001work session to order. Welcome back, Kristen from the OSBA. We took a little self evaluation survey, so we're going to go over those results. >> Great. All right. All right. Thank you. >> What a timely meeting. Appreciate that. All right. Thank you. Um, thank you all for participating and filling out the self email. um you did get it in advance and you've got uh paper copies in front of you. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen and sort of walk you through what we're going to do tonight. Bear with me as I share it and then it for me second nicely nicely. There we go. Okay. So, um the first thing we'll do is I sent along some questions in advance for you to be thinking about and I'd like to go through
002those. Um we won't spend a ton of time on these but um but wanted you all to be thinking about this and then you know we'll go through sort of the the big um overall strengths that you saw the big overall um areas of improvement that you saw we will drill down a little bit um I you know brought my own observations as your caring disinterested third party and um we will go through some um a report that I get that you don't which is um a congruency report, which is where are you all on the same page and where do you differ in your opinions about things? And then what I'd like to do is um have you set at least one goal for your own professional development and um that is not unrelated
003but distinct from whatever goals that you are involved in with your strategic plan. So it should not be completely divorced from the other work that you're doing. But a board goal for its own relationships development or involvement um is an important thing to do. What I have done is bring some just ideas to throw out at you um based on what I see here and these are not things that obviously I would assign to you or anything just some thoughts. So um so that is what we'll do. So my first question to you was what did you observe about the data and the report at this point this is hard to do but we won't do interpretations just observations and we all want to jump into here's what I think this means but at this
004point I just want just what did you see as we looked through it >> mostly blue >> okay yeah very very few uh responses were in the ineffective >> yes >> yeah Right. Just good modeling observations. Anything anything else that you just saw >> the main things I saw too just Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Strong. Well, and there's there's four of us taking the survey. So the results based on >> not a lot. When you point by the way >> maybe December maybe December. Okay. So, >> and just I know we're not big into the the details, but how can it when there's four of us, I would think that all of the bars would be multiples of 20. >> So, there were a couple of questions where not everybody answered. >> Yes. But
005even still, >> but no, that's standard because there's multiple questions within that standard. Yes. >> When I first answered it, I also wondered that >> everybody's doing math. All right. [laughter] Now fortunately I have nothing to do with the math so [laughter] I can't say I messed it up but yes yeah multiple questions per standard and then on everything as I mean if you looked at each of the questions there were some that not everybody answered. Um, okay. The next question is now was there any meaning that you made just in general as you looked through like what did you think about all of this? Just >> Yeah. and we'll get you. Um, overall I'm pretty happy that uh the board views itself and assesses itself that we are, you know, effective in most uh
006areas. Do we have areas of growth? Yes. that uh we have mostly effective or accomplished uh compared to some other reports I'm sure that you get. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> Yeah. I mean I just and I I recognize it just as I was filling out filling out going along myself thought oh we are pretty good you know you know the different things it was kind of nice to see and then you look at it says yeah the others agree with that too that we're doing a pretty good job >> right [clears throat] that's an important recognition too that as you're going along and filling out you know how you feel like when you feel strongly about something and then you get the report back and you know the rest of your team >> feels
007a similar way. I was like, "Oh, well, it wasn't just me thinking this, right?" >> Yeah. Anything else? Any other sort of meaning you may have? >> Do you have different surveys for boards for districts that are a small district and then a large district? >> No, this is this survey is based on the balance governance model that um that is that researchbased model that we use and teach from. So, this is that balanced governance survey developed by Tom Malsbury. And so um because it's it is on the 12 standards that we teach from. So um because this is grounded in that research about how boards impact student outcomes um this is the one that that we do. just when I was feeling it out, I was like, "Wow, this is really intense." at certain
008parts. Yeah, it was a lot to try to process and think through >> and the research is done on on districts of all size and then all sizes you know and because I mean it's it's research that is you know over decades and so um and so it's not meant to you know these standards are not meant to be just like representative of large urban boards or anything like that you know it's meant to be um you know these things are about the behavior Behaviors and characteristics that can even if sometimes customizable to to different communities are meant to be applicable to in in some way to all points even if the implementation of those things has to be customized to the size or location of the district. What did you find uh what hit
009you as the overall strengths and areas of improvement usually works through? >> Uh just like looking at the standards level uh definitely the strengths of budgeting and financial accountability. Um also, uh the vision directed planning, one area that I think that we obviously stands out is the culture responsiveness. >> Yeah, that was the only area with some red in it. And uh Andrea, as you pointed out, like the the budgeting and financial accountability piece had no yellow even, right? No developing in that at all. >> And I would add to that, I think community engagement with I mean of all the yellows that was the most yellow and when I answered I actually probably rated us as more developing there because the specific questions like I am not um a lobbyist I am not out
010in the community literally advocating for school local businesses so and is a priority for ours that it's an area where we want to focus I just me personally as a single board member I don't think that's one of my stripes. I don't think I'm accomplished there because I choose not to be. >> So, you know, that's where I >> landed on that. >> And I I put something about that to the the community engagement isn't as strong as, you know, if that's what we are expected to do. We're not out there that much. And even if I'm I'm out there doing things in the community, I don't feel like people even ask me much happen to do about things either. So >> that could be because I don't really have kids in the in the
011schools now other than my son teaching, you know, just see I within different events that I attend and stuff. I would say that I do get those questions there because I have >> kids in the school and are having conversations with people who also have kids. And I I've gotten the impression that especially you and and Mark also have more people in the community that do maybe contact you or say say thanks to you because you're savvy and you do have your kids and you with your kids and stuff too where I don't so much. Do you have any questions at this you've come to the meeting with any questions after looking at anything that you either would like addressed here at the beginning or that you would like addressed throughout you want to frontload
