001Hello. Okay, this works. >> Okay, I'm going to call to order our study session today for our annual operating plan and I will pass this over to Dr. Irish. >> All right. Yeah, thank you. I have a lapel. So, thank you, Dr. Sotek. Did what? >> Director Sotch. Did I say Dr. Sotek? I was I was multitasking because I'm trying to figure out the the microphone. That battery is dying. So, sorry for the air. I just gave you an honorary doctorate. Um, all right. Well, thank you everybody for attending today's schoolboard study session. Today we're going to focus on um the ways in which we can operationalize the strategic plan as the new superintendent coming in uh to the district. I've had a lot of time diving in uh during the interview process um and
002then after the interview process unpacking the strategic plan looking at the um task all the task forces all of the various action plans uh that schools are leading as well as the action plans that the cabinet team is leading and thinking about ways in which uh all those action plans and task forces can come together in one document and so I'm going to talk with you about that today um and give a little debrief on um the discussion we had with the cabinet team I will bring up some volunteers of our cabinet team uh to also uh volunte um the their thinking around um this conversation as well. Um so for today we're going to develop um a fun just a foundational understanding of how the district's annual operating plan translates uh the strategic plan
003into actionable priorities across the departments of the schools. And hopefully by the end of today this meeting you will be able to describe how the annual operating plan serves as a bridge between the strategic plan and the department school action plans and how it supports coherence and alignment. We're also going to consider the value of establishing board specific learning goals aligned with the strategic plan and their growth as a governance team. Um and then just by the end of the meeting hope uh to have a decision on whether or not to create uh board specific learning goals for the year and if so begin brainstorming possible focus areas to refine during our board retreat. Third, learn about the purpose, structure, and anticipated impact of the superintendent's what matters most listening and engagement tour. And then
004by the end of the meeting, understand the goals and approach of the superintendent's what matters most to her and how it informs leadership priorities. And then lastly, preview um and build awareness of the upcoming study session topics to understand how future discussions will support the board's work and then to gain clarity on the topics and purposes of the upcoming study session setting the stage for ongoing engagement in so four big sections for today. So I I want to start off with because it's really hard to um I believe it's it's the first thing we have to do is talk about what is the role of central office and uh this is I launched this today um with the um principles and the district leaders at our August opening um and it's the notion that as
005a district office we are here in the service of ensuring that the principles have the conditions necessary to create the conditions necessary for teachers in the classroom. Um it's under the theory that um if we can remove those barriers for principles, principles are the the center of any initiative that we need to have happen in any actions that we create as a district, they're the ones who help socialize that in the school setting and help build buyin with teachers. And so they are central to any change that happens in a district office. So when you think about the principal ship and being a principal at one point in my career um it is one of the most challenging jobs in and and we know that they are the second order most important order of change
006in in student outcomes. Of course the teacher is the number one change. The principal is the second order change. Um and they have the pressure um and it can be really good pressure and like the right pressure or it could be too much pressure and if that happens it breaks the system. And so that's uh why that vice is there to show that we want ideally that vice is there as a support and a structure not as a pressure point and um and that they've they've got to manage the initiatives from the work that you set as the vision of the district down to what we as district leaders are creating and the actions that we're creating in alignment with what community and our district staff are implementing. And then at the same time they
007need to be present with students, teachers, staff and community and engage with the complexities there. And so sometimes that pressure if not aligned will create um chaos. So another way of thinking about this is we want all principles as excellent instructional leaders. Right? So if we want all principles to be excellent instructional leaders, we need to ensure that there's high qual and that there's high quality teaching in every learn in every classroom and that all students are learning at high levels. If we want all of those things to happen, we need to make sure that our principles are set up for success. So, I'm going to spend the next couple slides um sharing with you the u defining what instructional leadership means. So, that first bubble up there of all principles being excellent instructional leaders,
008it's important for us as a system to know what that means. What is instructional leadership? And um and these slides that I'm about to share with you are going to be presented again tomorrow in front of principles as we think about their strategic action plans. So number one is that instructional leadership is systemic um and that it is the collective systemic work of improving teaching and learning not just as individual leaders not just an individual leaders knowledge or actions. So how is it that they are creating the systems within their school to improve teaching and learning and it's not just always about instruction. It's about setting up the schedule. It's about the operations. It's about creating the predictable routines within their school to um run very smoothly so that the majority of the time can
009be devoted for teachers and staff to dive into their curriculum, their standardsbased instruction, assessments, data and um and focusing on what matters most is the instruction and that the the management of the school is happening smooth and and seamless. Right? So those systems have to be built. Um the other component of instructional leadership is the racial and educational justice through instruction. Um so effective school improvement must begin by asking what is the quality of the instructional core for our students farthest from educational justice. Something that I have learned over the years uh as I've led um racial and equity uh racial and educational justice within other systems. there's been a lot of time and effort focused on identity development and sense of belonging which is crucial to development and success. And if left alone just
010at that level um we're not moving the needle on instruction. It's also about making sure that every child has access to grade level expectations and and what is so exciting about the work that we're already doing and have been doing for years in in Northshore is the inclusionary practices. Making sure that every kid has a seat at the table and that they're included in the instruction. So that work is already happening and we're on a really good verge of amazing um work with both identity development sense of and sense of belonging and the instructional core and that we're leading with inquiry and not compliance. This shouldn't the the strategic action plans and the work that principles do are not checklists. They shouldn't be done in isolation. There shouldn't be a plan that's developed in the
011principal's office uh for board approval and for uh state compliance. It is about I think about um strategic action plans really um having two purposes and sometimes we use that document for more than one purpose but one purpose is outward facing and that should be some form of a a a one-pager of identifying for the community of what are the main goals in that school. the strategic action plan. All of the pages within the strategic action plan is really a roadmap for the principles to use with their staff in meeting the milestones and the progress monitoring of their goals through the year. Um and um and that needs to be a living and breathing document that's iterative and that can change throughout the year based on information that's provided. In a in an ideal world,
012something I always tell principles is, I know, we know it's a good strategic action plan. When you see coffee stains on it, when you see post-it notes, when you see scribbles on it, and it really is you're, you know, the the form that you all approve in October might look different in April. The other form of of instructional leadership is being present where the work lives. So effective central office supports happens in schools and this is true for principles as well that principles need to be in classrooms um in real time not just through reports or data reviews. So all of us as instructional leaders need to be where the work is happening most and that's in the classroom. And for principles, again, when you're running really effective schools with really good management structures, it
013allows you more time to be in the classroom and less time dealing with discipline or other um in reality, discipline is a reality, and there are things that you have to manage. But um but the goal is is to create a seamless amount of systems so that you can be in the classroom as much as possible. And then belonging and trust feel change. So change requires psychological safety and that principles and their teams need to feel that they can bring authentic struggles to the table without fear of judgment and that the school improvement processes or what we call in nor in Northshore the strategic action plans must be brave spaces for honest reflection and adaptive leadership. So um one of the quotes that I love the most uh from Keegan is that imagine um imagine
014a place where our weaknesses are just as important I mean that as or as our strengths that we want to make visible our weaknesses so that those around us can come in and offer um support um and that we are placing the appropriate team members at around the table and that everybody's weaknesses are exposed so that we can work to improve. And so as we're thinking about instructional improvement, we also have to think about professional development and and the fact that the adults in the organization have great strengths and also weaknesses and that we have to make that visible in order for us to move forward. The only way that happens is if it's a psychologically safe space and then finally that improvement must be sustainable. Um so sustainable improvement happens through small purposeful changes.
