001the uh office work session to order. Welcome Mr. Miles to uh board first board development meeting. You're >> thanks for being here today. >> Yeah. Thank you for having me. Yeah. >> Do you have anything on the agenda before we >> Nothing on the agenda before you're up? >> Okay. Thank you. Hi everybody. Uh the last time I was in this room was maybe I don't know seven years ago. Troy was here. So, it's a little while ago you were here. Yeah, you two were here. I remember that. Um, thank you for having me. Um, we'll do introductions in just a moment. Happy to be with you. And, um, I know I've got a couple hours today. Um, do you have a board meeting after this? No, just Okay. Okay. I wondered if this is
002a long evening for you. Um, today we're going to spend a little bit of time um, going over board governance essentials. Um, now that you've gotten your uh your superintendent in place, you've done your search, this is the transition plan part where um this is the this is the training that you get after you've done your search with us, which is really to solidify that um that relationship piece, get you off on the right foot. I know that like you're not a brand new board, so it's not really about that. It's just about um getting that that established collaborative relationship in place and answering any questions that you have and um and putting together um that foundation. And so we're going to do that today. I always say to every single board, this is not
003about me getting through my slides. This is your time, not mine. And so, um, if we get to a point where you want to talk about something that's specific to you, you want to, um, ask questions, I don't say hold questions to the end. I say let's, let's talk about whatever you need to talk about as we go through. Um, so, right thing. Okay. So, I would love to go around and everybody gets to participate. So, even if you're not on the board, just how long you've been at the district. um where did you go to high school and why are you either with the district or on the board? Um so we're going to start with that. Super >> great. My name is Lisa Harland. Um I have been here for six weeks. That's
004my time. Um I went to Glide High School. So Glide is about Yeah. 20 miles east of Roseburg on Northqua. Um and I Why am I on the board? Why are you with the district? >> I um because I heard great things about this district centering students >> and that aligns just with the core value of who I am um as a person and an educator. So that's why I'm here. >> Okay. I'm Teresa Concaid. Went to high school here in Mount Angel. Born, raised, made here. Taught at the middle school 25 years. set for two more years and then join the school board and just a way to keep me involved with the school and all the in a different you know aspect of it. >> Thank you. Good see. >> I'm Sher Reedman
005and I've been on the board since Junior July of 2014. So went to high school here at K. I'm a born and raised generational angel in light. Is that we are money Jul I'm I'm on the board because I'm power hungry and yeah >> no I initially wanted to be on the board because my kids ruined school and I wanted to kind of have a better understanding of how they work and things and honestly I ran again because Irene and convinced me to run. I'm still here. >> So pay in the power to be on the board. Yeah. >> Uh I'm Andrea F chair the school board. I bet this is my sorry my fifth year. I'm on the board again. I'm also born and raised human angel. Um I'm on the board. I have
006kids in the district. I'm also a current educator about to start my 20th year. Um, and so it's just about giving back and being involved in my kids education, helping helping kids. That's what my passion is. >> I'm vice chair. uh see I'm with Angus to start my fifth year and u I did a lot of volunteering in the district for coming to the board and I saw coming on the board as a way to continue making an impact for students. Um see high school so pretend but I grew up in this area. I'm Irene and I went to high school in How to New Jersey. So, I am a retired educator who retired seven years ago after 35 years in education. Wow. It sounds like Oh my gosh. >> Yeah. It's almost as old
007as you are. >> And so I been on the board I think five years around there. Five years. And um since I retired, I thought, well, I love Mount Angel. We moved here 20 years ago. Um we live in another community, Oregon, and I thought, well, you know, maybe I could contribute something. So I I'm on the school board. >> Um I'm Jill, school board secretary, graduated from Kennedy. Um on the board, part of my job. one of the many hats over here. Um, yeah. >> Um, well, I'm Kristen Miles. I am the director of board development at OSBA. I've been at OSBA for uh nine years and prior to that I was the director of the charter schools program at Portland Public Schools. Still do a lot of that work. Um, I am also
008a board member. I am on the Tiger Tolitan School Board. Um, and I did a lot of volunteering for the district prior to that. So, um, I am only in my third year as a board member. So, a baby board member, right? It's very different than going around the state telling board members what to do. It's very different being on the board. So, I am learning as well. Um, so, uh, I'm very happy to be here with you all. Um, we will go ahead and get started, but first before we go over the agenda, I just like to do a little bit of level setting and just hear about what's going really well and what you are are facing. And sometimes those things overlap. So I love to start with what's going really well. Tell
009me about some of your current successes as a as a district. What's what's going really well here? >> Hiring Lisa. >> Yes, that's really good. >> Well, hiring Rachel four years ago and then hiring. I think honestly I just am >> so pleased that we have strong leadership in our super. >> I think you jumped in with that answer. There you go. >> Yes. >> Well, I I love especially the last year or two the attendance I mean because that's always been a challenge since co that in our schools it's been a real focus of our administrators and it has just improved tremendously. >> What's your secret administrator? >> That's fantastic. That's a huge >> they just are, you know, focus on it. They >> they're at an advantage being in a small community. So,
010I mean, I know there's some administrators they call the ones that they don't hear from or go visit, you know, go to their home and say, "Hey, we need you here." and that sort of thing. And I think them also making those good connections with the students and such. And >> yeah, >> you know, as well as the staff that's probably, you know, talking to the kids about the importance of being at school. So, >> that helps a lot. >> That's great. I would say our student success are tractable areas of success is increasing at a rate that's probably higher than most of the state although we are still as statewide you know we're low but our reading and math grades I think our district are are in good place and continue to go forward
011so that's been successful the last three years when I joined this school board I I worked in another district for many years different superintendent and I find this school board very collaborative, very friendly and not all school boards were that they're not looking, you know, some school boards that I was on the other side of the fence with as administrator um >> were not as collaborative, not as looking for dirt. And I don't think there is there's nothing to look for. We're just looking for improvement. There isn't anything here that I would say is a terrible thing that we have to fix. We just know that we have some issues that we have to continue to work on academically. We have to work on culturally. U there's stuff but it's just really I was like
012almost shocked that it was like whoa these are like people that really want to work together. This is administrators that really want to work together. you know, the former superintendent and our current superintendent all on a positive track. I know it's like a little gem with districts around us that may not have that same feeling. >> That's great. >> So, what are some of the challenges that you're facing working on aiming at? similar to every district in the state. >> And I I I have concerns about u immigration issues hitting our communities pretty hard. So I think enrollment is absolutely I'm I'm really curious to see what happens. We have so many um Hispanics in our community and I don't know what the um impact of of ICE and their intentional targets in the in
013this sanctuary state are going to do to our our district and you know hopefully it it works out okay but that that's a concern not a current challenge but >> concern absolutely >> I have a concern about it's a seessaw. You need money, >> which we continue to struggle with because you need enrollment and I think that um and and I'm wondering if enrollment would increase if we had more options for students like at the higher high school level. >> So I think that's a challenge for us. How does money, enrollment, and more options for kids all come together? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. Good context is always good. I appreciate that. So, today we're going to go over when I say roles and responsibilities, I don't mean maybe what you've done before,
014which is legal roles and responsibilities and some of that. We leave a lot of that to our attorneys. Now, as you likely know, there is that public meetings law training that everybody has to do at least once in their term. Um we've got that as a webinar that is done by our attorneys online now. You can either do it through us or from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. Um so we leave that to our attorneys. Now what we talk about now is um the really the roles responsibilities based in balanced governance. That is how you impact students. That is how you um the things that you can work toward that have a positive impact on student outcomes. And so we talk about high performing boards, the risk of low performing boards, good governance. Uh we're
015going to talk about supporting your superintendent, like what are the things that you can do to really support your incoming superintendent. We like to practice through scenarios. That's always fun. And then I'll talk a little bit about some tools for collaboration, especially given that you are a collaborative board. Like the the goal of already being a collaborative board is how do you utilize your strengths to keep going, right? If you're not in a place where we need to fix this, then it's how do you keep leveraging those strengths to just keep, you know, keep your momentum, keep going, and then always keep. So, just popcorning out. We don't have to answer every single one of these questions, but why why does the board matter, right? Like you are an experienced board. Why does your board
016culture matter? Why does your relationship with your superintendent matter? just what are your what are your thoughts on that >> board culture matters because like working for a school district who doesn't have great board culture u it it trickles down and it's felt down to this even the student level >> and so we can set that positive example of working together we might have different ideas and stuff but I mean our our goal is students first and always students first and so if we keep that at the forefront then the decisions that we make are always going to be in the best interest of our most important uh thing which is our kids. >> Absolutely. Yep. >> Or culture absolutely fans out. Anything about any of these other questions? >> Um the price trust came
