PSBA Master School Board Member Accreditation

Congratulations to West Jefferson Hills School District Board Members, Shauna D’Alessandro, Board President, and Marianne Neel, Board Vice President, for being awarded the PSBA Master School Board Member Accreditation.

Pennsylvania School Boards Association developed the Standards for Effective School Governance and a Code of Conduct for School Board members based on the belief that school board service is an important responsibility and needs to be viewed as a profession. The goal of the PSBA in establishing the Standards and Code of Conduct was to identify best practices in school governance and to promote the research based effect on what school boards do and where they focus their efforts impacts student achievement. More than 80% of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association memberships have adopted the Standards and Code of Conduct. The Master Board Member and Distinguished School Board Accreditation Program was developed to recognize those individual school directors and school boards that have adopted these challenging standards of performance. The rigorous application, selection, and accreditation process serves to acknowledge true leadership and excellence in individuals serving on local school boards who have demonstrated excellence in effective school governance.

To date, there have been only 10 of the more than 4500 Pennsylvania School Board Members awarded the PSBA Master School Board Member Accreditation. According to Mr. Thomas Gentzel, Executive Director, Pennsylvania School Boards Association, “Excellence as a board member translates to excellence for students and their achievements.”

Representing the West Jefferson Hills School District, Mrs. Neel and Mrs. D’Alessandro were officially recognized by the Pennsylvania School Board Association at the opening session of the Annual PASA/PSBA School Leadership Conference.