The school board's role in improving teacher competency involves avoiding incompetent teachers, improving competent ones, and maintaining highly competent ones. Because teacher competence is a complex social phenomenon, affected by many different variables, boards should keep in mind that actions to improve competency may not be preferred by everyone involved. Board improvement of teacher competency should begin with policy-making and policy application in a number of specific areas. These areas include (1) teacher evaluation, where boards must avoid losing control over evaluation criteria through collective bargaining; (2) parent-teacher and teacher-administrator conflicts, where boards should avoid involvement in the resolution of specific cases; (3) teacher dismissal; (4) teacher training needs produced by special student needs; (5) moral support for staff members; and (6) staff development activities for teachers and administrators. Boards should train their administrators to assess teacher competency in all three areas of competency: subject matter, student learning activities, and teacher behavior to enhance learning activities. Administrators should not use competency testing of teachers, since it focuses only on subject matter. Boards can also help avoid teacher burnout by allowing sabbaticals, transfers, and staff rotation. (RW)