001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Can you hear me? The little icon above the Litchfield Elementary School still is muted. So, I can't hear. Thank you. Next we are going to move on. We We no public comments, so we will move on to the adoption of agenda and consideration of consent agenda. I will first see if we have anyone that has any items they wish to pull. Mr. Meeks? >> None for me. >> Mr. Owens? >> None for me. >> Ms. Moran? >> None. Thank you. >> Ms. Wallace? >> None for me. Thank you. >> I don't have any either. >> I'll move to adopt the agenda as presented. >> I will second. >> Having from Mr. Meeks at a second from Ms. Moran, I'll call for the vote. Mr. Meeks? >> Yay. >> Mr. Owens? >>
002Yay. >> Ms. Moran? >> Yay. >> Ms. Wallace? >> Yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Next, we will move on to our discussion items, which will be department survey information and next steps. This will be by Dr. Dozier. Who is going to give us a nice great long presentation. >> Good evening, Madam President, governing board members, my admin cabinet, and anyone else that might be tuning in from home. Um, tonight I'm here to present our stakeholder Oh, this is not the right presentation. >> Yeah, it seemed like a repeat when I also looked at it in the agenda, but so this will be interesting. >> We apologize about the mix-up, but we are going to continue to move forward and we're going to discuss the survey information about departments. Dr. Dozier, go ahead.
003>> Thank you, Madam President, governing board members. Thank you for allowing me to present our district department surveys. All right, so the purpose of this presentation is to provide the board members and the community a global view and analysis of our 2025-2026 department district department surveys and then also share with the board our and the community our next steps from leadership using this data. Oops. Going the wrong way, I think. I got it turned upside down. There we go. I think we're going to have a winner now, guys. Here we go. All right, so our survey data is definitely important part of our strategic plan. It's the way that we're able to get perception data from our employees so that we can respond to many of our our success criteria in our strategic plan. So
004kind of explaining a little bit of the why and the how, soliciting feedback as I shared from our employees is very important to allow all of our departments and our admin cabinet to review our employees perspectives and use any trends to make future decisions. How we respond to the feedback directly impacts our capacity to provide that high-quality customer service directly to our employees. What is learned from the surveys will also be applied to the department level and as an admin cabinet, areas of improvement are addressed using department scorecards to include measurable goals and action steps. In addition, the strengths found in the surveys are also used to celebrate with our departments to make sure that they know that these services are appreciated and to maintain those high scores based on employee perception. So, last year
005um the surveys were given in April 2025. This this year we did it in May 2026, so same approximate timeline. Um we did get feedback on the way that we presented the surveys last year that it was um a lot of links that people had to click click on separately and then also those three open-ended questions were part of each individual link. And we got a lot of feedback from our employees that it was way too much and took way too much time and it was way too confusing. And so, we took it back as an admin cabinet and really talked about how we could streamline the feedback. And just to remind the board and community that may be watching um our questions have remained the same on our department survey, but we have varied
006our templates. You know, we had one point used Studer. Um we also used Qualtrics and then now um we're using Google Form, which we used last year as well. So, just really making sure that we provide the best participant experience so that people can really provide their honest feedback for us to act upon. So, for this year the specific changes we made is instead of thinking of all the surveys as separate links, we thought of the employees on what feedback would they have based on their experience as an employee. So, basically what what departments provide customer service directly to a certain group of employees. So, by doing this we're able to only ask them to fill out one survey that incorporated all the departments that serve them and then one time those three open questions,
007which is what what, you know, what's working well, what needs to be improved upon, and who has been helpful. So, um so, based on that we thought about all of our employees across the district. Um I have a spreadsheet if you would like to look at it I could put in Friday update, but um as an admin cabinet we looked at all those different employee groups and we talked about what departments provide them directly customer service that they could get feedback directly from their own personal experience. Not something that they've heard about, not something that someone else has talked to them about, but honestly from the experience that they had so that their perception perceptions represented their experience as an employee. So from that, we created five unique surveys. We launched them for these following
