records management officer and all-around trouble shooter.
“It’s a lot of work and it’s diverse,” Ferrari said. “In 20 years I don’t think I’ve ever had a similar day to the one before.”
As the lone clerk for the 6,000-student Pittsford school district, Veronica Walker says the toughest part about being district clerk is not having anyone else to lean on.
“You have to mold (the job) on your own,” said Walker, who has been in the Monroe County district for more than 25 years. “You have to find out for yourself what your responsibilities are and what you have to do because this is not a position other people know about.”
Absolutely vital
Many school board members and superintendents describe their district clerk as the glue that holds their districts’ governance system together.
“In our situation, the clerk is an integral part of the board and its basic functioning,” Pittsford School Board President Ray Brown told On Board.
He calls Walker the board’s “right hand” and says he couldn’t imagine what it would be like without her in the job. He added, “It’s tough to balance the needs of the district, the board and the superintendent.”
Putnam Valley Superintendent Marc Space said his district’s clerk frees him from many time-consuming tasks. “They are absolutely vital,” he said. “If that position were to be eliminated, with everything brought before a superintendent it would prompt more superintendents to work from a managerial standpoint rather than a leadership standpoint.”
Space said clerks can also provide institutional knowledge of the district and a reliable understanding of Roberts Rules of Order.
Such skills are especially valuable in the state’s rural and small school districts.
Randall Squier, superintendent of Oxford Academy and Central School District in Chenango County, said although his district clerk has only been on the job for five years, her importance cannot be overstated.
“District clerks are responsible for making sure the board of education’s trains are running on time and on the right track,” he said.
“Like many people in a small district, she’s wearing many hats,” Squier said. “But she has a unique awareness of what’s going on throughout the district.”
Multimedia specialists
In addition to the traditional roles and responsibilities of a district clerk, more are working with new technology and finding themselves in the role of multimedia specialist.
Clerks are serving as photographers for district events, writing newsletters, coordinating television production of board meetings and creating online “podcasts.”
During her 13 years as district clerk in the Pelham school district, Stevie Pollock got used to doing things the old- fashioned way. That meant taking meticulous notes in board meetings in order to complete the painstaking task of transcribing what happened for district records.
But now she is using new computer software to help facilitate the recording of the minutes of meetings. The time saved has allowed her to help the district begin webcasts of its board meetings.
“It was a big step, but the board and the superintendent are very excited about new technology and helping us become more productive,” Pollock said. “And we have a very involved community, so this will be invaluable to them.”
Just up the Hudson River in Rockland County’s Nyack school district, Gail Fleur has also started using new technology to keep residents informed.
Fleur, who serves as both communications director and district clerk in Nyack, began recording the audio of school board meetings and creating audio podcasts on the district’s website. Individuals can download the files to listen to them on an iPod or home computer. Or they can simply listen to the meeting online.
“I was wary of it to begin with,” said Fleur who has worked in the district since 1988. “But it’s been more successful than I had imagined.”
Fleur has also been able to use her dual role to develop other communications strategies that increase the public’s awareness of the district. This includes an informational listserv that parents and residents can sign up to receive news and important announcements via e-mail.
At the Rye school district, Ferrari has also added some new duties to her laundry list of responsibilities.
She serves as a content manager for the district’s website, which was recently upgraded and now includes such features as RSS feeds of district news. She is also charged with handling television production for board meetings, district programs and a special budget feature that all run on a local cable channel.
These new endeavors have helped keep the position fresh.
“This was something I was going to do for 10 years while my kids were in school and then I would go back to work in Manhattan,” Ferrari said. “I have loved this job … I could be happy doing this forever.”