017to mind when I was looking at all three of those. I think having a trusting uh culture um amongst ourselves and with the superintendent I mean it just everything is more efficient um we're moving in a similar direction as mentioned even if maybe personally we don't 100% agree with I don't know a board decision all of us are all in on moving in that direction we've been very good about being strategic and having >> longer term you know that that compass moving us in that direction and we're all in it together in a very trusting and collaborative way. So all of that just makes for a better impression on the community, less drama, which lets our folks who are doing the work focus on the work and not on the politics. So >> I just
018think it all we're we're we do a really good job of being apolitical and I think that's part of the culture and I think that really does seek out every level of our >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. That's huge. Everything you just said is um reflected in the research about like what what a positive culture on a board impacts throughout the system and I mean all the way down to the classroom, right? being apolitical, not bringing those ideals and agendas into the boardroom when you have conflict. Conflict is not a bad word. It's combat. We want to avoid, right? If we only needed one um perspective on the board, we would only need one board member. It is it is the result of all of us coming to the board table and having rich discussions that
019creates a really um positive decision. I mean like you're supposed to have good conversation at the board table. You're supposed to have really informed discussions and then Sher, as you said, when you make a decision, then everybody has the trust of the will of the board behind that to go out and support that decision and not go out and undermine it and talk to the community about like my board colleagues are ridiculous. You know, they made I mean that's not what we want, right? We want that. I mean, you can talk about, you know, I I didn't vote for this, but I'm going to support this all the way through and having that trust and that relationship to keep going. Anything else on any of these? Okay. There is uh research out there that shows
020that when the board shares the belief that all students can learn, and when I say learn, I do not mean achieve a standard on a test. When you all believe that students can learn, that single belief alone positively impacts student outcomes. And that seems sort of like a duh statement, but really when you think about the opposite, if anybody on the board, especially majority of the board, but if anybody on the board does not believe that all students can learn or can get to their level of success, their own level, then that changes the way that we vote. That changes the way we want to allocate resources. It changes the kinds of programs we want to it changes the way we think about our students, right? And so when every board member just believes that
021all students can learn, that changes the way that we vote and the way we want to allocate resources, the kinds of professional development you think are important and and the way that we move forward uh with our work as a board. And so just that belief alone has a positive impact on kids. And so just to look at what the leadership team is, right? You're the board. You've got the the authority over that big authority, the capital A authority. You set the direction. This is all in collaboration, of course, with your superintendent and her team and your community. You provide that oversight. Then there's that overlap with your superintendent who does the leadership of the district who provides that expertise to you and who puts all of that into action. um your administrative what your
022title is board secretary it's all it's all different right in every district that's a different title um coordination compliance and continuity right Jill is keeping you that technical stuff really compliant and so together the board and the superintendent does that overall district leadership that's that combination um you as a board and um and Jill like that's the governing body operations that's that piece and then um together, your superintendent and your board secretary. Those are those executive functions. And then all of you together, how effective is that leadership, right? It's this three-part thing. And that's that leadership efficacy piece. So, we do know that boards impact students, right? You as individual board members come into the boardroom together, you do your board work. That is your board culture. And you were just talking about this. I
023won't belabor that. That impacts your whole organization's culture. especially when you're in a smaller system. You are certainly not smallest system in Oregon, but uh when you've got a close-knit community and the school district is one of the hubs of the community, like that organizational culture is is really important that directly impacts classroom instruction, which of course is the thing that impacts students. You've probably seen this before. Anybody seen this slide before? Maybe or maybe not. This is it. It it needs to be updated a little bit, but all of those pink lines are major studies on um schoolboard effectiveness and schoolboard governance. Um prior to probably a lot of you have heard about the lighthouse inquiries. Um prior to about the year 2000, there was kind of an assumption that boards just sort of
024sat on top of the system and didn't really affect anything. In fact, there was a prominent researcher named Deborah Land who did a lot of research on board governance, but was vehemently against the idea of boards. Not sure why she spent her career studying a thing that she hated, but um she wrote a lot about how like we need to get rid of boards. They don't do anything. In fact, they, you know, they they work against the good of the system. And um and then uh a researcher, she was a doctoral student at the time named Marad Dela Gardell, um was just asking the question like, are we sure that boards don't really do anything? And her research came back with the answer, yes, they do. It's very exciting and small community of uh of
025researchers who studied school boards. And so that community started really looking at do they impact student outcomes? And the answer just kept coming back yes over and over and over again. and um some then some very prominent researchers just you know looking at a number of different facets cutting the data in a number of different ways like political motivations political turnover the relationship with the superintendent all of these things kept coming back with yes boards impact student outcomes. So that's um that's some of the research and some of the studies that came out. There was sort of a der of studies during COVID and then there have been a couple since. said this needs to be updated. Well, it needs to be updated since yeah, since 2020. So, what I did here is take some
026of the a couple of the major studies and um and even though these are a little bit dated, they are still often cited because they are really relevant and looked at what do these things have in common. When you overlay all of these things, what are those practices that effective boards do? And you're probably going to see yourselves in a lot of these things, right? Like really effective boards, they set that vision and goals. And you know, I'm looking at your strategic plan over there and I remember working with you all and Troy and looking through your strategic plan and at the time thinking like this was really well thought out. This was really beautiful. And setting those clear expectations, creating that vision of of student success and doing that in collaboration with your superintendent
027and your community. And then climate and resources, that's creating the conditions for success. That has to do with how do you resource that then knowing that funding is always going to be an issue, but how do you align your resources to create the conditions that that vision can be achieved and those goals can be achieved and that's tough, right? In an environment where resources are not unending and where they are cut and where we have to make decisions about that, that is hard to do. Um so that takes a lot of work and a lot of strategic thinking. Then there's data and monitoring and um I would love to hear about how you do that. Like what is your monitoring plan, right? How do you get how do you get updates on? So these are
028our strategic goals. This is how we build that into our monitoring. Um I'm sure you've got a system for doing that. Um which would be lovely to hear about. Got a moment to do that. Um cohesive teaming. That's learning together as a board. That's getting professional development together, going to conferences together, doing book stud like however you do that that positively impacts student outcomes because when you are learning together and working together as a board um that's doing board self-evaluations, whatever you do to keep that um cohesive relationship is really important. Community engagement looks different in every district. What does your community expect out of you as a board? How do you differentiate the role of the superintendent in community engagement and the role of the board? Because they do look different. And sometimes it's
029um it's very easy for board members to want to get sort of more involved in the community engagement side that really should be done by the district. This is one of those things that um that also the community doesn't necessarily know what board members do or are responsible for and what they can't do, right? And and you are all seasoned board members. So, I will say this to you. I say this to every single board. Nobody knows what a board member does and neither did you before you got on the board, right? Like people think about board members as as like they think about individual legislators, right? Yeah. You can get on the board with an agenda. You can like talk, you know, like you can take individual action. You can do individual looking at
030things like I will go out and I will fight for you as a person. And we just don't do that, right? You know that we have to work as a team and and nobody knows that and they don't come to you with like mal intent. They just think like you're here to solve a problem. Solve my problem. Right? And um and so that kind of community engagement can be hard when you maybe have to explain a lot to folks that like here's what my role is, here's how you go about engaging with the process. Like I'm going to listen empathetically and that I'm going to direct you to the correct process. >> That's co days were >> Oh, I bet during that time it's like that was >> Yeah. And you know, we got this.
031>> You got through it. We got through it. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I think if board members don't know that, that's where the conflict comes with a lot of these boards that have had their big conflicts. >> Yeah. >> Right. Well, and it and it often comes Yeah. when there are like some board members who really want to take on a thing and other board members who kind of know that that's not our role, right? >> Yeah. So, um, that that community engagement thing can can be tough. And again, it's like how you do it as a board really depends on the expectations of your community and what's going on in your board. Like if you're running a bond, that's going to look really different than a year where things are really quiet, >> right?