015There is a lot of research and one of my favorite researchers is is um Meredith Honig out of the University of Washington who focuses on cycles of improvement and that it's time and time again it's proven that if you if you bite off more of a goal than what you can than what you can accomplish and it's harder to measure and it's harder to create those changes. You want to see rapid cycles of inquiry um on a regular basis to meet your goals and you want to see rapid and then you want to in in real time make adjustments to those actions. So that is when what I believe to be some of the most critical components of instructional leadership. So when we're talking about principles being instructional leaders and us as central office leaders
016being instructional leaders, that's what we're referring to. All right. So, what happens a lot in organizations um and I and and and actually there is there's what happens a lot in organizations is this lack of coherence or the idea that um we have multiple parts um of a we we put together multiple parts and it creates confusion or it creates an inadequate product. So think about this in the sense of any form of initiative that we have. If we have too many initiatives happening in the district, they're not aligned. They aren't nested with each other. Um then people um are torn in multiple directions. They don't have the capacity. Um or we're trying to solve a problem with solutions that aren't real solutions or we don't even really know what the real problem is because
017there's too many layers of what we call initianitis, right? Um, so this is out of um the book Learning to Improve. It is one of my favorite books around school and district improvement efforts. And and uh what I like about this is is what if you built a car from the very best parts? Well, it would lead you to put in Porsche brakes, a Ferrari engine, a Volvo body, a BMW chassis, and you put it all together, and what do you get? A very expensive pile of junk that does not go anywhere. And so as we're thinking about all of the um one one thing that I I have told boards in the past is when we adopt curriculum, if we don't have a really clear path of how we're going to implement that curriculum
018and the funding to support the implementation of that curriculum, we need to consider whether we shouldn't adopt that curriculum or not. It's one thing to have a set of materials and then have another set of materials and adopt another set of materials. But if there's no thoughtful way of rolling that out that's inter that's that is nested in the work that we're doing connected to um all of the other initiatives that we're doing then we're just creating more chaos in the system. So that's the whole concept of initianitis. So adding more parts meaning any combination of people tools and material resources even great parts does not assure a quality result. Rather, we must attend to how all of this joins productively together for the people charged with carrying out this work and for those they
019seek to serve. In short, we must make systems work better. So what we don't want when we're talking about principles being instructional leaders is we don't want to have the chaos of multiple different initiatives, multiple different directives from various departments, multiple departments asking for them to complete projects or do different things without it being nested and without some coherence in the organization. So what it could feel like from a principal uh is a bunch of arrows being and and directives being thrown at them and and it becomes overwhelming. But instead what we want is the idea that principles um that they in order to be instructional leaders they have a learning focused principal supervision. So our wonderful team of executive directors who supervise as principles are in coherence with each other leading and supporting principles
020around them growing as leaders um and growing in cycles of inquiry in their school action planning that the district office all of the departments whether it's the operations side of the house or the instructional side of the house are offering high quality differentiated strategic services um with high levels of trust and interdependent collaboration which then lead to um lead by teaching and learning. um we are a teaching and learning industry and so the adults in the organization also need to be not just teachers but leaders in learning as well. So with all of that theory and all of that those belief systems and and theoretical practices and research does it mean to create clarity coherence and consistency with the cabinet team creating an annual operating plan? um how do we bring all of this coherence
021together so that the cabinet team can work at the best ability possible in leading this work forward. So um it's this book leading through is another great book I read this summer um and it talks a lot about operationalizing our actions through activating the soul heart mind and leadership um and and a quote in here that stands out to me was information must be visible strategy must be visible leadership must be visible and that visible means that teams know understand value and use critical information about the organization objectives standards strategy and context in making decisions and taking action So, I'm going to give you this and then I'm going to open it up for a little bit for discussion. Right now, this is the way the system works in Northshore, which is a really good
022system. Um, you have a really solid I I am fortunate to have inherited a really solid strategic plan that was developed by you and by the community and by the staff. Um, with five-year goals and key performance outcomes. Um, the strategic plan is clear. Um, it's actionable. um and it's measurable and those are all areas of a high quality plan. Then we move down to um departments and schools creating school action or strategic action plans. That's what the SAP means. And then our task forces in order to lead the work that we're doing um in the organization. Those are some of the the and then there's also some evidence of department action plans. um but those essentially the schools and departments actions um tailored to their needs in alignment with the AOPS and and actions
023of the KPIs within the within the um strategic plan. So that's currently happening which then feeds into um the evaluation process within the district um of the principal evaluations with the school action planning um and the work that they do with their staff and leading outcomes for students um and then the board parameter reports and then the board goal reports for the superintendent. So um does this sound let's just open it up. Does this sound like what you're used to? Is this anything that I'm missing? >> Director Hayes, you you would like to speak? >> You can tell >> you this sideways. This means it's your turn. You have a question. Just FYI. Sorry. >> I I should have told you that. >> Sorry, it's my first time here. >> Okay. Um, so I I
024apologize because I'm not gonna answer your question, but I' I've been noodling on this and there's no page numbers. Can Can you go back to the car? >> I can go back to the car and I know you have stories with cars. >> Yeah. Well, okay. So, as someone who owns cars that look like this. >> Um, so two thoughts. one I I think I get what they're trying to get at and and there's a sports ball discussion about where if you have all the best defenders and various sports positions, um it does not necessarily guarantee that you have the best team and that you win all the games. Um and I think that's the intent of this is taking the best parts of the car does not mean you end up with the best
025car. Um, and I think there's thoughtfulness that we can put behind it because we absolutely do have the best staff and this last year we ran the table on all the awards for best staff. Um, and so does that necessarily mean we're going to end up with the best school district, right? So thoughtfulness of how do you bring all of the best together to produce that high quality product and my concern about this and the message that it's sending. I was out um for a run the other day and there was a grandma out with a little toddler girl um with a pink lawnmower, plastic lawnmower. Um, and I will admit I was already triggered with the pink of the lawnmower for the girl, but the grandmother took the lawnmower away because the toddler wasn't
026playing with it. Right. Right. And had to show her how to correctly play with the plastic lawnmower. I don't want us to get locked into that there's only one right way >> to do this work. That what if is where the magic happens. >> What if I took a 5-speed VW transmission and put it in my 210 Dodson? Just saying. Um, can that happen? And yes, it can. It turns out um I couldn't drive it, but it work. That's how we invent things. And that's the kind of thinking we are going to need to solve the problems that we are facing is what if if we stay siloed in our technology department and in our instruction department in our facilities department and we don't have those what if we pull from here to solve this
027problem over there that's how we have to think that way. So that is that is the the point here is how do we desilo as much of the work as possible but not lose this um here that good instructional leadership means that we lead with inquiry not compliance that it's not a bunch of checklists. It's not one way of thinking and that we've hired amazing professionals in our organization who have um skill and and experience. Um that it improvement grows from curiosity not checklist. is disciplined inquiry cycles using data, local context and user centered design. And that's where it's important as we think about this this principal school student action plans that there is the um or the strategic action plan sorry that there are that there is a tight and a loose that we've