008groups. So there was one survey for all admin council and lead. Just to remind the board and community, admin council is all of our educational leaders and all of our operational leaders, as well as our principals. And lead is all of our principals, assistant principals, and all of our Ed Services department. So our instructional coaches at the district level as well as any kind of educational director. Office managers were another unique employee group that deal with a certain certain departments in a unique way compared to other employees. Registrars and attendance clerks also were a unique employee group based on their experience. Certified staff and then um classified staff. Oops. Oh, it's got a little delay to it, huh? Okay. So just to show you on the next couple slides, I'm not going to read all
009these to you, but but I just want you to to see that based on those five unique employee groups, these were the departments and the individuals that admin cabinet determined that would be who they would be giving direct feedback on based on their own experiences with those departments that give them direct customer service to do their job. So admin council lead, certified staff, office managers, registrars, and classified staff. So when we analyze the participation over the years, I did go all the way back to 2018 and 2019. As you can see, we had 201 employee 201 participants. I will share that currently we have just over 1500 employees. I'm imagining 1819 probably a little less than that, but I don't have those numbers. I just know what we have now. So 2018-2020 264 participants. 2020-2021
010207. 21-22 276. 23-24 302. 23-24 354. 24-25 is 300 and in this most current survey was 427. I did want to make one comment on 24-25 is I had to go back and estimate that. We had over 800 responses, but those were responses could have been duplicated by the same exact employee because each survey was its own link and we just allowed employees to pick whoever they wanted to give feedback to. So I did have a little asterisk there before, but I just did want to at least be honest that that data actually is something that I had to go back and approximate. Um but as you can see, definitely got more feedback from more employees of our just over 1500 employees for their participation. I also say in the years that we use Studer,
011it was similar to that. You didn't know how many duplications. That might be how many participants, but the same participant could have filled it out for multiple departments. So So I really believe if if we continue at Litchfield to do the surveys in the way that we've established this year, we can really get an accurate count of exactly how many employees are participating in our department surveys. So, these are the questions. They have not changed since 2018-2019. So, we asked them to rate accessibility, accuracy, attitude, operations, and timeliness. And I should comment, too, it's a five-point scale. Um it's strongly agree, agree, um neutral, disagree, strongly disagree is the like Likert scale for the survey. So, I've given you a breakdown just of the last 3 years. And as you may remember or may not
012remember, um we decided to start in 2024 because that was when um Dr. Davidson, that would have been the first year in as far as establishing a baseline for the department customer service, you know, as he began to lead the district. So, as you can see, 4.2 coincidentally is all the way across the board. is not a mathematical mistake. I double-checked the math. So. But as you can see, definitely a upward trend in that data overall. So, now here I broke it up into the different departments, just like I shared with you based on those five unique um employee groups. Um they um had the opportunity to give feedback for the departments that they directly get customer service from. So, again, same kind of comparison, 2024, 2025, and then of course the most recent spring
0132026. Here's the next page of the other departments. And then I did want to point out this slide, um um CFO Vaughn asked me to do something a little different with this year's surveys. Prior, um business office was basically grouped into two categories. One was business office payroll and finance. One was um business office purchasing and warehouse, like together. And then um there was no accounts payable. So this year we decided to separate them out since we were targeting those five unique employee groups that really allowed us for those that have direct customer service with these departments to be able to give feedback. So for example, everyone has a paycheck. So right? So everyone would give feedback on payroll, but not everyone may um be dealing with accounts payable. Right? If I'm a classified maybe
014aid in the classroom, I might not have any idea who runs accounts payable. So I've never had that as a customer service um as an employee. So I think it I believe continuing to recommend to do it will really give CFO Vaughn's departments the ability to really break down the data and give, you know, really look specifically at the customer service within each of those departments of the business office. Okay. So I'm going to pause just for a second and see if you guys have any questions so far on the way that the five unique surveys were created and implemented and then any questions on the trend of the actual data for each department. >> Mr. Mix? I don't have any right now. Thank you. Mr. Owens? Yeah, none yet. Thanks. Ms. Moran? No, I
015have no questions on this part, so >> Okay, perfect. All right, so as >> Ms. Wallace, did you have any questions? >> sorry. You're right. >> No, no questions. >> Okay, all right, go ahead. No questions. All right, so as I stated and now on each of those five unique employee groups, all had the opportunity to give open-ended answers to what's working well, what needs to be improved upon, and who has been helpful. So, these are the top trends and I bolded the specific thematic analysis that I was able to pull out from the comments in this section from our different employee groups. I also broke this down by those five unique groups just so you know, to help admin cabinet really know how to provide the best customer service based on that customer's role.