032Um and then policy and accountability that is staying in your governance role and and looking at u your work through the lens of governance accountability staying at that 30,000 foot level. So then we got to look at the other side too, right? When meetings are less orderly, lack of respectful engagement, um less time spent on student achievement. And when I say student achievement, I'm talking about like your strategic priorities. We know, of course, that you can't spend every minute on student outcomes. There's always, you know, something you got to like vote on who's going to replace the boiler and, you know, things like that. There are always the other things on the agenda. But really focusing your agenda on your um on your strategic plan, your big strategic u initiatives. And the less time we
033spend on focusing our agenda on our strategic outcomes, the worse that is for student outcomes. Um, seeking to advance our own agendas. Right? There's a difference between an interest and an agenda. Right? If I come on the board with an interest in narrowing gaps, opportunity gaps for all students, that's an interest. I'm looking at all students. If I come in with an agenda like I want to fire this principal, right, that's a very different thing. Um, less effective working relationships, of course, that's obvious. Less reliance on the superintendent for advice and input, right? Like the superintendent is your chief academic officer. And so when you rely on that person less as the chief academic officer, obviously that doesn't bode well. and then less focus on governance, being only vaguely aware of what's going on in
034the district, not really knowing what the initiatives are. Making excuses, in fact, blaming students sometimes, and sometimes you may hear this like, if only those kids, right? If only we didn't, you know, if only we didn't have to deal with XYZ, right? Um, micromanagement of course is is is a common thing. I will say that a rubber stamp board is also not what we want. We don't want you just to say like sure sure. We want that informed governance in the middle. When staff don't know what you do, right? And when this says staff don't know the board, and I don't mean like personally and what you do on the weekends, but I mean when staff don't know what you do, that can that can impact what happens in the classroom. And then anecdotes and
035personal experiences. Uh that doesn't mean that you can't have your experiences inform how you think, but it means that you're still representing all the students in the district. It there's a difference between I come to the table with m with you all come with multiple perspectives and life experiences. That's that's reality and that's fine. But there's a difference between that and saying, "I had this one experience with one teacher and I'm going to let that drive the the decisions that I make for the rest of the district." So, you know this, I won't spend a lot of time on this, right? There's the policy piece that you do. Your superintendent then gets to implement that policy and drive that through the administrative regulations, those ARs. you're adopting the budget and overseeing that at a big
036level, right? Like you're not signing checks probably at at um every meeting. Your superintendent then gets to spend the budget, right? Like you're you get to see I get a lot of questions about the budget. And in fact, I got one last week like Kristen, can we look at the entire budget? Of course, right? Like during budget adoption, of course, you're going to see the whole thing. After that, it's the big categories, right? Like you're just you're overseeing the whole thing at this high level and your superintendent and her team are doing that daily management of the rest of it. Um there are times where you may adopt a program, your superintendent is going to implement that program. Of course, by law, you adopt curriculum. Um there's going to be a whole process for that
037recommendation to come to you. That community engagement piece is going to be done on both sides. And then your superintendent is going to provide you data and information in order for you to do that informed oversight and monitoring. Thoughts or questions? Then >> another strength of our district is budget transparency. and I think the way that all of our board members understand the budget well and that's thanks to Christie and her >> approach. And so I just think that's the budget has been it's been a huge shift since I've been on the board to that >> deeper understanding and deeper knowledge monthto month of what's going on and that's been really helpful. Mhm. >> No surprises. >> Gives us confidence that it's going in the right place, that things are being done properly and for
038what's best for the students and that. I mean, I I feel like I >> and as an overall picture of the district's budget of health, >> right? She's done a great job of >> Yes. >> letting us know where we're going to be at in year, >> what things are impacting potential, >> you know, red and black pluses and minuses in budget. So, >> she's done a good job doing that. >> That's great. And when you've got staff that like are doing that management and the board is still sitting just on top of the system and not, you know, still defining those roles, right? Where staff is managing those pieces and board is still so that balanced governance piece, I just went through this is we don't want you rubber stamping, we don't want you
039micromanaging, right? Both of those are harmful. that in the middle piece is that informed oversight piece. So, I'm assuming that you haven't seen this part before. I don't think you've seen this in a previous training. Okay, good. So, these are those evidence-based standards of performance. And Dr. Tom Olsbury, who is literally a world-renowned researcher in um in board governance, has spent decades researching board governance and and the relationship between the board and the superintendent um through his own research and combining he's hasn't done a meta analysis but um but in gathering research from uh decades of other researchers u put together a model called balance governance which sort of is distilled down into 12 standards that when boards are working toward these standards, they are measurably improving student outcomes in their role. And it doesn't
040mean you have to get them perfect because that would be setting you up for failure. But um so I'm going to go through these and I'm going to ask you at the end of each of these slides, what do you think you're doing really well and what would you like to continue to work on? So the first one is that vision directed planning that probably looks like this. Um that is engaging your community in that shared clear focused um aspirational and yet attainable vision. Right? all of your basic big decisions are connected to those long-term goals. Does that mean every little decision is? It probably can't be. But it also means that you're regularly monitoring progress on your big vision. Community engagement just went through that. But it also means that you're actively listening to
041all voices in your community and not only pushing out um communication but also drawing in wherever you can and from as many voices as you can. Um and that feedback influences your decision, right? Um it's it's easy for the community to perceive that the board has made a decision and is just sort of proform saying what do you think but you've already made a decision and you're just asking for their thoughts but the decision has already been made. So true community feedback is not necessarily doing what what you know what somebody says but like has the board listened in a way that feels authentic. Effective leadership is your empowered leadership. So focusing on student outcomes, respecting each other's roles, respecting the superintendent's role, and holding yourself accountable for the agreements that you have made. Do
042you have a board operating agreement? Great. You have a board superintendent operating agreement yet? >> One in the same. >> Okay. Have you gone over that yet with your new superintendent or is that something? Yeah, we just approved it. Yeah, that was all sweet. >> Oh, okay. So, we've done that already. Okay. >> Yeah. So, holding yourself accountable to those things and those being living agreements and not just, you know, like we did that, that's we'll do that again next year. Um, accountability. So, having measurable goals, monitoring those goals actively, and then using data to ensure progress. Um, so how do you feel about these? What do you think you're doing well here? >> You can say all. >> I I I really do think all of them. >> I mean, the strategic plan definitely
043is monitored. Um, Dr. Harland hasn't had an opportunity to yet to present kind of where we're at like on the strategic plan, but our previous superintendent did give a regular update of like here's where we're at when it came to each one of these things that we focused on our strategic plan. >> Every administrator gives us that each meeting focuses on those things. So, >> right. So, it's not only our vision as a the district, but then also that accountability piece is tied into that. >> Yeah. >> Are they working towards that? Yeah, I would say like with community engagement provides a weekly update to the board as to what's happen during the week which is always helpful when things are going on. So as we are in the community, we are all on the
044same page as to what's happening in the community. So our responses to community members can all be kind of >> with the same the same background information. >> Yeah. >> So that's that's been helpful. And our previous superintendent, the same thing. That was always helpful, especially when we started rolling into the bond work. >> There was lots of questions with, well, why are we doing this? What are you doing? And >> yeah, >> having those weekly updates as to what was going on was has always been helpful. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, so I think the engagement piece we do really well support. >> I agree with all that you said. I was just wondering about the community engagement piece of the next steps for them. Uh I don't know how that would work with
045uh I was just trying to tie it into student enrollment or whatever. I you know thinking I mean in my mind community engagement people are really the people that I interact with are very positive about the school district but how do we reach people that are more players in the community that perhaps would I have no idea but how you would you know kind of grab those people that are on the cusp of you know what they're thinking the school district I'm always looking on how you could increase student enrollment and why would you send your kid to another school? You know, a different type of situation. And I guess getting more information somehow would be good. I don't know how the board would do that, but that would be something that probably that's the
046only piece of community engagement that I would see as the next step. Just I don't know how that would work. You know the natural assumption for me is the bond passed tremendously well. >> Yeah. What was your percentage of >> Yes. So the percentages were really great. So the community is very supportive of 60s. Yes. >> Yeah. It passed by a huge amount. Um you know the strongest >> and we have a high tax rate in our district to begin with. One of the highest tax rates in the county. So you you know clearly you could make that assumption that the community is supporting you but I'm also looking at my neighbors that perhaps voted no >> directly my neighbors voted no >> that no told me why they voted no but you know I
047would like you know and and I appreciate just getting more information from people like that you know in the future to >> Yeah. And this is where I think I I agree. I think all four think we're doing well and we're doing well. We want to maintain that strength and I think we're ready to like go deeper on some of these and do >> even more targeted >> some of the harder work to get to get to go deeper as a board without appearing like we're micromanaging. So that >> I definitely don't want to micromanage anything but I would like to know how we get more community engagement. I mean the people that are supportive of the district are super supportive of the district but you know my >> my thinking is okay so there's
048clearly an you know apparently a group that is not supportive >> for I don't know what reasons or you know and so that would be a good thing for us to figure out a little more >> sometimes the work is not necessarily the board's work right sometimes the board I know this is going to sound weird sometimes the board shows up but is is not the board's work. >> I'm not thinking it's the board's work. I'm thinking it would be the superintendent and administrative work. So, I'm not thinking we should take another project on. Please, but I would support the superintendent and administrators working on something like that to go deeper. You know, I'm not saying we should do it. >> Yeah. You're not signing up for >> No, we're not. And that and that
049is where that good collaboration comes in, right? Where the board expresses an interest and it's like, okay, whose job is is what? Where can the board support and show up or where is it that like the board board members have networks of folks that they can ask or >> or if you've got neighbors, you know, like or if you've got individual like who could I ask just as a small sample like why did you vote no? Right? Now, that's not going to give you a huge end size and tell you a lot, but like if you know some folks that there's just some anecdotal like um and you know that sounds great. You've got I mean just to remark on some of the things you said, you've got a high tax, right? Your bond pass
050like with flying colors. That's really that's really, you know, I'm always thinking we could do a little more. >> Sure. Absolutely. Right. I mean, people come and go out of a community. It's good to just keep establishing a strong base of support and keep that strong and then understand you know if there are uh Irene as you said like folks who are choosing to maybe transfer out of the district or something like that why is that you know we don't know um yeah like I would like just like a report from the superintendent or whatever to figure it out we're not yeah we're not going out there and creating anything >> and sometimes Sometimes that's hard to reach too because I don't know always that we can reach folks who aren't part of the district,
051you know, like it's it's it's hard, you know, >> you're never going to reach everybody, but it's always good to one step further. >> Sure. Yeah, absolutely. >> Anything else on this page that you would say, you know, work on? I know that you said like going deeper on any and all would be great. stands out. >> Not getting stale, just keeping it just keeping always improving. >> So the next four, standard five is very much tied to standard four. So standard four is about accountability. Standard five is really using data um because it's hard to monitor if you're not using data. And when I say data, I do not just mean student achievement data. That data is just information, right? So that can be survey data, it can be financial data, it can mean
052anything that helps you all and the district measure what growth and success looks like and what that looks like here. So using some sort of measurement to guide decisions and evaluate the impacts of your programs. Um we use a a fun term um in our department and in some districts called strategic abandonment. I love that term because when you're making decisions, and this often comes from the district as a recommendation to the board, when you're looking at the ROI on something, when the district is making decisions and coming to you with like, you know, we looked at the effectiveness of something and we're going to make a recommendation in order to, you know, to keep our commitment to our um strategic priorities. We tried this as part of an initiative that we were doing did