028got to always that polarity we've got to manage and that's the art that's the art of leadership right there. So appreciate that. Anything else people have or in relation to this slide here? >> Director McCordi, would you like to say something? Let's see if I can figure out how to say what has been bubbling in my odd little head. um initiatives message seems to be that um initiatives can overwhelm the day-to-day work that needs to get done. Um could you well maybe perhaps start by what what do you how do you define what an initiative is >> because there is you know all the um day-to-day small pieces of work that you know is how you need to you know progress you know on on the ground but there also has to be a a
029joint coherent overriding goal. I mean yes if you know the the grand initiative is you know orders coming down from here and from here and from here and nobody's talking to >> each other with respect to how it's impacting the work on the ground. >> Yep. >> Then yes. >> Yes. So that goes back to this slide here is that if every single one of these departments had specific initiatives such as big goals implementation of um new practices that we expect the adults in the organization to lead with um new materials that they need to use and every single one of them without talking to each other is implementing that in in some systems that happens. I'm not saying that's what's happening in Northshore, but in some systems that happens and um what hap and
030in that creates that fatigue um and the inability to lean in on each other's expertise and to uh and it creates the the silos. It creates competition um in in an organization and and we are I would say in what I have learned I'm at the tip of the iceberg but we have an incredible cabinet team. We have an outstanding principal core. We have outstanding teachers in our organization. There is greatness that's happening here and I think there is a desire to um enhance the work that we're doing and create more interdependence with each other and a clear cleaner um visible alignment across departments. So we are a very healthy system. Um, and I'm I was just uh I was just telling some members of the cabinet today and I was in a conversation with
031colleagues from another district asking how is how has it been walking into Northshore and I have to say it is um this is a high functioning team. It is so lovely to walk into a high functioning team where there is really good that that thoughtful initiatives and implementation across the organization. And I also think there is a desire to create some alignment. >> Just sort of a follow on that when you're talking about the alignment and uh working across departments is like within a specific school, you know, departments within a school. >> We'll get to that. Hold that thought. Yep. We'll get to that. That's a great question. So, so what I mean by that is that um what what is the theory of action that's driving the work? So if we want if if
032central office does blank then principles will do blank then staff teachers and staff will do blank which will then create outcomes for kids. Can we draw the line of what actions are being done in the organization by those various groups to know that when this action happened it created change in student learning over here and that every single person had their fingerprints and their influence like dominoes in making that act that happen. So what is the and and that's called the theory of action. So how are we creating a theory that if we do these actions in the organization and everybody does them with fidelity in these ways and is also creative in implementation we will see some outcomes so that we can create predictable routines and repeat some of those um improvement efforts in
033other areas as well. Um so so one of the things I'm asking cabinet right now and I'm just starting at the cabinet is what is our theory of action? what are the things that we believe in in in support of using the strategic plan as our guiding document that is a wonderful piece of work. So using that to to surface what those actions look like across the organization and then what is the annual operating plan that then connects the strategic plan to the school action plans and all of our task forces and other um studies and initiatives that we have in the organization. So an annual operating plan is the collective and independent actions the cabinet team is leading this year in one year to reach the goals and the key performance indicators. So you'll
034get to a moment to identify and define KPIs and KPOs in a minute. But we have u that's that's the annual operating plan. So here's a little bit of how it works from your role school board and the cabinet team. So up above this dotted line is the g the board's role. This is your job as governance is to monitor the ends of the organization. So you help set and um identify the the key values, beliefs and the actions within the strategic plan. Um and you've identified KPOs, key performance outcomes that in five years we expect these things to happen. That is your expectation based on that plan. And then you um set performance goals for me as your superintendent. And then you review those performance goals by the goal reports and the parameter reports.
035And then you also have your own board goals and your annual meeting plan in these types of meeting study sessions and your business meetings um where you are learning together as well. So that is your that that is what um that that is how you're managing the strategic plan and the key performance outcomes. Under this line is the cabinet's role and the executive in the executive team's role. So we're using KPIs. We're looking year to year. What are the key performance indicators? What are the things we expect to see change by the end of this year to show progress towards that five-year goal? So the KPI is the annual way we're measuring. It's the formative assessment in some ways. One way you could although it could it is the what do we want to see
036happen this year that's going to get us to that goal in the in the five years. And then with that is what are the key actions that we're doing? What is every department in the organization doing? The key actions to help us get to those five-year goals and is that in one space? do we have one space where we can look at and see what all the key where all the the key action plans are happening across the organization. Um and then from there we've got our school improvement plans or in um in this district it's called student you know our strategic action plans and then the department work plans. Um what are the what are the goals and the the work plan that we're doing to get to operationalize the big annual operating plan?
037Thoughts on this? This is somewhat how you've been operating. Yep. >> Yes. >> Um, so I'm just going to make sure I understand. So you have your big overarching outcomes that are your five-year strategic plan and the key performance outcomes that are what you want to see. And then the key performance indicators are the things that you're doing to build on the foundation that you're going to need as you continue to and I'm just going to borrow from I work in birth the three. So you're going to do some skill building and you're going to work on skills that are building that foundation to move you up towards the overarching outcome that you're going to complete hopefully in five years. >> Exactly. >> Thank you. Late last year, we had super former superintendent de Holly
038shared KPIs with the community and I'm seeing KPIs in here now for op the annual operating plan and the work plans. Do we continue to track the KPIs which were connected to the goal? >> Um, okay. >> Yeah. So, those KPIs are not changing. Uh, that we have a commitment to those KPIs. They're very they're they're they have been socialized within the organization. They're the right work that we need to be doing and um and we are we are committed to continuing those KPIs. >> Thank you for that clarification. Yep. >> And you'll see those KPIs within the annual operating plan. director. >> Um, and I'll just point out for the board, particularly the newer members, that we haven't done board goals in a long time. Um, pre- pandemic was the last time that we
039had board goals. And we that will be a conversation that we can have after we go through the board self assessment. And I I am imagining that Dr. Irish is hopeful that our board goals will be in alignment. sometimes board goals can be off uh topic. Um and so be thinking about as we have that conversation of how we stay in alignment with the system. And I'll add to that. Um, what I what I am hopeful for is when you think about those goal reports and those parameter reports, what I what I want is that they're not I'm going to go back that they are not this. I mean that they're not the checklists and that so in order for that to happen that they are truly cycles of inquiry that they are a part
040of and integrated with the work that we're doing. So, when you think about the timeline of and I've I've heard your frustrations or some of your frustrations when I was um interviewing and I was watching your board meetings um how some of the board reports might not be aligned or might be not at the right timing of when you wanted information. And so I think everybody can agree that there's maybe we can examine when those goal reports happen, when those parameter reports happen, and how are they aligned in a way um that is part of the real work we're doing and not separate from. Um and I think you have that shared interest. I know our cabinet team has that shared interest. And so there's just I think you know it might take us a
041year to build that out. Um I have also heard you you want to reexamine maybe what the in the parameter reports what what content you want um in those parameter reports and um and here is our opportunity as we think about this alignment that it's meaningful for you and meaningful for the cabinet team as we're thinking through that throughine of this work. >> Thank you. Um, I'll also add that if we do come up with some board goals, we need to be cognizant of any incoming members and and what would be really important and helpful for them to know as well. Um, keeping in mind that it's going to be a bit of a fire hose. Um, and so what does it look like? those goals can be shaped around things that will help make