012what is your 10,000 view >> this is a very strong report I mean as you mentioned I have seen reports of all kinds um from very strong like this to a lot of red right >> um and as we dive into you know um the details I think the other thing about this and we'll talk about this is there are also very few areas where there are and like in individual indicators a lot of rainbows right there are very few indic there are very few indicators where you didn't agree um and so there's a lot of cohesiveness here at least is you're looking at your own performance and um and so you know I mean again very strong as you set your um goals one of the things that I encourage you to do is
013like even when you've got and I we'll talk about this but even when you've got a really strong report come back um it's important even at that point to like then okay dig deeper right because when you don't have a report that comes back with all kinds the red where it's like okay where do we start? It's like, okay, now so like now we're a couple layers down, right? We want to keep improving. So we can use all kinds of strengths to then keep going. And um so that challenge will be, you know, if we're strong in a lot of areas, how do we want to leverage our strengths to get even stronger and better? particularly if you've got a new board member that you're going to be onboarding, like how do you want to,
014you know, onboard somebody um and bring them along and and so maybe considering that new dynamic too as we look at what your goal might be. But um but very strong very strong and I wouldn't tell you that if I didn't um and so this is the last question that we won't answer right now, but you know what do you want to do with this information? Because the last thing that we want to do is just hand you this and say good job and then you know and then do nothing with it because that this is useless unless you use it to um to do something with it and to set a goal and take some action. So um yes, we're all looking at the front page. This is your summary. Um I will go
015through um as we can see your overall themes and then I've got a report that doesn't just show this but like by the numbers and this is in order. Your overall strengths were obviously the top one was budgeting and financial accountability. The second one was essentially your roles and responsibilities which was a tie by the numbers with vision directed planning. So your next two were um conduct ethics and relationship with the superintendent and vision directed planning. Your um why are you moving? Oh, that's weird. Um [laughter] I don't know why that came out of order. So what do these mean then as far as the actual definition of these standards according to balanced governance? So um when we look at budgeting and financial accountability, you know, this is what we think of ensuring that your
016strategic educational goals are translated into reality, right? Through not just knowing what the budget is, but ensuring that your um that your strategic plan is translated into reality and that your district is financially sound, you're utilizing resources based on student needs. Then your conduct of ethics, ethics and relationship with the superintendent. You understand those rules and responsibilities. Everybody does. And you support and practice team building as an essential part of your relationship. And then finally, vision-directed planning. You know, obviously you've got a strong strategic plan and you develop that shared vision focused on student learning. That is the foundation um of your policym, your planning, your resource allocation and activities. Um, and so you can see where all of these things meld together. You know, there's a lot of overlap in all of these standards,
017but um, particularly that that budgeting and financial accountability and the vision directed planning, those those really go go together because when you've got that strong plan, you've got to have the resources to tie into that and you've got to be able to allocate those resources to support that. But nothing happens without knowing what your role is either and having that strong relationship with your superintendent. Um so that's a nice package of strengths to have. So then I go through what I do next is I go through and find like um sort of by the numbers what are your specific highest strengths and and then I try and to the extent possible group them into themes like what are some what are some questions that have some common elements or some relationship with each other so
018that I'm not just listing the questions that um that come the highest. So the first one uh was that you monitor the progress of your strategic goals. You align your budget and your superintendent evaluation to those goals. That showed up in uh a number of questions that all seem to have that theme. So there's that alignment with your strategic goals and you do that with a number of components. So that's that's an important thing. Um, another one that got that scored really high that I just left on its own was that you model relationships built on trust and respect. That's that's an important thing to stand alone by itself because as you know um you know your culture feeds the rest of the district's culture. That's important. Um, a couple of these went together. You
019do not use your office for personal gain. You do not attempt to speak individually on behalf of the board. particularly that speaking individually on behalf of the board can be really important from time to time. And then um another specific strength that was really part of standard 12 is that you review your monthly financial statements, you understand your role in the oversight of the budget. So those were your um your highest specific strengths overall by the numbers areas of improvement as you identified cultural responsiveness. Um, standard two being community engagement and then standard 10 innovation and creativity which were the the top three by the numbers. I don't know why this is happening with this like I got my animations wrong. So cultural responsiveness, you know, how is this defined? Recognizing cultural diversity in its
020many facets. Um developing an understanding of diversity, applying perspectives respons responsive to the community, using that in policy and program approvals and um supporting effective community engagement builds on the strengths of the community's cultural diversity in the many forms that it takes. How does balance governance define community engagement? Then recognizing that all members of the community are stakeholders and the success of the schools using that reciprocal advocacy process. So the community wants something from the district. What what are your needs? How are they communicated to the community as well? And just those um that two-way conversation, system connections, those two-way feedback loops um supporting collaborative partnerships and then innovation and creativity. the fun one. Um, how do you translate your dreams into reality in um in new and um and interesting ways while keeping your
021same your governance role um intact and making sure that you are still fiscally sound utilizing resources based on student needs which again there's some overlap there with other standards. Um so those are the three the definition of those three. So again putting things into um some themes where it is appropriate. Um the a climate of caring, respect and valuing of students cultures is established through board policies and goals and the board has a process to review policies for bias and cultural responsiveness. There were a couple of these this area of improvement that sort of stood out in a couple of questions. Wanted to highlight those and put those together. Uh, another area of improvement that I combined together, um, establishing and sustaining relationships with community leaders, educational organizations, and other government officials to remove barriers