053not give us a high ROI. We're going to strategically we want to strategically abandon this and based on you know research or based on what we think we're going to see we're going to try this now. Being willing to to flex that and do that. Um based on the data and evidence that is being brought to you is really important. Um but but knowing what that data is and and using that also there's research that shows that boards that are willing to look at all the data not just positive but not so positive data as well in public that measurably improves student outcomes. Also talking about all of it is really important. cultural cultural responsiveness. No matter what you call a lens that you're using, asking questions about. So when we make decisions, who's impacted
054by that? Who's impacted positively? Who's impacted negatively? Who is at the table for this? Who was not? Right? What are what are the assumptions we're making when we're making this decision? Right? Who what are the unintended consequences of this? looking at disagregated data and then um ensuring that we've got um we've got voices from all corners of the district when we're making decisions and celebrating diversity in all its forms of our students and staff. Culture and climate that is about creating that climate of expectations that all students can learn. Modeling respect yourselves in your relationship. um ensuring a safe inclusive environment for all your students, all your staff, all your families, all your community members um and making uh schools a safe and welcoming place to be. and then being a learning organization. So supporting
055that reflection, professional development, not just for your teachers, but your superintendent, all staff, yourselves, and um and using that framework to guide um continuous improvement. That's a fun one. Just, you know, being willing to be in a continuous improvement cycle. But also part of that is we know that we don't stop and celebrate our successes enough either in um education. We are it's fun to be very hard on oursel like it's easy to be like we need to improve this we need to improve this. We need to improve this. We don't enough stop and say you know what this went really well. We're really good at this too. And um and so part of that learning organization piece is also stopping to say we did really well at this which is why sometimes I start
056out with that. What do you think you're doing really well? So I will ask you that again. What do you think you're doing really well on here? I think the district's come a long way in my four years, four plus years in the diversity piece. I was going to say that when I first came on board, it was just in its infancy, if that at all. And it's really blossomed. And I, you know, and I appreciate that that now there's more understanding of the diversity. There's more um working with that diversity and understanding it and with staff and students and us, you know, and the culture of the community. It's come a long way. >> Other thoughts about strengths in these areas or things that you'd like to work on? I would see number five,
057use of data. Well, we haven't got that report yet. Dr. for Harvard. Superintendent Stuggy always had a good quarter of the report that was sectioned into the different pieces and it was really clear the progress they were or were not made. So I think that has been a good thing for us as a board >> to see at a high level to be able to see the things that are going well and the things that are not and why they were not or why. >> Yeah. >> So I I think we we >> are using the data >> in in a good manner. Yeah. >> To to continue pushing most of >> so doing that taking that honest look at at data >> this is I I'm looking at the culture and climate with the
058bond and with the work we're doing in all of our buildings and with a new superintendent and a new a more fresh perspective I think we have room to be a more welcoming like facilities wise a more welcoming place for everyone and um you know it's not my place to do the walk through and identify places and I would like to see that, you know, over the next couple years just strengthen as well. Not that we're horrible at it. I just think we could >> I know that there's do better and that's where the continuous improvement perspective mindset comes in. >> Okay, last four. >> So, systems thinking is one of the last four. um right we're thinking about um not just a collection of our parts but the whole system. So when we're doing
059systems thinking we're not taking a problem here and moving it over here. Um we're thinking about how does an issue here impact the whole system but also how can a strength over here um be leveraged to benefit the whole system. and also how can we leverage our partnerships um our relationships even with other districts um but what what is the long-term impact of our decisions innovation and creativity is the fun one I often get asked how do you expect a board to be innovative and creative when you won't let us talk outside of meetings and um my answer is we all got innovative and creative about five years ago when we had to govern differently manage differently and teach differently and everybody made it through and I learned a lot of lessons and um and
060so thinking about seemingly intractable problems in a different way or new problems in a different way and finding different kinds of collaboration. I mean, it's it's great that this is a thing that measurably impacts student outcomes. And so, when you've got a safe, positive, collaborative relationship between yourselves and your superintendent, you can do this. This is one of those higher order ones, right? That if you don't have the foundation of knowing your roles, of being a trusting organization, you can't do this part yet. But you can when you've got that foundation of being a strong board. So when you're here um Sher as you've been saying like getting ready to get deeper like that's this part that's the innovation and creativity part. Um 11 is that sort of roles and responsibilities knowing where you end
061and your superintendent begins and doing that you know ethical thing having um respectful communication following your agreed upon protocols. And then the last one is um is being good stewards of the money, right? We all operate with public funds. Um and then aligning to the extent possible budgets with your board priorities with your strategic plan. Thoughts on this one? Things that go well, things that you want to keep working on. >> And 12 I think >> strengths. Yeah, they are dialed in there. I feel that. >> I'd like to say that for number 11. I I've always appreciated Sherry with her experience. She oftentimes will keep us on track when we get a little sideways and that's always helpful as a group to say, "Oh yeah, we're getting we're getting in the weeds and we
062don't need to be over there." >> Yeah. >> So her experience has always been a good thing for us to keep us >> a good direction. So >> I think we do that well. >> Yeah. >> It's not only important to have somebody on the board who will do that. It's important to be like responsive, right? right? When you've got because like you can have somebody in the board who will do that and that's great, but when you've got a board who like reacts negatively to that, it doesn't help. So like the fact that you >> not with this on Yeah. >> the fact that like you've got experienced board members and you appreciate that role that that says something about you all too, right? I mean I think that's that's great. And I think
063for me like as a new superintendent and new in the role and the relationships >> figuring out >> kind of that middle like where does one role start? where does one end >> and what's the communication look like if you're not sure, right? If you're like I don't is this I feel like should it be right? Um >> and so I just think time with everybody and I'm in conversation to be able to feel like well I think >> you know I think maybe it's this um to feel like >> I can have those conversations or what that would look like I think just takes time because I just don't know yet. Yeah, >> it does take time and there is like there is a gray area that is that is negotiated a lot, right?
064And um and some superintendents and board it will look different, right? Depending on your relationships and and context and what you need at the time. Um because there are things that are definitely there's a bright line and then there are some things where it's just it'll be a conversation every time you know just depending on on what's needed and you know if you two have been on the board for a long time I mean you will know right I mean you know that that things change and um >> and having that foundational relationship with a board will allow you all to have that conversation about hey I'm going to push back just a little bit because I really do think that's it that's at my wheelhouse and and then that conversation can go really well
065or to for the board to say we would like a little more information in this way and for that you know that conversation to go well as well because there will be times of disagreement and that's that's okay too >> and on ten I was just going to add innovation creativity >> I I don't think we get in the way of that I think having a and this is my work background coming into play, but that psychological safety for folks where if you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. It's just, oh, you learn from it. Like, like you said, strategic abandonment. >> If it didn't work, it's okay. Nobody's going to get fired over it. I mean, it's just you try something and oh, it was a huge success. Yay. But,
066oh, it didn't work so well and this is why, and we're going to do it differently. So, I think we're there and um there just more room to blossom in that area. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Right. Failures are learning experiences. Nobody set out to do harm, right? Like everybody set out to do well and that learning experience probably put in a lot of data for the next good thing. Great. Any other thoughts on this one? Okay. So, the other thing we know from a relatively recent study is that the board can impact the superintendent's leadership style. So um I won't go into this super deeply but um there was a study based on um the these standards. So standard two is community engagement, standard five was using data for accountability and standard six was cultural responsiveness.
067And the um so boards were surveyed for um their self-reported um performance on the on all 12 standards. Superintendent were surveyed for um their performance on um transformational leadership which is the most um common style of leadership that superintendents tend to use or tend to identify with rather. There are four components of transformational leadership and one of them is inspirational motivation. The study found that the better that boards performed in the domains of community engagement using data and cultural responsiveness, the more inspirational and motivational a leader the superintendent was. So when you do better on some of these standards, the better your superintendent is in that domain of leadership. It's kind of exciting. >> Super interesting. >> Yeah, it is. Yeah. So, um, and I can share with you that study if you'd like it.
068Um, so what does that look like, right? What are the takeaways? Because who cares about the theory? So, what does that look like with community engagement? That might look like advisory committees to the superintendent. Not to you, but to the superintendent. That might look like administrators and teachers involving families. That expectation from the superintendent. That of course looks like strategic decision-making. using data. You want multiple sources of high quality data. So does your superintendent. Looking at growth metrics, which of which you're doing um and not just, you know, pictures of um of um standardized tests. You're looking at gaps and opportunities. You're disagregating data, that kind of thing. Um in cultural responsiveness, of course, you're celebrating the diversity of your student body and their families. students seeing themselves in the curriculum. Being able to identify
069um what you know what a diverse population looks like and um and using an equity lens or whatever you would want to call it, a set of questions that um overlays big uh decisions like your budget um policy and other initiatives. These are just some examples of what that might look like. Any questions on that? Okay. supporting your superintendent some ideas and then I would love to hear your ideas too. >> So, do you have a good evaluation system that you have used in the past? >> Yeah. Okay, great. Do you do quarterly check-ins as part of your process? Okay, then I won't go through this. Um, quarterly check-ins, we recommend that. >> Staying informed, of course, about your strategic priorities and of course asking nonoperational questions, right? Just not getting in the weeds and
070so forth. um public facing support for strategic initiatives. So I get asked a lot like how do we support our superintendent? you know, like how do how does the public know if they have questions that we support our superintendent? And you know, I would love to hear how you do that as well. And you know, at board meetings and with constituents like publicly public facing support, like do you talk about the kinds of things like when Dr. Harland presents initiatives like are you are you just receiving information or are you talking about how you support those things as a board? Do you talk about those things with your constituents? Like does the public know that you're not just getting information but that you as a board support these things as well? And then of course
071no surprises. You know you're a board that is not new. I'm sure you you know you are more than familiar with the concept of no surprises. Preparing your superintendent and her team for the big questions that you're going to ask at a board meeting, then asking them at the meeting as well. Um supporting her time and energy, focusing on just a few performance goals per year and not like seven or eight. Publicly celebrating successes. Again, we don't do that often enough, but when you have a big success like a podcasting, which I'm sure you celebrating celebrated that success, um, ensuring that you do that and then of course a cohesive board provides stability and consistency with you. How else would you support your superintendent? talk about it and >> yeah that's how I brought that
072in I think oftentimes like if there's a message that goes out right that's typically when I tend to hear from uh my community about things and and then you would ask oh did you yeah like we know what's going on and and hear some things that are happening that you might not see per se that are really good things for you know for the restricted. This is, you know, really going to help and they or, you know, they're very responsive and and stuff, you know, just kind of supporting that background when our community asks us about stuff and say, "Yeah, we were completely informed." >> Yeah. >> And and knowing about that. So again, that that trust process back and forth is is key that that our community knows that that we're informed about what's
073going on. And having, you know, information at a higher level, not in the weeds, but a higher level can then help us support with what's going on when we talk to. >> Yeah, absolutely. This is something that I do every time I get a communication from our superintendent. I send an individual response of thanks or gratitude or acknowledgement. And I think that matters. >> Yeah. >> Um when she's, you know, when they are sending an email to the whole ward, >> I think silence can be a bit we we can create our own realities when there's silence in response to something we send. even if it's the weekly check-ins, but I think consistently just acknowledging and and you know recognizing what we get from the superintendent >> is a nice habit to develop. >> Yeah.