016But for tonight's purposes, I'm just giving you the global of all the themes across those five unique groups. So, communication was actually the strongest theme. Especially around responsiveness, transparency, proactive updates, and accessibility to both district leadership and departments. Transportation was also mentioned quite a few times. The significant positive improvement, particularly regarding proactive communications and that operational efficiency. Staff repeatedly highlighted strong supportive relationships and customer service for such departments as HR, payroll, purchasing, transportation, and special education. Collaboration and teamwork across departments and campuses emerged as a major strength. Specifically citing things like being part of their guiding coalition or PLC or being part of a mentor or just being part of a group that's trying to accomplish a goal. So, that's what I'm defining as collaboration and teamwork. And then professional development opportunities was also a
017positive trend on what's working well. And then special ed leadership was also a trend in the data of what's working well for um recognized as improving substantially from years past. So, how about I go through the who's helpful and then I'll pause and then we'll do improvement? Okay. So, this year I did break this data apart for you a little more. This is new. In the past, this was just something I shared with the departments because then they could give a a rocket or a key out to staff and recognize them. I thought this data was really helpful to analyze as a district because when people specifically had to say how people were helpful, it really allowed to see some themes in how we treat each other and also the customer service that our departments
018are providing. So, although I don't have the individual people up here that are being recognized, I did look for the themes of what people define as being helpful. So, I thought it would be helpful information to have. So, the first one is responsive and accessible support. This was actually the most frequent um um when when someone commented about how someone was helpful, it was specifically linked to the responsiveness, accessibility, approachability. And then just some highlights from that, quick turnaround for questions, availability during urgent matters, consistent follow-up when needed. Um and then the overall leadership believing the leadership across our departments are approachable and willing to help. And then I just provided some comments just to give you some context in how this theme was developed, what kind of comments that would be categorized into this
019theme. Strong communication and collaboration. There were many responses um emphasize appreciation for leaders and teams to communicate clearly, proactively, and professionally. Um strengths include transparent communication, cross-department collaboration, clear guidance and direction, and keeping staff informed. And then just that last comment there is just valuing the departments for their collaboration. Um there was a lot of things about our fireside chat that really, I think, helps instill this is because we increased those fireside chats where all our department leaders are available for all of our principals and site leaders, and allows them to have really quick accessibility, which has been a really nice feature that we added. We added a few last year, and then this year we had so much positive feedback that we increased how often we do that with our leaders. And then expertise
020in problem-solving was also commented on people that were helpful. So, um areas that were most frequently praised, HR, teaching and learning, technology, transportation, special ed, Title IX, and then finance and purchasing. So, they employees, um when they gave someone a shout-out or said they were helpful, they talked about, you know, "They gave me great guidance. They helped me navigate through a really difficult situation. They supported me. They gave me practical advice." You know, things like that that would link problem-solving. And then commitment to student success, this was also a theme in talking about those that were helpful. So, just really that um recognition that students were the center of what's best and supporting teacher growth, instructional practices. And then just that pursuit of continuous improvement. Like, you know, "My instructional coach really helped me get
021better at Kagan strategies in my classroom." Like, things like that would be like examples of of um you know, that commitment to student success to help my students be more engaged and learn. And then positive relationships and supportive culture. So, um this was a lot of the talk about, you know, people talking a lot about their building leaders, but also department leaders. Just talking about the professionalism, encouraging, and uplifting, and just, um you know, just the feeling like people are valuing and caring for them. All right, so I'll pause there before we get started on the themes for what needs to be improved. >> Mr. Mikes? >> Nothing for me yet. Thanks. >> Mr. Owens? >> Nothing. Thanks. >> Ms. Moran? Okay, I would ask a few questions now cuz maybe I should have asked
022them before, but anyway, here we are. Um okay, so participation-wise, we have 427 staff members out of 1,500, so a little less than a third of that. Um what do you anticipate that does to the fidelity of the data? So, like historically, there was a time that we had some what I would call toxic positivity going on in this district. And although I love the numbers and I love that everything's improving from a statistical standpoint from the one through five standpoint, um tell me more about what we can do to get more participation, which I think would help with the fidelity of the information as well. But you tell me what your thoughts are on that. >> Sure. So, to kind of tackle your first question about the number, right? Kind of that just that