042them into a cohesive member of the group and also be knowledgeable about the things that are really important for students and staff and our community. Um, so using those goals as a form of making sure we're knowing that uh new board members are getting all of the information that they need in a meaningful way um can also I think be a useful way to think about it. Director Train, you make a good point about that. I was going to ask a little bit about the timing around board goals and when we actually want to do this considering that we may have at least two uh new board members coming in and then the board assessment. I thought I think I took it I thought it was throughda. Okay. All right. Um I thought the questions
043were a little bit different from last year from what I remember. Um, and I appreciate it because it was really digging into what do we actually know about? What do we have visibility to? Um, and how accessible is that information to the board? Um, I guess that would be a standin for the SWAT analysis for board. Okay. All right. Because that's the other thing I would have suggested is that we can typically write goals if we do a SWAT analysis, but once we get those assessments back, then maybe we can use it as that. But yeah, timing, >> what does that look like? >> Well, I'm going to add, can I add to that? My recommendation and this is your goals and it's your decision. Um, I would say based in the in the previous
044business meeting that we just had, uh, Director Hayes made a comment about my evaluation and had said that the two parameters that you just voted on today was about the system, not about the individual. Um, and I would say it's the same for your board goal. So yes, you need to I believe my recommendation is you need to consider what the new board directors are going to need, but you're evaluating and you're thinking about the WASDA standards and your goals within the system to move the board as a whole forward. And what we don't want is individuals coming in with their own ideas or their own um agenda um to get us off track because this whole alignment is what we need. And so what is the WASA what are the WASA standards saying and
045what are the themes of improvement that you have as a board over the last several years that no matter who comes on is going to need to we're going to need to improve in as a board. So that would be my recommendation. Of course they're your goals and it's your governance model. Um but u but that's my recommendation as I'm thinking about coherence. All right. So um theory of action um we already talked about this but you know this is a hypothesis of what happens with a series of actions that we think about. You could even add within the board goals. If the board does then the then the superintendent does then the cabinet team does then you know so it's it's setting out that clear line so we can see how everybody in the
046organization every adult in the organization is having influence and moving the arrows all in the same direction towards a learning focused agenda. Um so this is an example um that I presented to the cabinet team and we as a and I've presented this as um as an idea and they are going to play around with this idea and then um we might evolve it. It might look different. This is something again is the messiness of the work of creating and socializing our work together and building our team. But this was just launched um uh last week at our board retreat. And this is this is an an idea of the template that I have used in the past where you've got your strategic plan and goal number one. Um and and then uh you got
047your five year KPOs on this side. Then what everybody needs to do within our organization, every cabinet team member within our organization needs to think about what are their key action items. Not every action item. This isn't like the K, you know, the everything in the kitchen sink. this is what are the key action items that that they are leading this year um to be able to help reach that five-year goal and then what are the key performance indicators that they want to see by the end of this school year. How will they know that they've been successful? And this could be student learning data. It could also be artifacts. It could also be adult adult actions and what the adults are doing differently by year one to year you know beginning year to end
048of the year. So there's many ways in which we can measure um it could be perception, perceptual surveys. It doesn't have to always be um student learning data, right? Um and and that um but at the end of the day, what I'm asking cabinet to do is to think through all of the action items so we can at least get on a piece of paper everything is doing connected to these goals. Now, if there is a cabinet leader who doesn't do work that is directly related to one of these goals, then I'll have another section for them to add what their key goals are. Because Jolyn, for example, as our deputy superintendent might not have a direct action that she is doing in her department. her goals might be around improving the it should be
049around improving the fiscal um um our fiscal health within the organization which indirectly impacts all of these things but we want to see that on there because we want to see all actions that we're doing that our principles and teachers are going to be engaged in. Once we get all of that on a piece of paper, on many pieces of paper, then it's about us synthesizing and identifying where are the interconnections and then where are um the outliers, where where are the silos and and if we if it is an outlier in a silo, we might want to keep it and but be intentional about it. Um but um but that's that's the messiness of that work. And then you can see down on this key performance indicators I've identified what time of year the
050parameter report is identified and when the goal report is due on that particular key KPO. I'm going to keep the same same agenda we had last year. So I'm not changing that. It's too much change right now in the organization to do anything different. Um but what I think what will naturally happen is this time next year at our board retreat we might reorganize where some of those goals reports land based on what the key work is happening because ultimately what we want in an ideal world is that the work that this cabinet team is doing is aligning with um with their timeline and they're recommending to you when to do the best time to report it versus the other way around. questions on this. Yeah. So, I'm wondering if I could turn to my
051cabinet, wonderful cabinet team. If Obie, um, Dr. Dunham, if you could come over, maybe if anybody else wants to volunteer, you have some thoughtful ideas. Okay. Yeah. Pull up a chair. >> Oh, there's space over here. Yes. >> Oh, is it a bad idea? Yeah, >> it's an entertaining idea. >> All right, Dr. Riley next to Sandy Hayes. This is >> All right. So I'm curious from just you know your perspective um being in the organization and the wealth of knowledge that you have and what surfaced in our cabinet retreat the discussions that surfaced around the needs that you have as a cabinet team and what your hopes are this year. You know what what aligns what describe from your perspective this idea of an annual operating plan and how that may help influence our
052work or not. Thank you for inviting me to the table. I'm so excited. Um um I think you know uh honestly uh this is my 20th year in Northshore. I started as a teacher at Frank Love and when we uh when I started at Frankl I didn't know yet how siloed all of our schools were and how they were all doing very very different work not guided by necessarily a strategic plan or a school improvement plan and we've come a long way since then. So I think having that historical knowledge matters and to have the opportunity to be on this side of the leadership work and be thinking about how we've been working towards building coherence and braiding our work together um over a series of years. I think you can see things taking shape
053and we still have a long way to go and this feels like a way to make our leadership work more visible and to help us think about what is working really well and maybe what isn't. And we are in a time where I don't think we can wait around um to continue to to we need to make our work visible. There's a lot that's unseen that can be detrimental to serving our students and thinking about uh new ways and innovative approaches to um make our work meaningful to them um directly to the classroom floor. So I see this all in service of that and we don't know what we're going to get from it, but it also feels like it's about the process and not the final product or piece of paper. So, I think
054it's a a direction to go and it's a sandbox to play in that's maybe more generative and like co-constructive than we've had in the past. So, an opportunity to learn and grow. And as Superintendent Tully would say, um, you're welcome for the opportunity. So, here we are with a new opportunity, Obie. Yeah. We'll teach you how to >> do I need to teach you how to use a mic. >> Thank you for having us at the table. The I think a couple things I would agree with um what Dr. right ahead to share. I also tell you if you look um in the back, you can't see it off camera, but there's the majority of the cabinet is over there and they appear to be working furiously. I know a number of them are actually
055working on this document right now cuz they had some questions for me and kind of as they're thinking through between. So, they're kind of working on it. I think an opportunity a potential opportunity here in addition to what um Dr. Riley said is just we we work very well together as a cabinet. We believe we're high performing, high functioning cabinet. We have a lot of um skills and deep deeply knowledgeable people on cabinet. But a document like this perhaps allows us to begin to visualize how we can work more um interdependently on our work. In other words, we all are very task oriented and getting our work done and very focused and um take pride in the work that we're doing. But how do we again begin to complement each other and um kind of