074>> So, >> I don't know if you agree. >> No, I I appreciate Yes. I get um Yeah, just to be like, "Oh, yeah. Somebody somebody saw it and it's fine if not, but when you say that I welcome you. I know people in higher leadership roles, it can be very lonely. We don't know how people are reacting to some of the stuff. So, as board members, we can >> I don't know, be a little >> thoughtful about that. Not barrage superintendent with meaningless messages. >> Just kind of five responses now. >> How would you like to be supported? That's a good question. I mean, you know, I look at this and I think, you know, there I'm so lucky because there is such a great structure that the previous superintendent kind of left for
075me that in terms of, you know, the strategic plan, in terms of a district scorecard, in in terms of quarterly progress updates, in ter of an evaluation, like there's so many structures in place that make it really um helpful um to kind of keep going. Um, and I do feel like I appreciate um that I feel like the board is really supportive both with the community but just like individually too to say, "Oh, you know, >> it's a really hard job and it can be really well made. We really appreciate um the work or just like the the positive um assumption of intent, right? like I can imagine as the school year starts, but even things like with the bond or you know different um people are going to have different questions about things that
076happened or didn't happen and I feel like they always have a a like a positive default of oh I'm sure like there's more information or I'm sure there's a reason why that is or and so I really really appreciate that. Um and I do I feel supported by them >> and I know you know school hasn't changed yet but I don't anticipate that that will change either. >> Right. So yeah >> and I think a lot of it like I look at the goals up there for for instance like the structure or the format or the template I don't necessarily plan on changing right and so it will be you know progress measurements that kind of we'll keep an eye on and then three performance goals. um around that and so I mean I think
077I benefit from the work that the board has done before and the last superintendent has done as well. >> What is your um what is your evaluation system like? How do you how do you do it? >> So you use >> So there's a leadership standards. >> Okay. >> Um and there are progress updates on those kind of with evidence. So I would >> Is it our book that you use or is it a Okay. So is there a tool that you use? >> Yeah, you helped us develop it. >> Okay. >> Yeah, >> I helped you. >> Um, >> did I do that? >> OSBA did. >> OSBA. Yeah. I'm wondering if it might have been >> you know it's been a while since I think >> you helped us create our equity lens
078for our protocol. >> Yeah. >> It's been a long time. you an OSBA. >> Yeah. Okay. I just wonder if we were using our tool >> because that would be a little bit quarterly checkins with the superintendent reporting on progress and how things are going and then it kind of all >> right. Okay. >> Great. Yeah, port check is nice because it does provide evidence of like each of the things which is nice to see. It's like >> I'm doing this then this is the evidence for that and then I think it goes month by quarter by >> quarter. Yeah. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> So it's nice to see a progression and >> so yeah >> and we are intentional about as a board asking for focus on >> one to three. We keep it
079very good, >> targeted and specific and that >> that's worked well. >> Good. >> And there's a timeline associated with that so everybody knows like when to expect that or both in terms of the evaluation but also the progress of the >> Yeah, that's great. That's perfect. >> Yeah. Some boards will be like, "Well, these are it's only five things that they have to do." But I'm like, no. I mean, we know that superintendent's job is going to be a thousand things in the year anyway, right? But as far as the evaluation piece, that's really it's really tough to have a lot. Anything else on this that you do that you can think of that want to chat about because the wisdom is in the room. Well, I think a habit of ours as well,
080and this is the no surprise, we've already touched on it, but Andy mentioned if we hear something, um, yeah, we'll loop the superintendent in to avoid surprise. And it's a two-way street about letting us know so that we don't read about it in the paper, that type of thing. So, um, that's really helpful. Yeah, >> absolutely. Have that. >> Good. And we all have the mindset of right, we want our superintendent to be very successful because when the superintendent is successful, the district's successful and anything that we can do to help support the superintendent in that >> that's our that's our goal. >> Y great. Thank you. >> Okay, let me get some fun scenarios. You're going to ace all of these. >> Is this an open? >> No. Yeah, you're going to ace all
081of these. This will be this will be fun. Okay. So, uh I'll read these and you can see those up there. Everybody hears and learns in different ways. Okay. An upset staff member is also a parent approaches you at a grocery store and asks if you can please help them with a complaint about their child's teacher. Their students teacher has been assessing or grading them punitively and the staff member believes it is retaliation for a tough parent teacher conference from earlier in the year. They mention they have tried connecting with the teacher and have been unsuccessful and now they fear retaliation in their own job. >> Do you as a board member do >> refer to the chain of command? >> Right. They've got to go to the principal first. >> That's that's an operational
082thing. let the superintendent know about the conversation involved but yeah refer them directly and and be clear that you know what it's not >> that's not one of our roles as a board member we are here you know to govern a big picture and these types of specific situations you know they really need to be handled >> you can empathize what they're going through >> you can empathize with what they're going through but when it comes to procedural things that's let's Yeah, absolutely. >> I've had a similar scenario before. >> Yeah. I wonder how you talked to the teacher. >> Had you talked to the PR, you know, and said, "These are the steps. It's not my job, but this is what you could do." >> Exactly. Right. >> And and it's been very very
083rare. if they push back and they really want to talk with me, I will bring in the well, you know, I I really need to stay as neutral and and it's best for me to not know about all the details because >> if things go wonky and it gets to the level of of being a decision by the board, I need to be, you know, I mean, it that's happened maybe twice in my here, you don't want to >> go there with people, but I mean in the back you really did not, Right. >> Me in I need to be >> right. >> Not >> Yeah. >> It's not where I am. >> Where I am. >> Yeah. Well, and you said also loop your superintendent or something. And like I'm Is that something you
084would like also to hear? >> I don't ever want to speak for you. >> Appreciate that >> for sure. And I think too I mean I have a ton of confidence that that would happen. That it tends to be right how the board operates. Um, and I appreciate the confidence in, hey, there's a process and maybe not knowing the details or how it's going to to turn out that I trust the process and the people in the process that it will turn out. Yeah. >> In whatever way it needs to. So, >> and I would not go directly to the principal. I would always >> Yeah. Right. >> Right. Because it's not Yeah. Right. Exactly. It's not your job as a board member to go to the principal. >> Right. It's the parent >> but
085I see our support direct them to the process. >> Absolutely. >> Do this route first, >> right? >> And I'm out. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> You're all going to ace it. You'll just yelled out. >> Okay. How about this one? A board member posts a question on Facebook asking for input on the math teachers. >> I guess you had that. >> This was on. >> This one has several layers. I like this one. She states that her daughter is upset because of the way the teacher runs the classroom and wants to know if others are having the same concerns. She makes herself available for questions by text, email, and social media. She goes to the superintendent and shows them the concerns, wanting something to change immediately. She also emails other board members for their input.
086>> She tells the superintendent that if they do not deal with it, she will bring it up at the next board meeting. >> Andy, you need to deal with this. Well, it's interesting because we as board members individually, we have freedom of speech. We can do things like this as long as we're not presenting that we're a member of the board with that authority. So, that's kind of, you know, a sticky slope, but then um and going to the superintendent with your concerns about your own child's education. If you're doing that as an individual parent and you're not trying to use your weight as a board member, >> that's okay. >> I mean, um, but then Lupin board members. Yeah. I this this board member needs to be advised that >> Yeah. >> Well, the
087board member needs to follow the chain of command. >> Yeah. Right. And that's and that's like if >> if that were a situation >> where we were looped in, you would say, "Okay, as a parent, >> next change of command is you need to go talk to your child's principal." Yeah. You have to follow the change of command just like any other >> parent. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, there's that one. Okay. That's one thing, right? We as board members, we still get to follow the process, right? What else? What else is in here? >> The the group email is a thing. >> That's that's a big red line. >> Yeah. That is a line that's been crossed. >> Yeah. That >> you essentially just had a public meeting without having a public meeting. >> Yeah.
