Holland earns top school board mark
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He received the award Monday at the 65th annual TSBA’s annual conventional held in Nashville. A state-wide organization, the TSBA serves to represent the interests of school boards and to provide their members training and assistance.
Designed to recognize school board members for participation in board activities beyond the local meetings, the boardsmanship program allows participants to become more effective school board members by receiving additional training using various means such as attending educational conferences and workshops on issues which affect public education.
The program is divided into five levels, with Level V, or Master School Board Member, being the highest. To achieve this status Holland, a third term school board member, had to earn 250 credits. Credits are earned by school board members for such things as attending school board academies, participating in TSBA conventions, attending leadership conferences and workshops, as well as speaking to civic clubs and meeting with legislators.
The award earned by Holland represents over 200 hours of work beyond his normal duties at the local level. In addition to simply earning the credits, he also had to submit a detailed portfolio designed to document and assess his effectiveness in the areas of policy, planning and promotion. The portfolio was judged by a panel of Master School Board Members.
In earning the distinction Master School Board Member, Holland has become one of state elite school board members. Since the program’s inception in 1993, only 49 of Tennessee’s more than 900 school board members have earned the award.