023processing with alongside of everyone about it is obviously 1,500 employees is a far-off number to 400. So, um even though that still is statistically significant as far as being able to use it as as good survey results, um I do agree with you getting more employees to give their voice. One of the trends I did see, and this is not scientific by any means, but this go round, cuz I was looking at the surveys as it was coming in and make sure everything was working, and then first initial surveys were actually much lower. So, what I observed is the first people that filled out the survey may have been the ones waiting for the opportunity to give some feedback, critical feedback, cuz they maybe weren't happy with their experience. Um, and then as the survey
024continued to be open, um, then you saw the trend line improve. Um, so then those that maybe um, maybe their principal set up a time for them to take the survey, or their department leads, you know, survey, then you then you started seeing those scores, um, come up, um, as far as averages. Um, so as far as getting more people to take the survey, we have the employees with us. So, if we can figure out a way to operationalize and and um, a better participation, I think it's ideal. And one of the things, the way that we did the survey this year, we're actually able to see by those five unique groups where our lower participation was. And so, um, and I will say classified staff, um, was one of the lower individuals that participated
025comparatively. So, um, to the other departments. So, um, so I think >> Yeah, do you think that's a matter of their supervisors maybe not allowing time for that? >> Perhaps, you know, if they're in the classroom all day and all they have is a lunch break, you know, do you know, do they have access to technology? So, really digging in deep now that we know who those Even though we, um, the departments don't. Just so you know, I kept my commitment and admin cabinet's commitment that we aggregated the data back together, and so departments can't tell what unique employee group it comes from, but Dr. Davidson and I can. We can see the five unique. So, now that we know that, we can see who didn't participate and dig into the why. Do they not
026have time in their schedule? Do they need to stay in clocked in for a little longer to be able to participate? Do they not have readily accessible to a computer? You know, you know, it was in English and Spanish, but is there some other barrier that's, you know, keeping them from even knowing the survey is there? To to, you know, knowing that it is translated, but if they don't even know it's there, then they're not going to have access to it. So, so I really hope that understanding now who did and did not participate by those five unique groups, we can really tackle and get bigger participation. Cuz it would be great to even be at 50%, right? Cuz I think that would be a much better much stronger statistical significance when we're looking at
027trend lines. >> For sure. We don't want to make it mandatory because then you're going to get some garbage in there, right? So, you you do want to hear from people who have a bone to pick and those who have something a praise, you know, to to provide as well. >> Okay, so >> Can I sorry, can I just add to that as well? I think one of the things that I've been proud of over the last few years is just our ability to take this information, share it with our team members, and talk about how it impacts the daily of those employee groups. And I I do think the more we do that in in our apple pie tours and when we're in front of our staff members, so that they realize that their
028voice does matter. I do think that will continue to increase the participation when people realize we do something about what they say, whether good or bad. >> Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I think that the like you're saying, I think in the past there's been speculation of I don't want to give feedback for fear of some sort of retribution. And I think the longer this administration has been in place and you have built those relationships of trust to say, "We really do want your feedback because we want to get better. We want to have that cycle of continuous improvement." So, um I have another question. What was there anything else you wanted to say about the participation piece, Dr. Doocey? >> Um no, I think I I as long as you're Did that
029answer your questions? >> Yes, I'm good with that. My other question is about the three open-ended part, right? So, what do we think about the fidelity of that information? Meaning, if they only had one opportunity, but they had multiple departments they wanted to mention, do we think we're maybe not getting as much feedback? Or I know you were saying that the previous version was like too many open-ended questions. So, what do you think about what you're seeing with that piece and the fidelity of that? >> a great question. So, I will tell you that um I do believe it limited the open-ended feedback because how could it not, right? Cuz you're But also, I think you had more people participating and what they did recognize and what's working well and what needs to be approved
030is on the top of their own mind, right? And their current role. So, it might not be as much data, but maybe it is their highest theme of their own experience that they're reporting because they're not having to think of something for transportation and technology and, you know, so they're filling out the survey, they're thinking about all these departments cuz it was just one question after another for each department that they that serves them. >> Okay. >> And then at the very end, so it really was whatever was at top of their mind to write. And they wrote, they did write. So, um you know, there were people that spent a lot of time writing multiple things, but there were people that just wrote one good, one improve, you know, couple people who were helpful.