022to creativity and innovation. And I, as you were reflecting, I'm hearing you say that like that's not necessarily, you know, individuals strengths or and sometimes the question is like what is the board's role actually in doing that, right? And I think that that varies district by district, right? There are some districts where like, you know, they are members of, you know, certain community organizations or they're in Salem all the time, you know, advocating when when it's in session or, you know, uh there's tight relationships between board members and city councils or or whatever. And there's a pretty defined boundary about what a board member does or whatever. And then there's a lot of personal interest in doing that. Um, and that is negotiable by by district by interest [snorts] by individual board members time as
023well. You know, I mean, like I'm a board member. Could I do that all day long? No, I don't have time. Um but uh so I think that you know the individual components of some of these standards are sort of negotiable based on the needs of especially when we get into community engagement where I don't know if I've said this to you before but like that's the one standard that is so highly district specific that I'm never going to walk into you and say this is what community engagement looks like right because that is very specific to your community. um ensuring that employees are representative of the values and the cultures of the community. Right? So when you say like this is our strategic plan, this is our vision and this is our mission, this
024is what we believe in, how do you get buy in from your staff, right? Like how how do you know that like that is being carried into what are the expectations that you have? You're not evaluating staff, right? But what is the expectation of from the board that like that is that is throughout the district right and then uh the board pursuing opportunities to learn about researchbased best practices that ensure continuous improvement for the next generation of learners. So, how do you how do you um educate yourselves or work with your superintendent to learn about what is going on um in teaching and learning and and those you know we as board members are not suggesting strategies but how do you learn enough about what's happening in the classroom um that you're informed and you
025know when you make the big decisions that you make like you know what is being measured you know what's happening. Any questions about any of those? Okay. So, now the congruence part and this is where I get a report that I don't give you, which is where are you most in agreement. So, like let's say there was even one that was all red. You're still in tight agreement, right? Um but in your case, there wasn't one, right? But the area of highest congruence was standard 10. like even though that wasn't one of your strengths, you were you were all like by the numbers in highest agreement about standard 10 and the area of highest inongruence was standard 11. So even again though that was fairly strong that was the one that had the most indicators
026where you had the the most color differences. So there was a lot of like three different colors on those or at least more there than there were in others. Not a huge percentage of inongruence if you take it into context, but the report showed that that was the area of highest inongruence just by again by the numbers. So again again no like rainbows all over the place, but that was the area of highest inongruence. So, some specific areas of inongruence, and I go back and forth between what I can see and what I can't. Um, specific areas of inongruence, and I only picked out um ones I mean, I think there was only like Well, there was Yeah, there weren't any that had like the full rainbow. I only picked out ones that had three
027colors on them, and there were so few. Um, so I only reported here the ones that had three colors on them and of course there are only four of you right now. So, um, these were the ones that had the three colors on them. The board ensuring that the superintendent and staff clearly understand their roles and responsibilities in creating and supporting a culture of high expectations throughout the system. That's question 34. Um, and I will say before we go on, I should have said this before I read that first one. These are as we look through these I don't expect everybody to remember exactly what their answer was necessarily but as we go through these the reason that we talk about like you know these is because if we're in a question where somebody said
028this is developing somebody said it's effective and somebody said it's accomplished that range is varied enough that it may be worth some conversation and sometimes it's about just calibration of the question like I read it this way. Oh, I read it this way. If we talk about it, we actually kind of think the same thing. And sometimes it's in interesting enough to the full board that they actually experience the thing differently and want to talk about that. We don't have to talk about every one of these, but what I want to do is point these out in case they're in case you want to discuss like, hey, this is important enough. I think that we should discuss this. The second is the board ensuring that data used in decision-making is disagregated, culturally representative and provides
029the ability to moni monitor strategic goals. So there is some disagreement there on whether that kind of data is used. It's question 41. The board creates a system in which high levels of student learning are expected. Question 52. Each member of the board understands and respects the distinction between the board's responsibilities and the superintendent's duties. Question 31. Board members represent the interests of the entire district. Question 22. And the board and superintendent agree on the information needed by the board when and how the board receive and when and how the board receives that information. Cool. So I wonder if any of these um as you look at these are make you go >> Chris I'm just gonna I think you meant question 79 on that >> do I mean 79 >> which is the board
030and super 78 is the three colors >> 78 I'm thinking 80 80 is just two colors >> is I number wrong >> I don't I don't see any other three is correct. The question is right. >> Yep. Perfect. >> Yep, you're right. >> Yep. >> Sorry. Um, yeah, the number. Um, are there any of these that are that as you look at them make you go hm and are interesting enough to you that you would want the perspective of the rest of your fellow board members as far as how do we feel about this as a board? Do we really have the same experience here and do we want to discuss this as far as why do we disagree about these things? like I'm to be actually interested that there's three colors on all of
031them. >> Yeah. >> Um I would just for me my interpretation of question number 34. I'll start at the top. >> Yeah. >> Uh the board ensures the superintendent clear and staff clearly understand that their roles and responsibility in creating supporting culture high expectations throughout the system. So this kind of ties in the way I interpreted it along with um question number 71 where it says you know you understand and respect the distinction between the board's responsibilities and superintendent students right so it's like from my perspective we ensure the superintendent understands their role right and then that's the superintendent's duty to then make sure that the staff understands their roles and responsibilities for that high expectation that's set by the board. So that's how I interpreted that question. >> Um and so that was my