088>> And it's about what? >> It's a potential personel. >> It's about a staff member. >> So there's that. >> And it up at a board meeting. Nuh-uh. >> So then there's that, right? putting a staff a complaint about a staff member on the agenda. >> Yeah. Whoa. >> Yeah. And then what about going So going to the superintendent also, but what are they doing to the superintendent too? >> Demanding something changes, right? So they're Yeah. They're also Yeah. They're individually directing the super concern is fine, but not the demanding of >> I don't know. What do you think about your concern as a benefit? as a parent if you did it as a parent point of view. Well, >> I think so, right? The whole thing is wrong. >> Well, just going first of
089all, as a board member, you should not be talking about anything about education. >> Absolutely. So, the first the first part is wrong to begin with. So, and if you get sucked into that as a board member, anything to do with school, any accusation, anything as a board member, you just stay out of you would maybe tell the commute, you would tell your superintendent that there's which I have told that there is a lot of traffic on Facebook about XYZ. >> There you go. Yeah. privately, not there's no response on because that has happened in this this small community that you know you know >> it's happened there's that traffic and so therefore all of that other stuff >> you know it becomes a superintendent >> to deal with you know and yeah you just
090it's easy to get sucked into which people have in this community but you don't want to do that >> yeah you just cut it off. >> And I I really think it would be the if it's the board chair doing this, then I think the vice chair needs to talk to the board member, but the board member needs to have it >> the board and yes, the board have a private conversation and maybe if it's a real big issue, it could be an executive session or whatever, but you Yeah, you just walk away. I mean, you know, publicly that is nothing to do. >> Could it be an executive session? >> No, because it doesn't qualify. >> That doesn't qualify. >> This it it gets very uncomfortable. Has to be in public. And it you
091just you call it out and and you have a candid discussion about it if it rises because there have in my tenure there has been a complaint against a single board member and >> it we had to have a public meeting public hearing about it and it went fine. It was really uncomfortable and so let's not have to do that. >> I would get so it's interesting for the most part. Okay, not a lawyer, not legal advice. I say this probably 20 times a day. Um, there has been some like back and forth about whether or not a complaint against a board member can be held in executive session. For the most part, the advice is generally not. I think sometime like and you should always get an attorney's advice. >> That is correct. you
092would get the well it's not even our job to get that at the superintendent's getting the attorney's advice on how to handle it is an executive session thing. It depends on the level of >> depends on the depend on the >> on the is because what you're doing is you're sucking in a lot of people. You're sucking in a principal. You're sucking in other staff members. That has to go through an attorney or some place >> that can say yes this is public. This is not public, but you should we me as a board member, we're not making those decisions. We are saying >> my our dear superintendent >> has, you know, she makes the call to the attorney and then you begin that process and we kind of step away from >> because that
093that Facebook thing has happened in this district. >> Social media is a slippery slipper. I think this board member can be strongly encouraged to go to the next conference to really learn about I mean honestly maybe there's a work session coming up that we plan to >> what does it look like so this is my kind of >> question in terms of like what does it look like >> for a board member I have an imagination of like as a board member let's say you have a concern And maybe it's not a specific concern about a staff member. Yeah. But kind of what what does that look like and sound like? I can imagine for me just saying, you know, like I'm happy to hear the concern. I guess especially if it were personnel, it
094would be different because I would just be like I'm a listener, >> right? But there's >> right >> no information going back the other way. Like what's the what does that look like? What's the gray area? What's the >> So if I'm a board member and I have a concern about anything or like >> you're right the topic content would matter, right? >> Okay. Yeah. Because of traffic on if I if I saw traffic on Facebook and it was about some of this stuff, I would just bring that up to the superintendent and say there is traffic on Facebook and this is what I understand. And that's where I would leave it. It's not my responsibility to it could be just gossip and the superintendent listens and does nothing or it could be to the
095next level of where there's some serious concern that there's lots of stuff bubbling up in the community. So that becomes >> the super and it just depends on the piece of information that you have acquired and no you shouldn't come to the I don't perceive you should come to the superintendent every five minutes and you know go with the you know as a board member you have to use some discretion on what you're you know talking about but yeah >> so and then the topic I can see would change it's the topic I mean because you know in I mean there There was a lot of conversation about an administrator that we had prior to the administration that we have now and the community was in uproar over this administrator and there was a lot
096of traffic and I would hear all so I just went to my superintendent to Rachel and I said you know I know you can't say anything back to me but I just want to tell you no matter where I go no matter what I see this is what's going on this is just a heads up and and That was for her to deal with. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> You know, and but that was again, you know, and my rule of thumb was it wasn't like one person when you're hearing it from a lot of people in a lot of different areas, then you're going, okay, there's something going on here. You figure it out. You know that what happened is current that administrator is no longer here. So, it was but it was
097an uproar in this district, you know, on Facebook, in the community. So, >> Mhm. >> it just it's it's up to the superintendent, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And I think that's and that's what we would recommend is that like if you're hearing bubblings out there, it is almost always never your job to solve it. But it is a good thing for your superintendent to know, right? And that's the right thing. And and you know, Dr. Harland, you tell me if this is not what you want, but that like I want you to know, superintendent, that this is what I'm hearing. And then it's like, yeah, I just want you to know, right? It's just to know about it. It could be just gossip or it could be something super real, >> you know,
098and and it's a two-way street because the superintendent has also Rachel nicely has sent in an information line that she has sent to us that said just a heads up this may become a situation and it wasn't for us to deal with the situation but it was a heads up. It's a two-way street. It's that too. Yeah. >> And and as a board member, if you have if you're also a parent, it's really okay. Like in my tenure on the board when I had um I think of an example specifically with my son in high school and something that happened >> um and I went to the principal at the time and I was very clear about saying I am not here as a board member. I'm here as as an ex parent and I
099just wanted to share I I just this isn't sitting well with me. I just wanted you to be aware. I don't need you to take any action, but I just want you to be aware. And I would do the same thing with Rachel. Um, I walk my dog around the school grounds. And when I would see something that I think, ah, facilities, maybe maybe this can be taken care of, and I would just call it to again as a community member just walking. This might be a safety issue. I just wanted you to be aware of it. Not using my board authority, you know, is always very clear that way. So, to me, that's okay, >> right? >> Do those things. But this definitely does. Yeah. Yeah. I know that for me, this is not
100right or good. I'm not recommending this, but I know that for me, like as soon as I got elected, I just stopped posting on Facebook at all except to be like, here's my kid on the first day of school, you know, or like I went hiking and here's a waterfall, you know, like that was it. I stopped posting >> because like >> that's what I do. >> Any opinions other than that? Like I didn't want No political opinions, no nothing on Facebook because yeah, it's a real slippery slope. It >> is a slippery slope. It's rough. Um, great conversation about that. Um, and just as a, you know, this one just connected to the last one about the emails piece. Um, I know that you all know this about being, you know, non-communicative essentially outside
101board meetings. Um, and just a reminder that, you know, everything that we put in writing is still a public record. Whether or not it can be disclosed or discoverable as a matter for an attorney, >> but, you know, we're still creating public records all the time, even, you know, when we text in our board role, when we emailed in our board role. And so it's just important to be mindful of what is said. Even if an attorney one day says it's not discoverable, but if you get a public records request, it might be. So, um, even if you're not breaking public meeting law, it's important to remember that. >> And this is this has actually improved a lot in my tenure on the board. We have a a school district email. And I I need
102to always remind myself only use that school district email for school district business. I mean, sometimes there will be legacies going to my personal email and then I I might even be I will just always for it onto my school district email and it's so much easier for discovery because you don't want people your phone. >> Yeah. Which can be, you know. Yeah. So, >> but it's it's not really that big of an issue anymore, but it was hard to >> Yeah, >> absolutely. Um I won't go all the way through this but you know looking at um you know your policy BBA is your board powers and duties together and then your policy BBAA is your individual board for authority and responsibilities. And what I always say about this um is it's not that
103you don't get to manage, it's that you don't have to manage. We don't want to manage. We've hired somebody to do that for us. Um again, you're not a new board. I won't go through these one by one. Sometimes new board members really want um this individually broken down. >> I will tell you too that help your help in this for me will be helpful because my natural inclination is going to be any conversation that I have kind of individually like that I'll think oh yeah like if you think that's important I I'll want to think that's important or you right. So I think in the beginning it's hard to for me to say, "Oh, okay. This might be an idea or something that's important to Sherry to hold myself kind of back from acting
104on that because that is Sherry as an individual board member, not necessarily the will of the board." Yeah. Like and so I need to allow there to be space for the board to decide as a group. Yeah. But in the beginning, I'm going to need some help because my natural inclination will be to say, "Oh, okay. Yeah. What do you how do you Yeah, let me do all of that, right? And >> and I need to leave space for the board to discuss and decide as a body. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> What they, you know, either want to do or um you're a great problem solver, >> you know. Well, want to be responsive and you think, oh, okay, yeah. And until we get three of us agreeing that this is action that we want
105taken, >> yeah, >> it's really not action that have to be taken. And that's hard in our discussion sometimes to know, >> right? >> Um well, and one of the important points I will point out in BBAA is that um and and this can be a you know something that is negotiable but like can be a tough line to draw. It says request information through the superintendent which is you know you can do that but requests requiring substantial expense will be submitted to the board. So there's you know this piece which is like look you know you can request something um from Dr. Harland that like maybe she's got at her fingertips right and then like she's going to send that to you. But if it's something that she says, "Look, that's going to take
106me off my job." Or somebody else is going to take off their job for a day, right? Like then that request really needs to be brought to the rest of the board so that at least three of you can say, "Yeah, that's a good use of those that time and resource." And and then that, you know, that needs to be okay that she says, "I need you to submit that to the rest of the board." and gives you a temporary not yet right and so there is that relationship piece where you don't have to jump in and be like okay >> totally and I'll need to take a breath >> like you submit that to them >> right >> to the rest of them for >> it will be fine >> yes >> and I'm