056lift that load together around some of this key work particularly um Dr. Dr. Tran, I heard you reference the KPIs and really as as I think about it, really thinking leaning into um those are things we need to achieve and they're high reaching KPIs, but we can get there and we've done hard things before. 9th graders on track to graduate, high school graduation rates and so if we can collaboratively think around this work and lean into this work, um opportunities for great outcomes for students, which obviously is what everybody here in this organization is about. Do you have any questions for other? Um, I love that you all appreciate this because I'm also in my paid job a teacher and I love to see things spelled out like this so that your work is visible
057and so that what you're doing and how what you're doing informs each other and how it can inform each other is a really great way to create that change you were talking about. So it's not siloed to some like one particular elementary school is doing things fabulously, but how do we how do we take that work and spread it across the district? And the work that you're doing that's invisible that goes out to the district is is in a way, you know, is put down here in a way so that um if someone else came along and needed to do that same work, they would understand all the things you're doing and all the important parts of what you're doing and how valuable all of the work that's being done is. And I'm excited that
058everyone's excited filling that out. I don't know if they're excited about filing. >> They're totally pumped. Everyone was so fresh this morning. They're ready for work. >> I think they're hopefully excited about the end product. I don't know about the process. >> Director Tran. >> I was whispering over my shoulder how I appreciate a good matrix. Um, it's it's helpful to have this matrix and it's also helpful to to kind of outline our our goals. And I'm wondering, and I don't expect there to be an answer right now because it's in flight. It's being written, how dynamic this matrix is, how tied in our cabinet and our board and everyone that's participating going to be tied into these goals. And perhaps maybe the if it's not dynamic this this document then well before we get
059into the not dynamic part but if it is dynamic what are the rules of engagement when it comes to editing these goals. if it is dynamic and um or not sorry then what is the cadence of updating these goals and just curious because um don't want to create a lot of overhead this this is very crucial it sounds like for the cabinet and yes thank you for observing our previous not very entertaining board meetings where we kind of complain subtly about how we the timing is kind I don't know how to describe it. Um, not quite what we need when we have certain pieces of information when we when we don't need it and then we have certain pieces of information kind of out of sync. Um, but yeah, the the flexibility and the cadence
060is what I'm curious about for this. >> Yeah. And I can share with you what how this has worked for me in the past. Um, so every every week the cabinet team meets and we will look at a portion of it. We would not spend the entire meeting focusing on everything in this plan because it's a lot. But we would have a process, an iterative process of where we're evaluating where we are on those key actions. So the goals will not change. That's that is not um it that is not that's static. The goals are static. The actions um are fluid and um we set them and then throughout the year based on the feedback, you know, if um Dr. Riley's out in the schools and along with our other executive directors and we're seeing
061what principles are doing and how things are being implemented. She's going to come back to the cabinet meeting and say I'm tweaking this a little bit to meet to to because this is what the reality is is what's happening in the schools. Um or Dr. Dunham might be um in his meetings reshaping what these key actions are and rep prioritizing what the work the executive directors are doing or teaching and learning is doing to help um moni because we're monitoring this on a regular basis. Um, and then those key performance indicators also might change because we might actually reach a KPI earlier than we think or we might realize that the action that we're doing isn't really creating the leverage that we want and so we need to change the KPI. And so the cabinet
062team is the one owning this and then socializing it. This is not an outward- facing document where we would show this to the community um or we would necessarily even show this in full to principles. This is about the cabinet team organizing their work and then getting out and and and this is their playbook um of sorts. Um and then you as a board are just your your your whole concern your your area of focus is in that gray box of making sure that we're getting there. And then when you're evaluating me, we will be sharing the KPIs of what we're doing to reach that goal. And that's how the go that's how the board will interface with this document. But ideally, but in in the way it's set up now and the structure that
063you have set it up as is that's through the parameters and through the goal reports. I want to mention can I mention something you said in a twoon one? >> Um so director SOAC had mentioned he she said well gosh the action items are really the reports. Remember when you said that? Yeah. Do you want to do you want to expand on that? It was brilliant. >> Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to remember what I said because it was inspired by the moment. Um, but overall, this is like a lesson plan, which I can really get behind. And because we are a teaching and learning body of work that the body of work that we do should be around teaching and learning and lesson plans just make sense. Um but
064yeah, the action items, the things that you need to do are going to be the things that or the things that you are doing in order to reach the KPIs are the things that we need to know about as a board. Right? So like Dr. Harris said, the things that we're already doing that are already inherent in this system maybe don't need to be reported on in great depth and detail because we already know that they're happening. It's the things that are changing and the things that we're doing actively. Those are the things that are going to impact that are impacting and affecting students and creating that change. And that's what we need to know about um particularly around you know those underserved students and the students and the systems and things that we need
065to do to move our system forward. Does that sound right? Okay. >> Awesome. It sounds like a living breathing document then. All right. I appreciate that. I just wasn't sure if it was going to be rigid and then people will go in the red and then we have to do like a PSR or something. >> No, it's an inward facing document that will have highlights and notes and everything on it. >> Dr. McCordi, your turn. I think a lot of what I was sitting here thinking of was already been addressed in this last conversation, but I I guess I view this as a sort of an iterative process and um that has directionality depending upon what results we're seeing that you know obviously starting with the students. This is what the students need. Then it
066goes up the level how do we get what the students need? How did the principles or the teachers get what they need to to make sure the students and and all the way up and then then back down? Um okay. And then um the other thing I was just just put a nail in it the what was the word I was like thinking of um the sequence of our parameter and the monitoring reports used to be a whole lot worse with respect to we we had a schedule for them but the time of year when the data was actually there to be to have it be a productive discussion about that particular parameter wasn't necessarily uh coinciding with when when we were doing it as as a board. So that's that's what we want. We
067want to make sure that when we're trying to assess a parameter or a goal, it's at a time of year when we have the data actually collected that we can that we can analyze. I'll just say quickly that this also sort of reminds me and maybe has some parallels to like um you know response to intervention, right? So you're doing something, it has the impact that is intended and you continue doing it. You're doing something and it's not having the results that you want and you modify what you're doing. So um it looks a lot like instruction in the classroom looks too, which is nice. Director Hayes So, I have been listening and and we're wrestling with some challenging stuff. And we're using vocabulary and phrases that if I was that parent of a three-year-old,
068I'd have no idea what on earth we were talking about. And yet what we're talking about is hugely important to me of my three-year-old or incoming kindergartener. So my ask is as we do this work and the the iterative process and the internal and the inward facing and the KPIs and all that that as we move from the green to the gray to our space that we translate it into language that our community will understand. How am I as a parent of an incoming kindergarteners? how is that improving the outcome for my child and that I understand what you've just said and and that's a beautiful way and that's the beautiful purpose of the parameter reports I guess you know is how do we how do we memorialize that work in a way that's outward
069facing >> Dr. McGordy, >> thank you. This is something word that popped into my head thinking about this was transparency. Our community is always telling us you need to be more transparent. You need, you know, we could go on for quite some time about whether we are and how we are and whatnot. But I think this can really add to the transparency of what the board and what the district and what the superintendent and the cabinet are doing if it is translated. It can't be transparent if nobody understands the words that that we're saying. So, in reporting back out to the the community to be transparent to them, it's got to be in a language that everybody can understand and take away from. >> And that's something that, you know, I've been talking with Dr.