032like wondering like well how does the board convey to the staff because we are policy right >> we're you're working with the superintendent and that's the superintendent's role that the that distinction. Mhm. >> So that's I mean I don't know if anybody else has a different way of interpreting that. >> I I see that first one there is you know do do the staff taking us out of the picture. The staff understand their role responsibilities you know in creating in using the system of high expectations supporting a culture throughout the system. and we are then responsible for the system >> and I think we can actually in addition monitor how that's looking and hold the superintendent accountable and that's how we can ensure that staff are too right. So, it's kind of >> Yeah, I
033see what you're saying. It's more of a through the superintendent, they can monitor and then Yeah. >> And again, like you said, it should be just the interpretation of how we read the question. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. And that's how I read the question, but it could been >> Yeah. >> interpreted. >> Yeah. Because you can look at like, oh, are the board supposed to ensure the staff is understanding to I mean, >> how might you do that though? What is the lever that you have to ensure now? Yes, I mean you're absolutely right. Like the superintendent is is your touch point to the rest of the district, but like you have levers to also communicate directly to each staff member, but like your lever is through the strategic plan, through policy, through discussions at
034board meetings, through you know like setting expectations as well, right? like you know you also set um and hold the vision and direction of the district too right so there there are like even you know I mean there are direct expectations that are set and then there's just sort of the cultural expectations that are set by modeling as well and I think that that's part of you know there's there's sort of the the hard things and the soft things and I think that that is is partly what is being addressed addressed here is like what are the levers that you use to ensure that >> but calibration of the question is important. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we could do that by, you know, just like looking at, let's say, at priority one, the academic excellence,
035right? So, when it comes to our math and our, you know, reading scores and stuff, it could be asking questions, okay, like here are our scores. What are we going to do about it? What is our plan as a district >> to help, right, increase in the areas that we need the most growth, >> right? Right. >> Yeah. And asking questions and monitoring, right? Like that's a huge piece of that as well. What else is interesting to you that you would want to know from or talk about with your colleagues? >> I found the last one to be interesting. The board and superintendent agree on the information needed by the board when and how the board receives that information. >> I saw it. >> Yeah, >> because I I find that the the weekly information
036very helpful. I guess I wouldn't change anything about it. So that one was that one was a surprise to me. I wonder too just totally then like I'm new and so I also understand if some of these if folks are like oh it's developing because >> I'm new these relationships are new you know are we on the same page and so I think that would be one of my questions right is that in my I don't know which ones I I can tell you but but I remember that kind of a thought going through my mind because Lisa's new. So some of these and I feel strong about that they're going well, but they're still in that developing stage cuz she's new, >> right? Yeah. Developing literally means develop, right? [laughter] >> It's not a
037punitive. >> Yeah. I never I would not have thought if I had put that on any and I'm sure there were some that I put that on that was never a negative thing like, okay, we're working on it. This is coming along or Yeah. Right. Yeah. What about the data one? What about number two? What are your thoughts about how you use data in that way? Because that one as I read it is objective or closer to objective. like do you use that kind of data or do you >> we get a lot of that because when the attend the administrators report you know at each schoolboard meeting >> and that's one of the areas they're telling us about when they've done testing they're informing us about those things >> and then we have that
038opportunity to ask them questions about it. you know something's higher or lower or before we even answer the question ask a question they have explained the data and such that they have >> the routines of scorecards building and district scorecards I think does help this quite a bit because there is a regular expectation that >> you're coming with data >> um >> and I know that that is different than it is in other places so that's kind of part of the system that's already baked in which is really good when I read that just to think oh what could we do better and what I could do better and you can hold us each other and the system accountable to it is disagregated data >> so when we do bring data to you to say
039I want to see actually how this breaks down right by language by student group by race like are there pieces and maybe that goes back to the um culture of high expectations you know, it's through the questioning and the examination to say are we do we have high expectations for all student groups and are we looking to see that that's happening for all groups. So, this is causing me to think a lot and reflect about the information that's kind of presented, >> how uh the data and how it's presented and then what I would want you to hold me accountable to. Yeah, >> I think we have an expectation that this happens because this is that's good. >> What about the second to last bullet? Board members represent the interests of the entire district. What
040are your thoughts on that? I think there were a couple of developings on that. And I will say also that some for some folks the difference between accomplished and effective can be like fairly close as well. Um and you know like and I want to acknowledge that sometimes the difference between developing and accomplished is can be rather wide. So I just want to like that one I want to throw out to you is you know would you like to discuss that one? What does that mean to you? I think as a we want so I look at the cultural part of it you know because we're about almost 50/50 as far as you know Hispanic and white in our district and we understand the importance of it being represented but I don't know if we're
041really representing it. Does that make sense what I'm saying? [clears throat] >> And we're hoping maybe with our new board member, we may be able to >> enhance that. >> So, were you thinking more of like a cultural representation then? >> That's a one part of this one aspect too like the socioeconomic and so representative too, you know, it's just just as important as well. So >> it does use the words entire district and >> yes >> it's a very diverse district all across >> we got our people that are in the city and people who are the country as well it is a very diverse thing and >> we tend to I would say run into a lot of the same people. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Sure. >> So um there there is