031>> Okay. >> So, do we think because that sounds like then, yeah, you're kind of saying what's top of mind to me now. It's not very likely you would have a note from last September that you were holding on to. So, would it be helpful at all to get more um quality feedback if we did the survey more than once a year to our not to the students and all that, but that particular survey. >> Yeah, absolutely. We could we were just actually talking today about having some type of measurement for belonging and we were talking about maybe adding an additional survey question and then how could we maybe gauge it at the beginning of the year and then measure you know those those action steps so leaders are trying to build belonging which is
032also attached to employee perception of their employee you know their experience at work, their engagement at work, right? So, how can we maybe do a pre and a post? >> Okay. Okay. Um and you know I want to get to what needs to improve because that's that's more my jam. But, the only other thing I want to say is that the special education has been a specific focus of the board and of Dr. Davidson. So, I'm extremely pleased to see that that is improving and that was a big deal for us. So, obviously you're going to put that on the information that we're getting here for your evaluation coming up too. So, Okay, that's all my questions for now. >> Thank you. >> Ms. Wallace, did you have any questions or comments? >> I did
033not have any questions or comments. Thank you. >> Ms. Moran stole my thing about special education. Mr. Coin, you're obviously doing a really great job in that department and having such a big jump in your first year that sometimes doesn't happen, right? You you see a shake-up with things and sometimes people are unhappy that first year. So, to see that that has increased so dramatically is a true testament to him and to our team over here that picked him to take over. So, kudos to them. >> Yes, I agree. Definitely a success. All right. So, again open-ended responses, what needs to be improved, communication and transparency was the top theme. Um so, it really centered around concerns with delayed responses to emails and calls. Lack of proactive communication, inconsistent messaging between departments, meaning things like
034I heard this from one department leader, but when I asked another department leader, I got a different answer. Um limited transparency around decisions, budgets, staffing, and procedures, and the need for clear expectations and follow-through. Um another theme was specifically about um in regards to the service from human resources and payroll concerns. Um references comments included things like slow response times, confusing or inconsistent information, payroll inaccuracies, concerns with professionalism and employee treatment, and lack of clarity regarding contracts, raises, um paid time off, and compensation structures. Staff support, morale, and respect. Some of those common concerns included things like feeling undervalued or unheard, which if they filled out the survey, they're already being heard, but um need for stronger support systems, um concerns about morale, um frustration regarding decision-making disconnection from classroom realities, and um a lot
035of that frustration decision-making had a lot to do with um CSAs as well. Um desire for greater trust, collaboration, and visible leadership presence. Another theme was budget, staffing, and resource allocation. Concerns included budget reductions and staffing decisions, larger class sizes, which was interesting to me cuz that was not what the board voted for, but I'm thinking it was because of the tightening the tightening of enrollment that we we did agree upon. Um surplus processes, resource surpluses is um like when you collapse one position, what happens to that person, and then we didn't have a lot of surplus, so I was really surprised how often this was mentioned to emerge as a theme, but I think it was their colleagues advocating as well. So, resource limitations, construction timing, and campus upkeep. Um this was specifically about
036things like the Bear G work, the solar panels, you know, disrupting the parking lot, the flow, you know, really thinking was there a better way to do that. Um and desire for greater physical um fiscal transparency and planning. So, just around budgeting, which we all know we've learned from this year's experience, and we do have plans for ahead. So, professional development training. This was also an area that our staff asked us to make improvements to. Um more meaningful and applicable professional development, better technology training, cross-campus collaboration opportunities, more teacher voice in curriculum and instructional decisions. There were still a lot of comments about the process that um for supplemental approval. That was kind of what this was about. Um improved onboarding and system training for new staff was also something that they considered part of
037training. Like, as you get to the new district, just that process, wanting it to be improved. Safety facilities and maintenance. Um delayed maintenance responses, campus um cleanliness, facility upkeep, construction disruptions, safety systems, like the walkie-talkies, Centegix. Um as you know, we were struggling at Centegix at the beginning of the year with um with some of the screen takeovers. We worked with the company, got that remedied, but it did take some time. So, I mean, there was some frustration there. Um HVAC, leaks, plumbing, and campus ground concerns. The ground concerns um really rotated a lot around the field um conditions. Um technology system was another area that our employees are asking for us to look at to make improvements. So internet reliability, devices and printers, and as you guys know, we've been working on both of
038those um with some real good solutions coming around the corner. Parent Square account confusion, technology support responsiveness, and then system training needs. Specific things like Synergy, um Promethean boards, um Duo where they have to log in and you know, it sends another alert. There were still people that were confused about that process. And then um a big theme was CSA assessment testing. Many comments, you know, excessive testing concerns, CSA relevance and un- usefulness, loss of instructional time, misalignment with curriculum and state testing, and then inconsistent implementation practices. What that last bullet means is um some schools were pulling small groups to give the CSA, some you know, some classes, little little the littler people, they were doing it one-on-one, so they're just you know, just wanting it to be consistent. We weren't using the data