070Irish about is is how do we make things accessible and um attractive to engage with and be interested in particularly for young parents or older parents any parents or community members creating um reports in ways that are accessible to community members that they can digest them and that it's something that they're have time to look at because while our reports are very informative, it is sometimes a challenge to find the time to read them and you have to have a a lot of institutional knowledge to understand what's in them. So finding a way to summarize them um with perhaps some access to the more scholarly articles um but giving sort of a a TLDDR sort of summary. Too long didn't read. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I think every I I mean I I don't know
071if you two want to speak about this, but I think everyone has a shared interest in maybe reexamining what how long those reports are, what's needed, what's you know in what and and the goal here is that if we have a really clear focus on what our action items are this school year, it will then narrow down what's on those reports and we don't need to give you everything. We're just telling you what the most important work is that we're doing this year. Dr. Denham, >> I you know the strategic plan if we back out to that and there's been a lot of work um a lot of pride that goes into it, a lot of interest that goes into it and there's a lot of measures there. So when it comes time to um
072reporting particularly on the strategic plan goals, we don't want to leave any of it out because it's all important. It all matters. Um and so to report on them comprehensively, it creates very long reports. If there's if there becomes a comfort level where we can say this is what we're really focusing on um this year, these these items and let's report on detail on these items. Know that the other ones matter as well, but this is where energy is right now. might um streamline the reports and make some of the information you guys have asked for before, like tell me what's happening um and what does this look like in greater detail easier to do because we have less things we're trying to do that for. >> Dr. really. >> Yeah. I think if we
073pull away at the paper maybe and we get to the heart of the matter and just thinking about what you were you were saying, I think we like when we get back to inquiry, we have to be really curious about what we're trying to do and seek solutions that we maybe haven't found before. But I I think about how to translate it to the parent of a three-year-old. you know, any parent of any three-year-old in Northshore. And you might be asking, you know, we go from that, what do what do we want that three-year-old to know and be able to do in order to 1.3? We say read and then we say, what do we do if they get it? What do we do if they don't? How do we know? And then I think
074taking it off of the classroom floor, what do we need then the teachers to know right and do and what do we do if they need help or they don't right and then what do we need for principles like you were saying that they're the conduit to all of this and then our work is to support those principles. So then what do I need to be able to do as an executive director? So that so that so that the three-year-old and then we're up at the at this level like being able to say at some point in those goal reports when it matters to do that. These are the things that we knew that we know that our three-year-olds need to be able to do. here's what we tried to do and when we didn't
075get there we tried to do this and this might help us get really much more focused about things that we can translate to families like what do we need to start doing or stop doing or keep doing or reimagine and right I mean so there could be ways to translate it that from that simply from the floor right the floor to the balcony and back again um in a way that invests and enlists the support of our community differently than we have before. But again, we we have to try to get down on paper what we are doing to think about what might be missing and where we need to go. Director Tran, as far as an inwardfacing document or a playbook, I think whatever the cabinet needs, if this is the matrix they need,
076awesome. If we were to put ourselves in the shoes of a parent of an incoming kindergartener to Northshore, I I'll be honest, they're probably not reading the reports. making it accessible to them is great but even at that point even if we're using simpler like I don't want to say simpler but like simplifying some of these paragraphs right into you know 1.3 is reading related um I don't know if I just want to make sure we're spending our time where we need to spend our time right I don't know if that's going to be useful to the parent if if um and it's a little bit of me projecting on them but being a busy parent I just want to know if my student is doing Well, and if they are not, what can be
077done to help them? Um, and you know, and the the whole sense of belonging thing as well and and all the different parts of the goals that actually funnel in. So, when we talk about um cohesiveness, I think it's great that we're thinking about operational cohesiveness and educational cohesiveness. if we extend that out to the community and the cohesiveness there. And I'm not saying we should do it here and now, but just something we could kind of muddle over in our brains is how do we bring it and reach it all the way out to the student before the outcome, right? Um, so we're reaching the parents and the students even as a living breathing not document but a living breathing way cuz they're going to school during the school year and it's not like
078these goals aren't happening every day, right? We're having cadence of check-ins on them. So just something to keep in mind >> for for all of us. I'm saying this for myself really and I I agree and I think you know incoming kindergarten parents I remember when I was an incoming kindergarten parent I would not read the goal reports I didn't even know they existed but I think there's an opportunity an opportunity to reimag how we're sharing information with the community and how we teach the community about the value of what we're doing here. And it might be as simple as did you know we're teaching your child to read and we have goals around teaching your child to read and a little snippet about what we're doing. It doesn't need to, you know, if it's
079an outward-f facing thing that we're just sharing on like a social media post or something about like, hey, did you know there's a policy? We are teaching your kids to read and there's a bunch of different ways that we're doing it to make sure that your child has high quality reading instruction at, you know, the age of three. They're doing pre-ereading and in kindergarten they're starting to learn about this or whatever. But like connecting the instruction to the policies in a really simple way, I think is a nice way to help engage the community in the goal reports and the parameter reports in a way that's TLDDR, right? So it's not a ton of information. It's just a snippet so that they start to understand the process and hopefully that will increase community engagement in
080the whole process. That's yeah >> where my head went. Yeah, I I agree with that and and there's an and to that is again we can try through social media, we can try through our websites. I think there's we got to get them where they're at and where they're at is they're paying attention to their students and maybe the PE the parent teacher conferences and wherever they're getting their information already adding on to that information even if it's more accessible and readable. um can can still be a little overwhelming because I'm sure there's going to be like a lot of calendaring things that we send the parents and I mean I'm a parent in the district too and I receive like tons of emails and I can't read them all. Um so it's a matter
081of how how we want to do this and so that's the kind of the inquiry that I have to everyone. >> I'm going to go back to this slide here. Um because if we're thinking about the parent is going to who who in our institution is the parent going to listen to the most the teacher and then after that who the principal. So if we have this line it if we have this this this through line here down at the bottom you see the school improvement plans or what we call the strategic action plans and our department work plans. the strategic action plans should be aligned with the strategic plan and all of those indicators and that the principles and the teachers are interpreting that and it's a living and breathing document, not a checklist.