042that factor as well. Not intentionally, but we we do. >> What about let's see what about the third from the bottom? Each member of the board understands and respects the distinction between the board's responsibilities and the superintendent's duties. So, knowing that you had a pretty high score on the roles and responsibilities piece, this one surprised me. >> Yeah, honestly, >> this this one and the one at the bottom surprised me the most. Yeah, I'll I'll say I think I was the developing one on this because >> my lens really pays attention when we go operational >> during board meetings or I hear about conversations that happen between the superintendent and other board members including myself at times. So I think I just said it all. think we and to me that was a way to
043say I think we always just need to be as attentive to that as we can and if in our minds we're saying you know should I should I bring is this overstepping well you probably are overstepping if you're saying that before you ask the question then it probably is a sign that h maybe this >> maybe I'm going too deep maybe I'm do doing this from my personal perspective rather than the board and district as a whole and it's Not a bad thing. We do a really good job of it. I'm just super vigilant about monitoring for it. So, I think >> that's why I said developing because we have room to >> get better at that. Absolutely. If that makes sense. >> Yes. Absolutely. >> I I appreciate that. I wonder what I think
044would be helpful. Is there something how what's the best way, the easiest way? What's the code word or phrase that we could have where I could say, "Hey, I think this might be in a way that's not threatening, right, for you or not awkward for me that that that takes it for what it is, which is, hey, I think we might be close here." And not the, "Oh my gosh, why are you saying that? You're not allowed to say that." Or, do you know what I mean? It would be helpful for me if there was some kind of phrase that we had that we knew in my most loving way. I would say I think this is a um that that I knew that you knew. Right. >> Do you mean in a board meeting
045or outside? >> No, I mean I think probably outside of a board meeting. I think in board meetings even from like the very first one that I came and saw before the board does a really good job >> each each other right of saying well hold on if one person kind of goes into the weeds or if has an interest in something somebody else always kind of pulls them out. I'm really thinking about conversations and there have been some conversations where I will tell people, "Oh, I'll let you say I'll let you tell me whatever you want to tell me and I'm just not going to be able to respond backward." Right? >> Um, but it would be helpful if there was some kind of phrase that I knew I could use that you knew
046that it was my very nice way of saying >> code word. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. You're overstepping here. >> Right. which with it being felt in the the best intent possible that I think that would be helpful. >> I just and I think it could >> be different for every group but I think that would be helpful for me. >> Yeah. And that's a really good point too is that we want to make sure that >> because you're in a bit of an uncomfortable position >> for sure >> being that you report to us. Yeah. And if we with every great intention come to you with something that is maybe more personal in nature and we're trying to impact budget decisions or operation decisions or whatever. >> Yeah. Some
047a way to a way for Lisa to say Sherry um step back. You're you're crossing the line here. And that's kind of what it is is it's knowing because I think >> for everyone in the room the line >> for some of us is more clear. >> Um and I think for you that the line probably is pretty clear because it's your world. And so when you can identify that we're uh >> stepping over the line a bit to to be able to >> call us back from it. Yeah. I I'm I'm open to a phrase or something that could help with that. >> I'm not a phrase person. I'm just a straight >> direct >> I don't find you threatenings. >> Yeah. >> So >> if anybody else wants to come up with a
048code phrase or whatever, but like I'm a straight shooter. So >> I would be supportive of you saying, "Ah, Sher, you're you're overstepping." Yeah. I mean that I that could be the phrase. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Does that feel does that feel too forward? >> If we all Yeah. >> Okay. >> Everybody then I mean because the closer you can just get to candid conversations and feel like there's a trusting relationship there then >> we don't need the euphemisms. We can just be >> Yeah. Yeah, [laughter] >> and I appreciate just [laughter] >> I and I I appreciate that because yes, >> most of the time when that happens, it's in my experience and not, you know, just limited to here. It's because there is something super valid, right? And >> that you're passionate
049about or that you've heard from somewhere else, right? like it's easy and 99.999% of the time it is with the best intention right and I can kind of feel it's happening because in my mind I'm thinking like roles right like wait hold on how and so it's helpful for me to be able to um have a group agreement about what that sounds like. >> Yeah. >> And does that I think overstepping is the kind of a good phrase. >> Yeah. I mean, if that if that feels authentic to all of you, then that's a good phrase, right? I mean, like, if that if that feels good to all of you, then sure, then have your then be candid and and nobody takes it personally, right? I mean, that's just that's the that's a good boundary.
050>> I mean, and there there should be boundaries, right? Yeah. >> Um I it's good to hear that you all do a good job self-managing in a board meeting too because that can be tough and that can be like I mean and I hope that everyone feels empowered to do that as well like it should never just be on the chair whoever the chair is at the time to ensure that that is >> done right. Anybody everybody should have the knowledge and anybody should feel empowered to be like let's let's make sure that we are stepping back and remaining in our governance role and remembering that our job is policy and budget and you know whatever and everybody else like hopefully also feels in a place that they feel comfortable with that and so so
051what I'm hearing Dr. Holland say is that like that happens in board meetings too. Do you all feel like that? I think I think Sher excels in that area and and I appreciate that a lot. that she's >> Yeah. Yeah. Doing that. >> Don't feel awkward. >> Yeah. You've got a governance expert. >> Expert, but [laughter] like I said, it's just kind of whatever. For whatever reason, I'm super tuned into that. So, >> it's okay. It's a strength. >> It's good. It is a strength, right? It is a strength. >> Probably has a lot to do with your profession. >> Yeah. No, don't. I mean, it makes sense that you would be with the profession that you're in. So, >> are you in compliance in some? >> Well, I'm in human resources. >> Oh. Oh,
052okay. Y absolutely. >> Anything else on this is a this is a great Thank you for diving into these questions. >> This is a good >> Sometimes this gets overlooked, but I'm really glad that you took some time on these to, you know, to not only calibrate, but really think about what these kinds of things are. Anything else in this on this slide? >> Well, do we want to just touch on all of them since >> Did we not Did we miss anything? >> 52. >> Oh, yeah. System in which high levels of student learning are expected. >> I think that's >> thoughts about that one. How did you all read that one? First of all, I wonder if there's a >> I read it that that like that is our intention but didn't know