039for comparison this year, but that is something we'll need to look on in the future when we do want to compare it. So, all that data, now what are we going to do with it, right? And so this is just some really high-level action steps. Um so as I shared with you is each of our department leaders have a scorecard, and so their scorecard will have specific goals that they want to accomplish for their department next year, and then they'll have specific action steps. So some of these things will be goals on their own standing with specific action steps, and some of these are just plain old action steps, right? That they're going to take to improve our employees um experience. So um so that's the number one action step right there is we are
040going to make sure our departments focus on those places they need to make those improvements. So, continue to work and develop internal website for staff with those standard operating procedures. We have a website right now with standard operating procedures. Um just to continue to um build that up and reinforce it as a place to go. Um continue the fireside chats. As I mentioned earlier, we bring all the department leads and our site leaders together and they can sign up. Um they sometimes they get signed up to go see a certain leader. But it really has helped that face-to-face communication on a set routine. And then onboarding and training adjustments for new teacher induction. Um we're actually retitling it welcome week. Um some of the feedback on that onboarding piece that we've gotten is is there's
041we just give our new teachers way too much at one time. So, we're really prioritizing the things that they really need to know um to start that first day of school. Continue to work with the new teacher mentoring building out the year two of mentorship with our national board certified guiding coalition, which I've already shared with you before. They're the folks that are doing the CSA work to look at those assessments um to realign those and to make sure um we address um the concerns from teachers about those assessments. Um we're currently exploring a change in structure for the Superintendent's Advisory Council to be more advisory, allowing voices in decisions. So, currently it's a place where staff can bring concerns to get questions, but really not this is what we want to try or this
042is what we want to do or this is what we're thinking, what do you think? And being of true voice from the field. So, I know Dr. Davidson and Ms. Contra have been working on that format to really make it more of a decision-making body to help with morale. Um the value proposition of Superintendent's Advisory Council back to teacher organization and back to school training for all members. The value proposition um for Superintendent Advisory Council, we also did it with our admin council. Basically just looking at um what do we say yes to as a district for budgetary needs, and what do we say no to? And if we don't know what our value is that we bring our students beyond the Litchfield Learner, right? Cuz you can pretty much attach everything to the Litchfield
043Learner. Um but what is it that we stand for? Do we stand for interventions? Do we stand for career exploration? Like so what are things that it make us more strategic um when we're making budget decisions on what we really need to keep and what we um may need to let go of because it doesn't quite align. So I don't know, Mr. Vaughn, if you wanted to elaborate on that if I explained that cuz I know you led that work. And I don't want to misspeak. >> Sure. Um it's really starting the the process of getting feedback on one of the things we started to talk about during the budget process, which was what is our value proposition to families? Why why would a family choose to send their child to one of our schools
044versus uh another public school option or or another uh school choice or or education option. And so um the exercise we did really just uh challenge uh those in the room, but also gave space for those in the room to think about uh what that what that really is. And so our hope is to to do that exercise with uh a number of uh uh of groups to try to get uh varied feedback to to identify what that is at a district level. Uh very similar to how we got varied feedback when we were identifying and defining the Litchfield Learner, right? Um and the hope is once you're able to really articulate what our value proposition is to families, I think you'll see just close to never-ending value to that work. I think it can
045help us when we're talking to prospective families because we really know what we're I mean, not that we don't know what we're offering, but we know what we're what we're really trying to have be what we're known for. But also, when you get to um a point where you're needing to make budget decisions, it's it's a filter that you can put decisions through to to begin prioritizing. Because similar to the Litchfield Learner, our strategic plan is great, but you can tie almost anything that a school district does to some point in our strategic plan. So, this is going to to even one more level of depth, saying what's our primary strategy, if you will, um for attracting families and providing that education that we're ultimately trying to provide through building the Litchfield Learner and those
046things. I hope that makes sense. >> And why we decided as admin cabinet to put this as a really important action step is one of the feedback that we're getting is the lack of transparency in understanding how budget decisions are made and how we prioritize things. So, by really having an agreed upon value proposition that we can lean into and we can really build that common language when we talk about what is being kept and this is why, and what we may have to cut and this is why is it doesn't align. So, it just gives us a strategy to use to not only make the decisions, but to also explain the why. Thank you. Okay, staff morale, build the belonging on a value initiative next year as I shared the scorecards are going to
047have we're still working out all the the nuances of it, but we are going to have some type of belonging goal for our leaders next year to continue to build our believe, belong, become. And then we're going to analyze the organization of the use of hubs. Um, confusing information, information found in duplicate places, but different like that feedback. What we learned is our hubs sometimes don't have um, aligned information. So we're really going to drain and the what the hubs are is they're basically individual Google Docs that are created by, you know, um, these are this one's for behavior coaches, this one's for psychologists, this one's for principals. And so there's different hubs and um, our wonder is if maybe we could use those standard operating procedure website versus the hubs. That way it's one
