By Tony Moore, President, Federal Way School Board

On Tuesday, Sept. 28, the Federal Way School District Board of Education took an important step to strengthen the future of education in our district.

By voting unanimously to adopt a Policy Governance model of leadership, we are aligning our district to create a positive and effective system that can meet the needs of all students while representing the community we were elected to serve.

I am very excited about the potential we are unleashing by making this historic change. For the first time, your school board will be able to focåus on the broader issues — the vision and values of the district — while empowering the professional educators tasked with teaching our children.

Instead of creating policies and endlessly reviewing staff decisions and actions, we are putting into place a structure that allows us to meet our obligations to the community, to our families, to our staff, and most importantly to our students.

The Federal Way School District is one of the most innovative in the state. We believe that we can become the leader both nationally and internationally by continuing our work to improve student success for all students. It’s not about keeping up with other districts. It’s about being the district that inspires and succeeds so that everyone else wants to keep up with us. I deeply believe that we have now taken the next important step on our journey.

This is not a decision we made lightly. It has been thoroughly explored and analyzed for more than a year. We have done our homework and put extensive time and energy into preparing to fundamentally change the role of the Board of Education.

Let’s face it. The Board of Education is made up of dedicated individuals who are committed to seeing that our students are prepared to compete in the 21st century, but we are not professional educators. Under the Policy Governance model, we will not be telling educators how to do their jobs. Instead we will tell the superintendent what we expect to see accomplished (the ends), and leave the methods (or means) of reaching those ends up to those who have made this their life’s work.

This doesn’t mean we are relinquishing our responsibility to ensure that all students are achieving. Accountability is one of the reasons I believe in a Policy Governance model. The Board of Education will hold the superintendent accountable for making progress toward the ends through an annual review process.

Consistent, rigorous assessment will provide us with regular checkpoints on how we are performing in fulfilling our vision, supporting our values, and achieving our goals. Clarity and transparency will ensure that appropriate methods are in place to deal with lack of progress toward the established ends. At the end of the day, the Board of Education knows “the buck stops here.”

We fully expect the community to hold the board accountable. It is on your behalf, as the owners of the school district, that we decide the acceptable outcomes and set the budget.

There is extensive information on Policy Governance on the district website, www.fwps.org. I encourage you to find out more. Together, we can build a powerful partnership that will ensure that our school district is preparing all students for success — in school, after graduation and throughout their lives.

Tony Moore is president of the Federal Way School Board. Contact: tmoore@fwps.org.