053if it was being conveyed in like you know something like that's how other people >> also viewed it right within the system whether it be people at the district level people at the school level right um as students right I mean you don't just know whether or not a teacher has an high level of expectation for them as well and they believe in them. So I read it as okay that's her intention but is it happening and is being perceived that way >> and it and I don't know I think I probably said we're effective here and if if I were to think we were developing it could be that there might not be consistency throughout the district or the systems like some are still kind of in more developing >> stage versus others. So
054I think that could be maybe >> what could be developing is just a consistency between buildings and >> depending on the teacher, you know, that type of thing. So >> when I think of this in relation to you all too, I think that the um the main influence that you have too, the the structure that you create for expecting high levels of student learning is your strategic plan, >> right? Like that's what I think about like that is that's your north star that like obviously gets transmitted out to the rest of the district and then all the things in that over which you have influence right and um and so I mean not I'm not telling you that's what you have to think about but that would be you know one of those pieces it's
055like well what is the board's role like you're not going to implement any system but if we think about what's the board's role in doing that would be one of those things that would be one of the major are systemic in pieces that the board would have influence over. >> A lot of these tie into that. >> Yeah. >> I mean, I I thought often of the strategic plan as I was looking at the different questions and such. >> And then how do you monitor that? How do you align your budget to that? What are your policies look like? All of the, you know, the work of the board um if done well can really fit within that. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Um, anything else on on this that you want to discuss or
056feel unresolved about or have questions about on this one? >> I like this exercise. >> Good. [clears throat] Okay. Now, we're in the what do you want to do with this information? So what I would love is for you to leave with depending on what your capacity is and your workload this year which I don't know um I would like you to develop um at least one goal based on based on this and we can spend a little time on this. What I did was come with um some sample goals. Now, the the weakness in that is that I make things up based on what I see here and then we have a conversation and those feel like obsolete, right? Because then I hear you talk and I'm like, well, I should change that. But
057at least I'm not just, you know, the reason I come with something is to not just open up a blank page and say, "What do you think?" You know, >> isn't >> Yeah, it is. And Right. And then everybody goes, "I don't So, so I'll show you what I came with and then then maybe we can use that as a springboard and you know we can say okay those are terrible ideas but you gave some words um okay so possible goal areas um talking about disagregated data and what I also wanted to do is say okay what are the strengths that you identified that you can like keep in mind as you know that we can leverage when looking at these using disagregated data when possible and communicating openly to the public when and how
058data is used to make decisions because that was another one that just had a slightly lower score about you know how do we communicate to the public when and why we make decisions based on data as a board and I noticed that you know you identified a strength in aligning budgetary decisions to strategic goals. So if you're doing that like um let's just push that a little further and then communicate that to the public. Um, again, this is based on interest and capacity, but I saw this commit commit to building relationships with local, regional, state partners to advocate for district needs. Use strength in modeling positive relationships. If you've got that strength, you could do that. Um, and to reflect standard six, cultural responsiveness, developing a process to consider decisions through the lens of cultural
059responsiveness and bias, possibly involving community and staff when appropriate. So, I don't, you know, I don't know what that looks like right now, but if you wanted to also bring in community engagement, um, you know, how does that wrap into an equity lens? Like, how would you, you know, increase that? And using your strength in shared vision, focus on student learning. You've got a strength in that area, you know, using that lens, using um your ability there or and or pick something from the inongruent slide. And we just had a great discussion about those kinds of things. So, um, so that's my offering of we could springboard off of these things, um, just to give you some ideas and, um, and now I would say, do any of these resonate as a starting point enough
060to or did any of these spark ideas of their own? Can I ask a few background questions that might um just because as you were talking I was thinking about I know the district had done some work and I'm not sure if it was at the board level or just with staff in terms of an equity framework and kind of questions that are used that staff use when they're meeting with each other. we use in our administrative meetings as reminders of like here are questions we could ask um when we're making decisions about who's at the table, who's not, how you know the impact of decision- making. And so I wasn't sure if that work was done just on the staff side or if it was done >> with the questions as far as like
061formative. >> Okay. >> But not as a practice. >> Got it. >> It hasn't been workshopped. >> Okay. Okay. Um, that is helpful to know because I just didn't know. I knew that work had been done and I know what it kind of has looked like on that's on our side in terms of like using it and putting it into practice more and putting it into conversation and decision- making more, but I wasn't sure. Oh, because I feel like there is some momentum there and there have been some um work done in terms of practice that might be easy to piggy back on. >> Yeah. And I wonder if we kind of need to catch up on that. Is it word or not? Could be that a goal is to learn more about and apply
062more regular cards. >> Basically just the the decision-m practices that that are being used within the schools using those as a board to Yeah. and making it a systemwide. >> And those can certainly be, you know, we do this work all the time with boards and often the district is ahead of the board, right? And so like as far as, you know, using those kinds of questions at the district level and often what we will do to facilitate that is okay, what's being done at the district, let's adapt that for appropriateness with the board. So you're you're making big decisions on budget, on policy, on program adoption, you know, whatever. >> Like in the classroom questions won't always translate one for one, >> but what are the themes of those questions? What are the kinds
063of questions? You know, you're still going to ask questions like, >> you know, who is at the table for this? What are the intended and unintended consequences of this decision? Right? Like what are the assumption? I love this one. What are the assumptions that we're going into this conversation with? Right. As a first question and um doesn't have to be very many or else it becomes cumbersome and you don't want to use it. >> Yeah. Um but um you know taking what is already been done so that it is related and then saying like okay what's the board's role and then how can we and then you know you've got boards that like they keep them at their table and they ask their five questions whenever they're presented with you know a decision that either
