School boards--Florida

The Problem: The purpose of this study was to determine that portion of
the negotiations process perceived by educational executive officers
of Florida and experts in public negotiations throughout the country
to be a board responsibility. A teaching module was designed to
instruct board members in this role. The validity of the teaching
module was tested. Results: It was determined that the chief executive officers did have
very clear perceptions of the role of board members in labor negotiations. There was no difference in these perceptions caused by the
size of the district or the instructional level of the institution.
When the Primer was read and evaluated by a purposeful
sample of individuals there was a significant improvement in their
ability to respond correctly on the evaluation instrument for the
case study. The testing procedure was found to have no significant
effect on the improvement. Conclusions: 1. There is an agreed upon role for board members in labor
negotiations as perceived by chief executive officers.
2. An instructional module can be written which will increase
a board members knowledge of labor negotiations.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Florida school
board members and district superintendents held any conflicting perceptions
regarding either the board member or superintendent role.
A role definition instrument with 116 questions was formulated
and mailed to all Florida school board members and district superintendents.
Through the use of standard follow-up procedures a return of 75%
of the superintendents and 58% of the school board members was achieved.
Analysis of the results of the survey by use of the Chi Square
statistic revealed that statistically significant variations in role
perceptions existed between and among the respondents in regard to the
following aspects of the respective roles:
A. Ideal Superintendent Characteristics. (p<.02)
B. Ideal Board Member Characteristics. (p <.001)
C. Preferred Activities of the Board Member. (p<.001)
D. Division of Authority Between Board and Superintendent.
(p <. 001). No significant difference in perceptions was found to exist between
the respondents in regard to the activities of the superintendent.
An intra-positional comparison of the survey results indicated
that conflicting perceptions of the board member and superintendent roles
were found to be associated with the following criterion variables:
I. Superintendents.
A. Age. ( p < • 001)
B. Size of District, (p <· 001)
C. Length of Service. (p <· 001)
D. Highest Earned Degree. (p <· 001)
II. School Board Members.
A. Age. ( p <. 001)
B. Size of District, (p <· 001)
C. Length of Service. ( p <· 001)
D. Partisan and Non-Partisan Election. (p <.05)
E. Educational Background. (p <.001)
F. Occupation. (p<.001)
No significant difference in perceptions of the respective roles
was found to be associated with election or appointment of superintendents.
For the school board members no significant difference was found to be
associated with political party affiliation or sex.