The Key Work of School Boards: School Board President Response to Chapter 2
- Vision
I discussed the Vision Self-Assessment questions with our
local school board president. The
majority of the questions were answered as “mostly achieved.” Two of the questions received a “fully
achieved” rating. One question received
a “partially achieved” rating and one question received a “beginning to achieve”
rating.
The district has established a written vision/mission that
commits to student achievement as the top priority of the school board. These statements are posted on the school
website and are clearly displayed in large poster format in each district
school building.
When establishing district goals, the board enlisted an
outside facilitator who gathered two major groupings to supply the board with
input. The first group was made up of
school staff. The second group included
members of the community. Out of these
groups the board formalized seven district goals:
1) Increase rigor and accountability in
academics
Goal:
Investigate better ways to measure student learning & achievement (skill-
based or competency-based report cards?)
2) Building & facilities plans
Goal: Work
toward a successful referendum in November.
3) Clear guidance & expectations from administrators
Goal:
Provide regular communication from superintendent & administrators to all
staff & community members.
4) Focus and time to implement programs and goals year after year
Goals: 4A)
The administrative team will create a 2013-14 school year professional
development schedule.
4B) The
administrator who supervises the employee will meet with that employee to find
what they can "take off their plates."
5) Develop a strong PreK-12 reading program
Goal: Pursue
optional funding to implement, support & enhance a research proven
effective reading program.
6) Incorporate Spanish as a "special"
Goal:
Develop a PreK-6 introductory level foreign language program for FY15
&
provide 30 minutes of instruction per week for PreK-6 students.
7) Increase respect at all levels
Goals: 7A)
Complete building-level surveys to ID morale issues & develop improvements
through SIT.
7B)
Research & select a data-gathering tool to measure student bullying.
Although
the school board president believes that the board is aligning all of its
decisions toward the achievement of the vision and goals, he also stated that the
board does not revisit the vision and goals frequently.
I believe
that the current school board approached the work of establishing board goals
with the best of intentions. However,
there appears to be confusion in the need to establish/revisit vision, mission
and goals. The vision and mission were
established many years ago and have not been revisited by the board any time
recently for review. The work that was
done to establish board goals, however, was done with several groups of stakeholders
involved. This was done shortly after
the first building referendum failed which is probably why one of the goals
includes mention of passing a building referendum.
My
suggestions for improvement? Show the
school board how a continuous improvement plan is done elsewhere. Allow the school board to decide on a method
that they believe will be effective in Arcadia.
Develop a schedule for implementing the plan and put this information in
the eye of the public. Keep everything
as transparent as possible! As the plan
is proceeding – keep putting the results in the eye of the public. Do the same when the plan is completed. Also plan for regular updates and follow
through with the plan. This will bring
the vision and the goals that support the vision to the forefront of board
discussions on a regular basis.