064a looks small but actually is big or like the big decisions you know and then just practicing that and that could be you know and if you if you are wanting to look at the cultural responsiveness standard that could be, [clears throat] you know, a way to do that since you've already got district work being done about >> and we did create a kind of an equity lens. >> Okay. Do you use it? >> No, that's the thing, right? >> We have these resources, but they're not ingrained in how we how we do it. I mean, I think we all are mindful >> and I think being more like having it be at our table >> for every movie. >> It would be could be goal. But yeah, that's an idea. >> Yeah. looking at
065these bullets up here. I like one and three because >> two's got the best of intention, but like in my view, one and three are going to make the biggest impact for our students. >> And >> I'm not a politician either. >> I've got to just be very facitious and say Andy's got it covered with her marriage. We're good. She's married to the mayor. >> Yeah. >> Oh, I mean, >> I'm kidding. [laughter] I know, but like I feel like those are definitely going to impact your kids more like >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. I'm not I'm not a lobbyist. That's as sh >> I figured after the discussion we had about that as soon as I got here I was like you're probably not doing >> Yeah. Which and I wouldn't want you
066to do all three, right? I mean it's too much. You've got other stuff going on. Could either one or three I'm on board with. >> I am too. And and with the data one, I just feel so I think I don't feel very equipped to talk about the data like naturally. I understand it, but I'm not in the education world. So, >> you know, I'm the one who asks, can you spell that acronym for me? I don't know what that means. I mean, so I'm really good. the basic >> um so sometimes I just don't feel very confident right I just sometimes don't feel very confident talking about the data specifically so I think there's room for me just as an individual board member to just gain more competence in that area what does it
067mean >> like in my own words repeated that >> well I wonder if if that's a need for you Sherry like is that a need and and remember you're going to have a new board member as well who's going to need onboarding and depending on their level of involvement with the district or or whatever they might need a whole bunch of skilling up about like what is all of the data and I wonder if there's you know a partnership and learning opportunity there between you Dr. Berlin and the board like is there a work session to be had there on like all right some data literacy like what are we using measuring so that when we bring this like there is that you know here's all the acrony I mean like this is what we're
068measuring and why and how and you know just being when you get your new board member like kind of a primer and start there and then you're using and then you talk about like what are we monitoring and how and can we get more disagregated and what how do we just grow that. One of the things I've noticed and and I get why is that sometimes there is um in smaller places I don't want to say there's a shine away from but sometimes disegregated data because they feel like the groups that it represents are so small right we only have 680 students and when you have a specific um population of students who when you start to disagregate the data either you know aren't doing as well or you or it just causes questions like
069you want to get curious about why it's really easy to say oh well it's such a small group it's such a small end size that that the swings are pretty drastic it's pretty variable it's it's kind of more volatile because the group is so small so really what can we what can we glean from that so sometimes there is this um there is a habit to not disagregate the data yeah in small places because it's oh well it's just so few students that and and and so I think what I would say is what's helpful to do is to do it over time >> to see okay yes maybe that is a small group of 12 >> but it's always that group the the 12 kids in that group change they metriculate out of your
070system they but it's still always the same group right and so um I just want to put that out there that I know even in you know my some odd months here um one of the things I've run into looking at disagregated data in conversation is that >> that piece that it's well we're such a small end size >> that you know does that really does that really you know is it representative or or you know one or two kids swings it by this percentage so what does that really tell us well it really tells us that there's a group of kiddos that we're not fit like did we just say like let's ignore that I But I do want to just put that out there. um that that is I think we I we
071need to do a better job of presenting data that's disagregated and just to know ahead of time like to just prime the pump for me for you all that that is something that is um we'll just have to be intentional about >> um couching when that comes up because it comes up especially when you see data that's hard >> right it's really easy well >> the other thing too that is there are cases potentially where that disagregated data is like oh I know who that student is >> correct >> or that group of students I know those names >> you know and that's I think we avoid it for that reason as well as what we should sometimes >> yep >> so that's the other >> hurdle that we have t identify >> that's right
072>> where they are >> especially specific data >> yeah specific >> and >> right which which is why at some point it is non-reportable right I mean >> right >> so what are some thoughts about like you know having some sort of you know I don't know work session at some point I mean I'm just throwing out ideas to like you know get get some information about like what is the data that is used here like what are the what are the measures what are the district specific assessments and then like looking at what are the agreements as to what the data looks like how it's going to be disagregated, that kind of thing. Moving >> Chris, I really like that idea in timing with on boarding >> member of the board depending on where
073they're at with their >> the data. Yeah. >> And I would tell you, don't feel bad about not knowing all the acronyms because sometimes they just can take it make up a new acronym for the same thing. Yep. [laughter] >> I work in HR, so we use acronyms all the time. >> Yeah, >> speak English. Just >> just tell me what you're trying to tell me. >> English. >> Okay. Okay. So, we've got a data goal. Um, do you want to stick with one right now? Did you like three? I mean, is it as simple right now as like maybe using your exist maybe reviewing your existing equity lens that you haven't used in a while, keeping it with you? Did you want to do some work on that or do you want to >>
074Are you talking about one? >> Is that what you're talking about? >> Well, I'm I'm looking at So, you were interested in in what I heard was that you you liked the idea of number one, bullet number one, and bullet number three. >> Yeah. I'm Okay. >> Not three bullets. Number three, bullet one and bullet three. Okay. Yes. >> And so I was wondering if you are interested in um kind of the easy win of looking at the the framework or the the equity lens you have right now. >> Yeah. >> Maybe reviewing it, seeing about updating it, >> uh and you know having that with you, practicing using it, >> landing on the few three to five questions to run through with every >> kind of decision, right? >> Because equity lens is good.