048place that everyone's going to. So but something that we're going to dig in deeper with admin cabinet as well as our leaders at our sites and our department leaders. And then improve operation director visibility by hosting monthly meetings on school campuses. I know Dr. Stone added that as a really important action step. Um, that way not only are they getting what needs to get done with his operations team, but they're also on a campus um, and have that visibility. And then utilize site admin in a monthly operation directors meeting to on for current feedback on what's going well and what improvements would benefit school sites. So again, that opportunity that we kind of talked about where this is currently one opportunity that you do one open-ended question. Well, this is an opportunity when the operation
049directors are on those campuses, they can actually get that right there, you know, verbally um, to make improvements and not have to wait for a survey. And And track FMX tickets monthly by school and district to improve communication and completion times. You notice in the themes it talked about like delayed responses, you know, delayed fixing things. And so so doing this type of audit and keeping on top of those tickets monthly will really help us make sure we're providing the best customer service. Did you want to add anything else, Dr. Stone, to those action steps? Okay. All right. So that's just an overview of the action steps. I actually could probably stand up here a lot longer. I actually Dr. Davidson had me take off two slides. So But I at least wanted to give
050you some examples of what might be on a department leads scorecard and their action steps based on the feedback from our employees. So I will stand for any questions. Mr. Meeks. >> Um I don't I don't really have any questions. I mean just because it was laid out very well. It's just like here's the survey. This is the process for it. This is how we try to reach, you know, to get our information back and this is how we digest it and where we go with it. What I What I would have to say is um what I what I do appreciate in the end is of course all those I mean I mean we have two pages of action items from it, but I appreciate that piece because you look at the trends of
051it and a lot of it is a lot of those pieces are trending up, right? And in success of everything. It seems to me, you know, once again it's this this cycle of we take it in, we have those action steps. Obviously um from prior years when we have those action steps, we're following through with those. Otherwise we wouldn't see or in my in my perspective, we wouldn't see the growth happening. And so once again um it's nice to know that we're just not saying we heard you and here's two pages of it, but we have history of this is what we really are going to do, not just what we're you know, what we're saying. If if that makes sense. And so >> Absolutely. >> Um I Oops, I appreciate how it's it's all
052packaged packaged up and and once again in, you know, just in the Litchfield way in our pursuit of um just getting better each time. We just not to be stagnant. We just continue to look for ways to be better and to improve. So, I um I appreciate all those all those pieces with it. And I'm sorry about your last two slides that got knocked off. >> Thank you. Mr. Owens. >> Yeah, I still don't have any questions. None of this always it None of this ever surprises us. It's interesting how you know, well, this is what we do really well and this is what people say we don't do well, right? Like, oh we get it. Feedback and all appreciate it and every people like don't get enough feedback and delay it. So, I think
053the average scores show and reflect that we're doing overall a better job than we're not. Um also with certain things people like to armchair decisions that they don't have all the information. Um I do it with my own company, right? Like, why did you do that? I don't know all the information, but like board member Mike said, I think the important part is to take this feedback and find ways to, you know, improve the scores by actually making decisions that that impact as opposed to just trying to hide the, you know, hide the scores, but actually improve the day-to-day of the um of our staff. And so, with that I just appreciate um your presentation. >> Thank you. Ms. Moran. >> Yes. Okay. So, it seems to me that a lot of the feedback could
054be boiled down to expectations. Right? One party has an expectation of a certain response time, let's say, and the other party doesn't respond during that time. So, how are we with communicating that? Like, do we have, you know, taglines on email that say, "I will do my best to get back to you within 48 hours." or, you know, it seems like there is maybe some sort of disconnect. So, I guess I'm just thinking out loud. Like, I'm not really giving you a a specific suggestion on what to do about that, but how do we improve that communication really on aligning better aligning expectations? >> Yeah. No, that's a great point. I don't believe any of us have on our email signatures that. No. So, um I do know we verbally said, you know, 24 to
05548 hours, but are we are we doing our are we giving our honoring ourselves with that, right? If we really want to provide the best quality service, that doesn't always mean the fastest customer service, right? >> Exactly. >> And so, yeah, you make a good point is maybe we need to be clearer with the time that our department leads need to really do that quality job and what employees can expect. And then, yeah, you're exactly right. We verbalize it, but I don't think there's anything written, um but that's something we can definitely bring back and talk about what's reasonable. >> Because I also think, you know, we need to be careful with that because I'm someone in my personal life that I'm not going to text you back immediately. That's just not what you're going
056to get from me. So, people who know me know that and they're like, "Okay, yeah, fine. She'll get back to me when she can." Yeah. But, today it seems as though most people want an immediate response to something and that just isn't reasonable because if you don't want someone to be getting an immediate response or expect that from you, you also shouldn't expect that from someone else. So, I don't know. I just think that's probably some sort of cultural nuance we could address that might um add more um empathy's too strong of a word, but more understanding as to why things may not be happening. I understand under urgent matters and things like that, that would be a different story. >> a great point. Thank you. >> So, also, my question is that wasn't really