082So that when they're engaging in parent teacher conferences, when they're engaging in their community events, that's when the that's when the communication of our work and our key work is happening is through the teacher and through the principal. And that's goes back to this slide here um of Oops. Of the principal being a learning focused principal being able to be the interpreter of all of that work for the teachers. And it also goes back to this slide here of the principal has to be in the no and leading this work. And so it can't happen if we don't have that through line really visible. and that if the principal has to be keenly aware of the work that the cabinet team is doing and the action plans that we're doing so that you know they
083can interpret it for our families. >> That that's the through line I was looking for. I I mean I don't want to burden community members more with like sending them more information and more emails and >> I don't even know if they follow Northshore and social media but like the the touch points and you nailed it is they're they're listening to the teachers >> and they're listening to the principles. So that that's the through line we need. This is great. Thanks. >> Okay. So, I'm just going to push back a bit. And I will say this as the board member who had never attended a board meeting ever until I filed and nobody else filed. And then I was like, "Holy crap, I better go figure out one of those things are." So, I get
084it. This was not But according to AI and you know, it's never wrong. We are the liaons between the district and the community and we have to communicate in a way that doesn't make it sound like oh if you don't understand me then you're stupid right so we have to translate the work that's being done this isn't work for Dr. Riley or Dr. Dunham. It's our work to take that information and translate it into a way so that if I am a parent of a incoming kid or I'm house hunting in the new town homes that we're building right and left that I can look and see, oh look at this amazing work they're doing and I am excited for my children to get on a school bus and go to the schools. I don't
085want to read something where I'm like, I don't have any idea what they're doing, but okay. I guess that that's right. That's our work is to translate it and to make it digestible for the people in our community. >> By our you mean the board? >> Yes. >> I think you found one of our goals. >> Well done. Um, thank you. We're gonna be keeping an eye on time. It's about 712. [Music] Um, so we I told you Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We do. It's It's a true story. So, we are We just looked at the um lesson plan >> is what I'm going to call it. >> Yep. >> And then now >> we're going to transition to board goals. >> Beautiful. >> Okay. So, we're not going to spend a lot of time on
086this. This is a seed. I want you to think about this as a seed I'm planting. I'm going to share you some of my belief systems and then you take that seed or don't take the seed. It's your choice as a board. Um, and I will coordinate as you wish. Um, but this is this is my belief system around um the alignment of the work that improvement is not just technical. It's a it's developmental. If schools are to serve as learning organizations for students, the adults, i.e. board members, leaders, teachers, and staff must also be committed to structured ongoing learning goals embedded in their everyday work and that we are a teaching and learning organization. Um, so my question to you is um and and this will help um President Cass as she's planning the
087study session. I mean not the study session, the retreat. Um I we need some direction from you. Um, does the board want to set two to three specific goals for your own learning and development this year? Goals that intentionally align with the WASA standards for effective school boards. And that goes back to the system, not necessarily the individual agendas of board members. So the system of the board as a whole, the the board as a body, you have your own gaps and you have your own strengths um as a team. um what do you want to would you want to focus on building some goals around um your work and um and so let's have a a discussion about that so that I can um meet with President Cast and we can start to think
088about having some structured time in the retreat for us to unpack that more. Nope. >> Just a yes, no. >> Yes, no. Because I I want to know, do we devote time to the retreat to this topic or if it's a no, you don't want board goals, we're going to have a different focus >> and and we're not voting on. We're not voting on anything. >> You're just giving me feedback. >> Just feedback. No voting. >> Yes. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. >> Thank you. Yes. My feedback is yes, we we do need to do this. I think it would be wonderful for the community if the board members can can set some goals and be transparent about it, >> but also not voting on anything and no decisions are being made. We're just
089we're just telling our feelings to the ether. >> Yes. >> I'm just we we used to have board goals, right? We used to do this. Do we know where they went? I mean, >> okay, they went to CO, but >> they were a yearly thing that we would set and then but they were they weren't like we're going we the board are going to improve reading, right? It was we're going to improve our understanding of how teachers are evaluated or we're and and then we had check-ins every quarterly to see how we were progressing on those goals. Um, and then COVID hit and it felt maybe not the best use of time and resources for us to have board goals when we were redoing a memorandum of understanding every 30 minutes. Yeah. Um from well
090from what you said it sounds like you were describing some of our study session topics that as new board members, you know, um our presidents so thoughtfully have sort of organized some of our study session topics to address things that we may not have had access to or understanding of based on our time with the board because you all have been here so long. So, you've had access to that information. Um, like teacher evaluation and things like that. Um, is is the way that you all did board goals previously, was it along the lines of, you know, I haven't learned about this and so one of the goals is to make sure that we are addressing it or was it more of we're addressing it over and over again throughout the year. So it we
091would review the evaluation the board self assessment and there would be um and I when I do this work with other boards so if there there were um like a cluster of questions where people responded with I don't know then that became a board goal of well let's make sure everybody knows what this is. If there were answers where everybody put it in the red, right, the, you know, we never do this, then it was like, oh, that appears to be a goal that um um I'll just say like the recognizing schools that achieve things that continuously pops up as a that we don't do that and how do we do that? Um, if there was a variety of answers, so like one board member said, "Yes, we always do this." And three board members
092said, "Well, sometimes we do it." And one said, "We never do it." Then that would become a board goal. Well, let's dig into why we have different perspectives on what's happening with the district. So, the goals varied based on what we saw within the self assessment. If I could, it's just largely around how do we improve as a board? How do we become a better functioning board? There we go. Um, and you know, based on the the WASDA standards and the the self- assessment, but yeah, a lot of it is, you know, what can we do better? How do we do it better and go from there? >> So, what I will recommend is well, you know, Um, we will ground ourselves in in these three questions. Um, and maybe more, but President Cass and
093I will figure that out and start to plan some time for us to unpack the WASA standards, start to think about what the goals might be. Um, thinking about these considerations. Um, and you know, goes back to what you were talking about, um, Director Sotac, about consider the implication of onboarding new board members. like we want to be able to have that be a part of it, but but it also is all about the system. So, so we will um we'll lean in on these three questions as we move forward. Okay. Thank you for that feedback and direction. It'll help direct President Cass and I have a more focused meeting. Um all right, so I've invited um Carrie up here to talk about what that matters most tour update. Uh I'm so I just first
094of all I want to um I just want to honor the great work of our communications department and uh it is an absolute pleasure. um almost in in every area that I have come into this district, I continue every layer I peel back, I can am continually amazed and um and the the the thought and intention on supporting me on on boarding me um putting together opportunities for me to engage with internal and external stakeholders has been uh incredible and the thought is um very it's just very intentional and you're an outstanding leader and I appreciate the work you've done here. So, um I just want um she and I collaborated and was really mostly her um thinking and her creativity around identifying what matters most to her. I really liked that um as an
095opportunity for me to dive into the values and beliefs in connection to the great work that we're already doing um around the strategic plan. And so um I'll turn it over to you to give us a little update. >> Sure. I'm Carrie Campbell. I'm the executive director of communications and engagement and it's lovely to see you all. So, uh the what matters most tour is a component of uh Dr. Irish's entry plan which thanks to all of you um we were able to develop and then provide to him as he onboarded and the what matters most tour um really is focused on kind of three different uh stakeholder groups families and broad community staff and students as well as our partners civic leaders etc. And so that work is already underway. He has been meeting