107sure I won't need to but if I do right >> I'll take a deep breath >> well and sometimes board members don't don't know right like don't know that like what they're asking for like you wouldn't necessarily know what you're asking for is like that's going to take actually three days, you know, like we just don't have that or something like that. Yeah. >> So that's a that is a negotiation sometimes. >> Um and the rest of these are probably >> so the may visit schools to gain information. I just want us to be, you know, thoughtful about that. You want a school tour? I say go for it. Just in >> clear that firstendant >> and probably the principal as well for sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. The principal and superintendent. That's where you want
108to kind of >> Yeah. >> Sure. Make sure >> maybe just don't show up to, you know, which we won't do, but there's like the worst thing. It's nice for us to get a sense of what's going on. Just plan ahead. >> Just show up, >> which I know we wouldn't do, but it's nice. >> That's like my existence. my other job. >> Board members just show up. >> Oh, board members always used to show up at my whatever. Yeah. I'd be like, "Okay, wipe everything off." >> Right. Your whole calendar. >> Your whole calendar. >> Sure. Come on in. And like let's chat for a couple hours. going to cancel every >> um the rest of these things, especially in BBA, I feel like we've gone through. Um probably nobody's signing contracts on behalf
109of the board, and if you do, you'll be personally liable. Um you can add to the name of the board only when authorized by vote of the board. So if you've got some sort of expertise and the board says yes, please go ahead and pursue that then you can um identifying your opinions as your own. Uh requesting legal advice. The board chair in your situation is authorized to obtain legal advice if needed before the next meeting. So yes, that those are your individual responsibilities and authorities. Okay, here's one. The board is having a discussion at a board meeting. Community members are interrupting the board, accusing some board members that they are not putting kids first with their decision. During public comment, people are regularly going over the three minute aotted time and identifying people by
110name. When a board meeting is being disrupted, is there a process to follow? What are some tools or processes boards can adopt in situations like these? And how can the board make the community feel heard without engaging in dialogue in a board meeting? Have you had tough board meetings? >> Yeah. >> I don't think in my years >> in my 10 and it wasn't when I was chair. It was somebody else was chair and they didn't stick with the three minute. >> Oh, >> it was >> that's hard. you lose control of your meeting >> because yeah, you have in my opinion having an agenda that is public and and tells people what's on the agenda >> and then when people speak during their three minutes, hold them to that three minutes. Um, and then
111if something comes up that the board wants on next month's agenda because of what we heard from the community, that is very transparent and that allows folks who didn't know that was going to be an agenda item to actually show up and be privy to that discussion. >> It's not an equitable way to lead when we allow community input to dominate the meeting in my opinion and not follow the protocol. As soon as you try to cut somebody off and you haven't cut other people off, then you're opening up yourself to another. >> You don't want to look like you're >> right. >> That's right. Inequitable. >> Right. >> Yeah. And how come the board might experience >> and it's really uncomfortable the days when people would come and speak to the board and and
112really we >> the board chair can engage with this is our board is the board chair is the one engaging with the like telling them when it's time and if >> if there's any followup but um >> it's a little awkward when somebody like bears their soul to you and then you're like thank you. >> Yeah. and then they will move on and >> that's the way it's structured, right? And um so I think acknowledging that >> acknowledging the discomfort I mean that's okay >> tools I think I think one tool that we can use as a board if things are getting out of control is just a journ >> and take 10 minutes and have everybody cool offense and then >> come back I don't know you ask people to submit right if they
113if they can prepare with the statement and they are over their three minutes that you can ask them to submit the their their statement to the poor secretary board. So >> that's a good that's a good idea. >> And I think if people know beforehand or ahead of time like hey you're going to get three minutes and the board isn't going to engage in a discussion you'll you know it just makes it a lot better if people know what to expect because then they're not like what are you going to say about that? >> Yeah and I had to listen I have a script. I was going to say cuz I have a model script as well too on your phone. I remember three minutes there and you have 30 seconds left. >> Yeah, >>
114unfortunately at that >> I did get pretty good at that. got really good like giving that that full disclaimer in the beginning and >> and it really did help that that transparency acknowledging the awkwardness but just like that >> and it's been I think is always on our agenda. >> Yeah, there's a paragraph there. Yeah, >> it's been a long time since we've had to have community engagement every single now have a visual timer that counts for them visually as well. >> Yeah, >> we had not had a lot of community engagement though. That's what I'm really, you know, if you really go back to the beginning where you're looking at more community engagement. We've had a couple people since I've been on the board that have had the three minute rule. Not very many,
115but we haven't had community engagement or even staff engagement from associations to and that is it was it's a big surprise for me on >> Yeah. you know that we have not had that either it's going really well or they don't really you know so we haven't had a lot of that >> and when if if during public comment um they they do call out a staff member by name that has to be shut down immediately because we aren't that's not the purpose of that time um >> so >> well that's said within that statement that is right before too so then we can always refer to that statement That's good. That's good. >> So, how about this one? In the previous scenario, the previous scenario described a situation in which the board meeting was
116being disrupted and some community members were criticizing the board's decision as not putting kids first. Some board members agreed with this comment and stated their intent to vote against the motion in front of them. Others felt the proposal was the right decision. All board members felt that they were indeed putting kids first but found themselves in conflict about the potential outcome of a decision. So how can the board address its conflict while finding common ground? How can the board ensure decorum and respect during disagreement? And what are the benefits of disagreement at the board table? Well, I think the benefits of the disagreement is you might not have taken a perspective that somebody else has, right? and and you can really learn a lot when you have a disagreement, right? There's there's an appropriate way
117there's a good way to have a conversation, right, and disagree with somebody and still be very respectful, which unfortunately I feel as a nation we've lost. >> But I think that we as a board do >> Yeah. >> uh really well because we do respect other people's opinions on on this board. Um, and so I think that that um the respect during the disagreement has I mean I feel like we're in a good spot that we we know that >> um if you know somebody were to disagree with me or I were to disagree with them, they know that >> it would be coming from a respectful angle and not to put them down or or it be like that. So >> they always have the option too of tableing the vote. >> Yeah. back
118to it next time if we need more information to vote and getting more information >> and when we haven't had this yet um I have had experience uh when you are having a discussion that there's a lot of back and forth and a lot of voicing of opinions making sure that we have a protocol for letting everyone have a chance to speak not interrupting one another which we do well but I've seen some boards like when they want to weigh in on it they'll you know, do this and then the board chair knows, okay, sure, you're next. And then, you know, things like that if we get to that point, you know, protocols like that can be >> Yeah. >> just to make sure that everyone has a chance. >> Yeah. >> All the things.
119>> Yeah. That it's not the loudest or the longest voice in the room. >> Yep. So, have any of you ever felt like in your and I don't know if you've ever had, you know, a what you would consider a debate um on anything, but have you ever found that you have changed your mind on something during a discussion because of a perspective that somebody else had that you've learned from >> in a board meeting? In a boardeneral in a board meeting, >> in a board meeting, it hasn't been a situation at that, but like in general. >> Sure. in general your board colleagues like in a in a discussion have you ever altogether >> been you know had a discussion that was not and this is too strong for word I'm trying to find
120a word not heated but like where you all came to the table and maybe disagreed on something and that you found yourself changing your perspective on something because of an opinion that one of your colleagues had or multiple colleagues >> well we can't go into detail because they happen in executive sessing session Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. That's I mean >> what a great question though, right? I guess you >> Okay. Right. Can you have a really robust conversation, a lot of different perspectives and alter your, >> you know, thinking based on more information or a different perspective? Yeah. >> Okay. How about this? Board member receives several phone calls from people in the community complaining because the superintendent has non-renewed a well-liked teacher. The board member is familiar with this teacher, believes they've done
121a good job. Board member indicates to community members they will personally investigate the situation. Goodness. >> While discussing the issue with the superintendent, the board member requests to see all of the information relevant to the dismissal. The superintendent denies the request and the board member states they have a right to this information. >> Stop talking. the same post on social media, >> right? It's the same one. Yeah. >> I like Shar's answer. Stop talking. >> Yeah. I mean, this is this is sometimes a confusing I mean you got the right answer but sometimes the assumption is that well I have the right to personnel information but you know >> you do not do >> until and unless there is an appeal that comes all the way up right >> and then you may get information
122that is relevant to the appeal but you don't necessarily get everything right like you would get information relevant to the appeal but not upon your request >> right >> and even Then um the board's role is to hear, you know, from the person who was is being terminated. >> As long as the superintendent followed the process appropriately or policy, >> the board would be hardressed to overturn decision. >> You're the court of appeal to that. >> Yeah. It's really about the process. Did they get through process? Did the superintendent follow the >> Yeah. >> policy and rules and all the things? >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> I'm going to skip some of these because you know all of these and I'm going to skip this one. It's about superintendent evaluation which you've already got. This is
123and okay just really quickly. Is it board work reviewing applications interviewing selected candidates and making recommendations about hiring a teacher? Okay. Does it change if I say a coach? >> It does change if you say superintendent. The >> you'd be surprised. Sometimes I say, "Hi, I'm your coach." And people go like, "Well, maybe >> establishing the strategic priorities of the district." >> Yes. And reviewing enrollment reports to keep track of the number of students in the district. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Any scenarios that you want to talk about? >> Okay. Um, any new insights? Anything that you want to say about these things? >> Well, you've already done it. And I am curious if Dr. Harland has for our benefit as we're forming a relationship and forming all of this work. I I don't
124think so. I mean, I think I have some things that I look at and I I wonder about. We're small and I've seen really big. You know, Salem's a huge district, right? Alb somewhere in the middle. And so, I think I'm kind of calibrating based on like size, context, like what's something I've seen before, what's something I haven't seen before. Um the the financial reporting is something that I am curious about just in terms of like how do we give the board the level of detail that they are used to and still make sure that we aren't putting out there or publishing things as a public record that we shouldn't. So, that's been I think something that I've seen early on that I've had questions about or I've just I've never seen in a board