075It's just a little wordy. It's a little >> Yeah. >> So maybe adjusting it >> or having abbreviated version. >> Yeah. >> Literally like with the agenda. >> Yeah. >> Just with us. >> That seems pretty quick. That's not a lot of work. Um >> is there anything else? I mean, these were just sort of my ideas initially. Is there anything else that caught your eye on this slide or anything else that we've talked about? I don't want to again load you up with too much um that you would want to pursue maybe not even like right now, but you would, you know, not want to forget. One thing that just came to mind for me, and again it's kind of related to Q71, I would like to see our board members take better advantage
076of training and development for board members. >> Um, and learn about ongoing learning. Um, maybe we can commit that >> every year we're going to have at least one or two board members attend the OSBA conference. um some it's really for those of you who who haven't been to a conference like that it's really insightful to hear what's going on in other districts and so I I mean I don't know if there's agreement with that but that's a personal kind of well I work in employee engagement and development at my organization so ongoing development learning is very important to me as we're representing a school district so I'm going >> I've only gone to it once but that was like my first year and I was very appreciative. So, I don't know that we need
077a goal of that, but I just wanted to voice that as something I would like to see more of out of our board is and I know it's hard because we're so busy and >> I know OSB offers a lot of online. >> Yeah. >> Not not like a live webinar like everybody's there, but they happen on Thursday, [clears throat] >> but they're recorded and >> but you can't participate. >> So, could they consider doing some of those at 6 pm? >> Yeah. you know, so always on Wednesday or it's like, well, >> I pin that >> as >> I'll sign up for it and all of a sudden now I'm subbing. So that's priority. >> Yeah, >> it'll be helpful to have that kind of flexibility. >> Does the OSBA is that annual kind
078of conference? Is it always Novemberish or fallish? >> It's next weekend. Um, >> is it once a year in the fall? >> It's always uh around Veterans Day. It always has been. They have a summer one too, don't we? >> We did. Yes. So, last year's summer one will be our last summer one that is that big conference. So, we were asked we we did a big big survey um of the whole membership a couple of years ago and one of the things that we were asked to do is not have all of our events here on the west side of the state. And so, um, what we are doing next year instead of summer board is having two regional one-day events and one of them is going to be in Redmond and one of
079them is going to be in Eugene. And um, and so instead of like multi-day events that are that are expensive, um, we're going to do like one day of board development, policy, and legal. Um and and it'll be less than like the pre-conference, so much cheaper. Um so central Oregon, which hopefully folks will come from Eastern um Oregon, that'll be much cheaper. And then one on this side, >> the one I went to was in >> Yeah, Bend got super expensive. Like rooms there were like $400. I mean, you know, just like this is not San Francisco. >> That's helpful because I think of the important, right? Like I think oh what are those opportunities coming up for folks? Um and a one day is so much more accessible. >> Yeah. Right. Yeah. So that's
080what we're doing. >> We just we just got done doing some beef more smaller regional areas to increase them. >> There was one in Salem and then >> Oh yeah, the fall regionals. >> Yes, those are nice too. >> Yeah, we do those. Um we do those every year. our legislative team goes out and does that and and talks about you know the the the legislative session and then um if the local ESD asks for it then there's an opportunity this was new this year to either get an hour of board development coming or an hour of policy or an hour of um the uh public meetings law and almost everybody who won a training wanted a public meetings law this year because it counts toward your required So, um, but that was an opportunity
081to hear from us as well. We went all around the state and did that. They're just now giving back. So, yeah. Um, but yeah, there's all kinds of ways to engage. Um, okay. Anything else that you are wanting to do? I will write these up and send them back to you. >> Okay. I will say as part of your transition plan, you have a couple more hours. Is there anything that I can help you with, facilitate, work on with you that you know, I mean, you've already paid for it. It's [clears throat] included. >> Well, I wonder with once we onboard the new member if we can have a mini >> roles and responsibilities type of >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Now, I don't want to bore all of you. [laughter] >> It's always good to
082>> refresh. Refreshers are okay for something. >> Yeah, >> that's just an idea. >> How do we support the Yeah. >> Yeah. And we kind of frame it in that way as well. I mean, I would certainly want to make sure that that your new member gets what they need as far as the roles. But I wonder if we can sort of customize it to involve all of you in that learning, you know, because you will all be mentors too, right? It's not it's not like an election just passed and half of you are new and you know, it's a little bit of a different situation. So, we might I might work on what that might look a little bit different. >> I like that idea of a work session as a >> Yeah. >>
083primer kind of or whatever. >> Yeah. It could be maybe review of how the superintendent evaluation works for that new person because that is a big chunk that we >> all year long. >> It's just to let them know that >> this is a piece of the work that we do. This is what it looks like because there is a great process. Yeah, we can talk about a big piece. >> So, I might have, you know, that might be something that like that I mean that you all would that would be a chunk that you know that you all would discuss. Um, I mean I can certainly talk about like general role of the board that kind of thing. Um yeah, why don't we connect and talk about what are the big components that you
084would want them to know in addition to like governance principles and stuff that I would come with anyway and we can turn that into an onboarding session for them. >> Is anything coming to mind that would be hugely helpful for for us to touch on a new board member? I mean already said it's pretty big. >> So do we want to look at our calendars to schedule that? >> Do you know for sure that December? >> Well, we can do it in February. >> Yeah, you'll have somebody by then. >> Yeah. Right. Do we want to do February or do we want to do late January? I feel pretty confident we'll have somebody in December. >> I think February sounds a little better just to give >> that person a chance. >> Yeah. And us
085together saying February wide open. >> Wide open. Yeah. So our regular board meeting in February is the 9th that >> in your brain. >> Would you do this as a work session? >> But I was just putting the pin in the sand in terms of like this is >> 16th. Okay. So it so we want to shoot maybe for the 23rd. I am at a board meeting. Okay. >> What days of the week? Well, yeah. What works for you? >> You know, I have meetings you're probably at. >> Your work and then your other words like that's >> Yeah. Right now, so what's funny is that like I have a bunch of February booked. I'm not sure why. Um but weird. Uh right now I have so my Thursdays except the 26th are all open
086like the 5th, 12th and 19th. for the 19th. The 12th day that you >> either one of the 19th, please 6:30 whatever time would you like 6:30? >> 6:30. >> Okay. So works next work work session is February 19th at 6:30 at the district office. >> Okay. This will be focusing on on boarding our new board member as well as reviewing roles and responsibilities. Yeah, just a great refresher for for overall for all of us. Great. We'll call that two hours. All right. Anything else? Thanks everyone. Thank you.