096uh he already mentioned uh with departments and with administrative staff of schools and in September we'll get we're going to be launching really into the family component which will include engagement with the council engagement with cultural leaders. one um decision point, you know, we're really trying to build off the work that's been happening for the last three years where we've reached into community that we have historically have not engaged and a change a difference um between the way we've been working the last three years and moving forward is we're going to try to go where people are at. So rather than them asking them asking them to come to us, we're going to go to them. Um and so again that will look like visiting the Hindu temple uh working with ICOB etc. Uh and
097then we will have general meetings as well. We're going to provide Portuguese and Spanish and ASL interpretation at all of them so that uh folks know right up front what will be provided. And then with um groups that don't have a convening um leader or organization, we will convene them. So for example, our black African African-American families, we'll still bring them here to the administration center so that it's a place that um uh is known to them, but also just because we don't have a community organization who can do that. So that's families and broad community for staff working with labor partners offering optional meetings for school leaders as well as our teachers. If you recall in the last sort of listen and learn that we did that was embedded into the school visits. But
098because Dr. Irish is new to the community, we want to frontload that engagement with our educators. And then we will also be engaging with our business and our civic leaders. So some of those look like one-on-one meetings as well as um larger meetings, for example, like with the Woodenville Chamber. And it all um uh concludes with a report back to the community about those priorities and values that were gathered through Dr. Irish's learning. Are there any questions? It's tradition. Um I'm glad to hear that we're going out to where communities at and I I'm sure you're working out the plan or already have a plan on certain events that Northshore could potentially uh table at. So not just in their giving the Hindu temple as an example, right? Not just going to the temple, but
099going out to where the community gathers as as a whole. So like this past weekend I couldn't make it but the UTSAB celebration India independence day right that encompasses six Hindus the people of different religion but it was like hundreds of people um that we could potentially be uh present there to have a booth for example um and I'm sorry if I'm saying stuff that you're already considering. The other thing is I'm glad to hear about um black and African uh Americans getting a central location like the admin space to go to because there isn't quite one in Northshore um or as you were saying a community leader. I'm curious about um any plans that you might be able to share and I don't want to put you on the spot. If you're working on
100it, it's fine. just say you're working on it um for the Asian diaspora because an&hpi is a very big umbrella. There's not one person. That's a great question. It's something that Dr. Irish and I will talk about. No, we don't have a solution um yet, but I also think that there's some churches that hold space. So, it's thinking differently about who our partners are and when where and uh when we can engage families. So, um I know there's a large Korean church that we can engage with and we did originally when we did Dr. Tali's listen and learn, but it's kind of that that out of the box thinking. Um and so I appreciate that that question and we'll have a conversation about that. I think I don't want to leave any group out either.
101So, I'm forgetting a lot of groups, but also with our um Spanish speaking families as well, but there seems to be a little bit of a congregation within Northshore for them. So, I feel like they're a little bit easier to reach compared to NHPI. And one thing that we're doing a little bit differently as well as um in the invitation out to the community, we've actually said if you want to host Dr. Irish, please contact us so that we can set up that that meeting and that engagement because um at this table I think we know a lot of the partners but there are still folks out there that we may not yet have relationship with and we want to leave that door open. >> Thank you. I'm excited. >> All right. Thank you very
102much. All right, lastly, this is more of a house cleaning and kind of nuts and bolts request. Um, our um wonderful Miss King um is going to come here for a moment and yep, I'm going to ask her to come to the table. [Laughter] So, she asked me to ask you and then I thought, why am I asking you for something she's asking and let's just have her be at the table. So, one of the things that we were trying to do is to save time and money um and and the environment and not have printed copies for everything, but we also know that you may have a preferential um style and might want printed copies. So, this is not saying that we're not going to make printed copies, but what we're asking is, and
103I'll turn it over to you, but is to, you know, what copies can we not make? And or maybe one person, one board director wants copies and the rest doesn't, and you can bring your laptop and look at it every time and we accommodate one. Um, and then that saves some trees. So, and time. Um, so anything I missed? Keep Yeah, it's gonna turn up. >> You did a fabulous job. Yeah. >> So, one thing that came comes to mind is when you do your board self self assessment. >> That's a lot of of paper and a lot of color paper. Um, another one that comes to mind is maybe when we do a goals presentation and we have those slides. So, again, I'm happy to meet your needs. I just thought, hm, if we're
104not keeping them and I'm recycling them the next day, maybe we could do things a little different or talk with that talk about what that would look like. Just my personal preference, not speaking on behalf of the board, I would love love love to not have hard copies. I operate off of a laptop just fine. Okay. And so you can also just email me your preference too. I've I've um sampled it a couple times by just saying for tonight's presentation due to the large quantity, please bring your device. Although you might leave the house thinking you're coming to the board meeting and then you get or going back home before you come to the board meeting and then that gets sidetracked. So, all you need to do is send me a quick message and I
105can get you a copy so that you have it available. Or if you prefer to have that to keep it and archive it, I'll have it here for you, too. As long as we have an escape plan, right? Because I don't always charge my device reliably. Maybe then we just get outlets here for you. I mean, there's stuff there. Yeah, I I appreciate the question. >> Yeah, the self assessment might need it for the learning tool. >> That's a good point because some of that stuff you do need to take notes on and we've got, you know, Bond and Levy coming up too. So, you might want to be taking notes to keep for talking points when you're meeting with people. So we can take it study session by study session, topic by topic and
106see how it goes >> if everybody's open to that. >> So we're going to lean in that direction >> and then we will we will see how it goes and we will be adaptive >> steps. Yes. >> Okay. All right. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right. And thanks for working on saving time and money. All right. So finally um just a quick preview of the upcoming study session um that President Cast and I are um working on. So um if you have feedback, please let us know either tonight or send an email um and let us know. But we're obviously going to um you you are taking the WASDA self- assessment. So if we want to create board goals, then we need to have that self- assessment um conversation
107and leaning in on the board of distinction application uh the policy governance um maybe leaning in on policy governance work um and uh aligning our practices around that. Um the superintendent parameters just looking at the the calendar for the year and making sure that we're all on the same page. um legislative priorities came up and then the study session learning agenda. So um that's a lot to take to do in one study in one retreat. These were just a list of ideas. So um is there any thoughts on or guidance from you before we spend time planning >> retreat? Yes, retreat. I keep getting them mixed. Retreat. Retreat. So, it says study session. Sorry. Retreat. >> Yeah. >> No, we're not. So, it's probably just going to be the top three. >> Okay. Top three
108will be a focus. Okay. Does uh anybody have anything else that they want to say before we close up? It's we're hitting 7:32 and I'd like to continue my trend of the evening of being timely. It's a high bar. Director TR, >> sorry. What this the board of distinction as a topic what are we exactly going to talk about >> because we didn't do it last year so that's why so it's a application that we have filled out every year for a long time. Um and it's it's a great opportunity to review what we have done as a board and how we're operating. Um it is a lot of work. Typically, director McGory has led that work of filling out the paperwork and so I suspect the conversation is just are we interested in in
109doing it. >> Oh, okay. So, it's a short conversation. Ye. Yes. Cool. So, maybe not the top three, but the top four because I'm really interested in policy governance. >> That's my personal preference. I don't want to push it on the rest of the board, though. >> Yeah. Yeah. I was just curious why we have whole line item and how long it's going to actually take to discuss it. >> Okay. >> Top four. >> Yay. >> Ambitious. >> All right. >> Okay. All right. We're going to go ahead