125packet the the level of detail. So, I think, you know, looking at kind of all of the things that's probably the one thing that comes to mind for me that I I think I have questions about like what's the just right >> um what's the right dispersement? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Dispersements. um and kind of what that looks like and what that looks like in a small place. I think that's probably the biggest question I have and and certainly like even if it looked exactly the same, it there would be things that we would need to on the district side kind of do differently in terms of not either redacting information or or something. Um, so I think for me that's kind of probably one of the biggest like just wonderings that I have
126or noticings about like, okay, you know, what does this look like or how how does this need to look? So >> yeah, the biggest question, >> why does it matter? Why does our relationship with you matter? It makes my whole life so much easier. >> Um, so much easier and better. And I appreciate your your comment. I It is right. Like we all know these jobs are kind of lonely jobs. So I appreciate every single one of you when we met has said, "Hey, like if you ever need anything or just to reach out or if you're like, you know, um, and I appreciate that and will absolutely do that." um just because it it's you know I think it it gets hard to be like okay am I thinking about this or it can
127just be lonely. So I just appreciate the um the level of support and like just the offering of help which I just always always get. So that's good. >> Um let's see. You've got a dialed in superintendent evaluation. Do you do board self assessment? anything like that. >> I don't think we're good at that at all. >> I mean, we may be okay, but we're not. We can improve on that. >> I would recommend doing one. Um, I'm not here to sell services. We do once, but if you don't want to do it through us, um, I no matter how you do it, I would recommend doing something consistent every year so that you can measure your your progress over time. do something that measures your performance in certain areas um every year and that
128allows you to set goals that are specific to you. Of course, you have goals that are um related to your strategic plan, but do something that allows you to set goals that are related to your own performance and your own professional development that are very specific to your board. If you want to talk to me more about ours, ours are related to the um 12 standards that I went through. But no matter what you do, um it's really good practice to just assess your own performance every year. You've got a board operating agreement, board superintendent operating agreement. Don't need to talk to about that. And the other thing that we recommend are communication protocols. Is that something that you have? >> Tell me what does that mean for you? So that could be anything from,
129you know, like notification when they're going to go to schools or anything from like, okay, what if there's an emergency? Like what do you individually expect? Because it would be really hard to be like, I expect a phone call. I expect a text. I expect an email. You can't do all of that, right? Um, or what if there's something important that's not an emergency or is there a weekly update or is there you know like or do you meet with everybody quarterly or you know those kinds of things like >> are there common expectations for the kinds of communication that occur between superintendent and board the board as a whole or individual board members. So you know we just say clarity is kindness and the more common your expectations are like the better your superintendent
130can like you know coales with you as a whole and still have individual relationships but know that like like I don't have to memorize what somebody expects over here and what over here you know so just like making that that easier. So setting some communication protocols as well >> and I think we have them. I just don't know that we've written them down. I was just going to say that I'm when I joined the board, I was pretty impressed with the communication protocols of weekly updates um you know quarterly updates also communication of any type of situation in the district that was always please either give me a call >> or please make an appointment, you know, Jill, make an appointment to see me. So I think we could write them down but I think
131we have a lot of different methodologies to do this with >> you know >> I think yeah I think writing it down but yet like there's a weekly update that's written that's an expectation >> yes >> very important that there's like a quarterly there's a quarterly meeting one or one so I appreciated that um that Rachel met or you will continue to meet with all of us on a quarterly basis you know, every 3 months >> and then um you know, a former superintendent and I think you'll probably do the same if there was something time sensitive. >> Yeah. >> That would say please call me or I'm going to be calling you individually. Exactly. >> Or look at your email. Please check your email. Yeah. So if it's time sensitive. >> The other thing
132is a really good communication. any type of communication that went out to parents, >> um, you know, or the community from the superintendent, we immediately received a copy of. So, >> that was a really good thing. >> I appreciated that, too. So, you knew when the parents knew that some situation happened in the school and they had a lockdown or something. So, yes, >> things like that. Okay. >> I recommend just putting that all in one place. That would be great, you know. Yeah. Um I'm not going through this because you don't need it. I talked about that process and outcomes. Um if you again if you want to talk more about that. Um you talked about superintendent operating agreement. You've got a monitoring plan. >> Great. Um let me ask you this. What is
133the highest leverage tool your board can use to impact student outcomes? What do you think that is? >> Hiring the right. >> Yeah, it is. >> It's just fresh on my mind. So, >> yeah, >> that's a great answer. >> Any other thoughts? >> For me, >> yeah, the highest leverage or tool your board can I actually look at the agenda. I mean I look at the whole board packet beforehand and if there is any data I go through it a couple times and you know so I come prepared to ask I think hopefully questions that could help me to inform and actually maybe even push the system a little more you know um which is that's how I look at that I could help with impact student outcomes also be you know um >>
134the other thing is I get this even with the new superintendent, Dr. Harland. Well, what's the new superintendent like? My response is always it's we're I actually said that we're the best we were very fortunate to get one of the best people in the state >> to be and be very positive and very supportive and that's how we that impacts student because that's the community and we are very fortunate to get you. So you know so that is another way that the highest leverage you can do is just be prepared with your board packet ask questions and honestly you know just from my experience don't pester the superintendent. There's a big difference between pestering, you know, every time of, you know, coming in uh or for a question or whatever or making an appointment and
135just, you know, know your role that you're not just a drop in person that's coming in to, >> you know. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> I don't know. That was it for me. >> It was very good. >> Good. >> Um I'm sure you know our website. You probably don't need to be shown how to poke around on our website. Okay. Um, sign up for our news clips. We uh we do um that's us. Uh we do news stories every day that are all over the state uh with um news from about education. There's our team if you want to get a hold of any of us. Yeah, there's Vince. >> Um and then Okay, what should we do next? you've got um four more hours of work with us. What would you like to do?
136If we can't answer this question in the next five minutes, that's fine. But um do you have any thoughts about just initial thoughts about what you would all like to work on or would like facilitation in? I don't have any necessarily I if you were new or didn't have a bunch of tools what I would say is communication protocols monitoring plan board superintendent operating agreement things that you don't have since that you have all of those things like what I will say to you is what are the kinds of things that you either want to dive deeper into that you would like some facilitation on or some work in or what's coming up for you that you would like some facilitation on or could benefit from third party from a car and disinterested third party.
137Um, again, if you want some time to consider that, that's fine. But what I wanted to offer is if there's anything you want to sort of like toss out and throw around right now, we could do that as well. But I wanted to open that up for discussion. >> Yeah. I'm wondering what you guys think about just like facilitation like or just guidance from Kristen on like a board self assessments. We feel we don't have a board that would that be a part of the honest communication protocol just getting something like >> to me it sounds like you got the communication protocol stuff. You just need to put it in a document. I mean I'm happy to look at it. Yeah, >> I wouldn't want to like count that against your hours. So, if you
138want to like write everything down, send it to me. Like that's fine. But I could certainly do your board self assessment if you wanted. >> That's something you wanted. And you can certainly talk without me in the room, but that would >> that's where my brain went to you. than I think >> I know we Yes, you strongly recommend that we do this and we're we're we're such a strong board and seeing the evidence with the board self assessment. I'm just saying and I mean I just don't have >> I'm also saying it for like the benefit of myself because you guys are so cohesive and get something in place for the future. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's good. >> Yeah. I do myself that structure and process like this is how we can convince you
139to run again. >> Absolutely. >> No, that makes sense. That does make sense to get into the habit now so that no matter how no matter who is sitting around, >> this is what we do. >> I like that. That makes sense. >> If that's something you would like, that can be the next thing that you do. Sure. Okay. Okay. And you may find also that there are, you know, a couple of areas that I mean, you may find that you're really, really strong in many areas. And you may find that there are a couple areas that you identify that you're like, "Oh, these are the areas where we'd like to dive deeper or do so far." >> Yeah. I think once we do that assessment and we figure it out, then we'll know what
140else we need. >> Exactly. with them. Use your powers for that. So, one step at a time. >> That's what that's meant to do. That's meant to either provide I mean the first time you do it, it's meant for a baseline, right? Like, and this is how we level set and then this is what we need to do. Okay. We can plan for that. We can set dates for that. >> Perfect. >> Do you have to do a calendar something that we could set dates tonight? >> Well, I certainly can. instead while everybody's in the room then we typically don't do a work session during September because it's a busy month but back to school as well as our big event October fest so October November any any thoughts I kind of like doing work
141sessions on a Monday's good >> I gone the week of October 20th >> okay >> I'm going to Charleston Are you will you be back the 27th or No, >> I will. >> Mondays are also um my board meeting night. >> So, but if we're alternate Mondays, we shall see. >> Is the 27th available on your Monday? >> October October 27th. >> Um yes, that is not I don't think that's my Monday board meeting. Let me just make sure. That is that is right. So yes, and that's far enough away. So what I will do is send you out a link, give you like a week to fill it out, and then I need like a week to put it together and then we can meet. So um October 27, >> this is probably 6:30
142back to our regularly scheduled program. >> Okay. So 6:30 to 8:30 that night. Okay. And the district office. >> Yep. right here in the >> room. This is a different note. She's still on time here. >> Oh, that's sorry. I'm in I'm in ESC that night. I apologize. >> Sorry. August 27th. >> Sorry, what? >> I'm sorry. I'm grant that night. >> Oh, I missed that. >> Does it work? different night that week that we would like to >> I'm gonna >> let's do Halloween and we don't have to worry about >> week 28 open for me. Do we have sports scheduling? [Music] I don't Could you all do the I will be traveling back but I may be able to do that. >> We don't have to do that. We can pick it up
143every week. >> Well, let's see. Convention. 29th or 29th. No, that's pretty far out going in November. >> If you're going to do portal, you know, >> it's getting pretty far out. >> Create process. >> Hang on. Could we do the >> Could we do the 30th of October? >> Thursday. That works for sure. Okay. Of October, you said. >> Yeah. Day before Halloween. >> It said come in your costume. >> There you go. >> Okay. That would be wonderful. >> It works for everybody. Yes. Thursday, October 30th. >> All right. I will get back to you with when I'm going to send the link and all the instructions. It will be a little while. I don't want to send it to you too early. >> Okay. That's okay. >> We appreciate uh being able
144to schedule the next one. >> Yeah. >> While we're all here. >> Yeah. Thank you. That makes it a lot easier. >> Okay. Wonderful. Thank you everybody. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Pleasure.