057a question before. This question is how are we providing verification to employees that what they are communicating for feedback, whether that's on the survey or anytime throughout the year, because obviously if you have an issue with someone, you're going to know what that kind of is at that point in time. How are we communicating that we're hearing that and potentially actually doing the continuous improvement as opposed to oh, now we have your feedback and so now we're going to come up with these action steps, because clearly department heads and and anyone providing customer service is going to be getting feedback all along the way. Is there a standard way or have our folks been trained in saying, I hear what you're saying, you know, that's great feedback. I'm going to take that into consideration. Like
058do we have some of that from a training standpoint, from a customer service side? >> We have done customer service training and any of my cabinet members can add in as well, but we have done customer service training, but I don't know if it exactly mirrors what you're you're talking about. Um, I do know we we could do a better job as Dr. Davidson said, sharing with our staff, hey, this, you know, and we tried to at Apple Pie Tours, but my wonder is is is that enough, right? We've been on campus all day, we're feeding them pie and ice cream, you know, is that the time that they're really it's on their dashboard to go, oh yeah, they listened to me on my survey, you know. And so, um, um, so, yeah, that's a
059great point and something that we definitely could make sure, you know, maybe through our dashboard on our website. I mean, there's lots of ways that we can convey that, I believe, better. >> What's that also the really challenging part, right? Is part of what was the feedback was is the visibility piece from leadership. And we have a lot of schools and everyone likes to go as a team and all of this so it between it it just it it's all like impossible to to be in all those places at the same time and do that as as well as we would like to do. >> But maybe if we're more clear with the expectation is you can expect to see your district leaders x amount of time. >> Yes. >> Right? That we're committing to
060be visible and there and you know. >> And explaining behind that the reason you don't see us once a week is we have all these campuses to go to and by the way we have all these other things at the district level that we're doing. Um so yeah, maybe like a um a day in the life of I don't know. I don't anyway. All those things can be brainstormed later. But can you tell me more about the fireside chats and specifically who is going to those and what does that look like? >> Sure. Sure. Um Dr. Benjamin, do you want to speak to that? >> Sure. Fireside chats actually came from a conference that we had attended and it was something that they were utilizing um and we tweaked it to make it our own.
061What we do is we have um a sign-up sheet for all of our leaders. So um operational leaders and district office have a table. They set up a time. Um principals can sign up to talk with them. So if it's something about student information and they're needing something from our director of student information, they're going to schedule that time and it's in 15-minute increments. They can pick two slots to have 30 minutes if they need to. And the directors can also schedule time with the principals. So if they're needing to talk to somebody, um then they have that opportunity as well and it's really just allowing face-to-face time uh once a quarter that you have individualized uh attention for those people to be able to ask questions that really pertain maybe just to their department
062or just their campus and it's not for the good of the order for everybody. >> Okay, so it's more of an individual problem-solving that each of those leaders might have. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Can I add something to that? So, um Sandy and I have taken uh uh significant advantage of the fireside chats. So, uh two of the ways for the past 2 years we've we've used the fireside chats that uh I would say has been very efficient is we use the fireside chats to hand out initial staffing allocations so that we can meet with every principal and have a 15-minute individualized conversation with each one. Um also, it's how we got individualized um budget uh proposal feedback from the principals during the budget process. Um the fireside chat structure is what allowed us
063to do that with the principals uh this past year, whereas in the past um there had been an expectation that the principals' ideas for budget came up through their supervisor um just because uh how we met with the individual directors of departments um there just wasn't enough time to do that individually with each principal. And so, the fireside chats uh just like Dr. Benjamin had shared uh goes both ways. So, um we've certainly used it when we need to talk to the principals and and other leaders, but they certainly can also use it if they need to to talk to us. So, it's a very efficient structure. >> Well, and what I like about that in that particular context about the principals providing feedback on budget is and staffing is you avoid the group think.
064Because then you're hearing directly what they think and you're not They're not being influenced by someone who they've been friends with for 20 years who might have a different scenario. >> That's right. You you um you also uh benefit from maybe if someone's not necessarily go interested in speaking up in front of everyone else. Um it really is just me and Sandy and that person, and so uh I do think you do also get a a wider variety of feedback and ideas uh even beyond the avoidance of the groupthink. But yes. >> And what's great, too, is you're not getting tangled in schedules because it's already a committed time that everyone has dedicated their calendar to being there, so you don't have to figure out when this person's available or that person. We're all available.
065So. >> And that happens once a quarter, so the expectation is worst-case scenario, I'm going to be able to get a face-to-face with this person at X date. Okay. Okay, great. >> Mr. Miranda, if I could add to that, the other thing that, you know, feedback that I think many of us have received throughout our some cases long careers, but also from our team here is if we're going to ask you to give of your time, it has to be really meaningful. And so we've worked hard, you know, from our professional development scenarios, from Lead and Admin Council to make those meetings meaty and worthwhile. And so with the um fireside chat, our leaders have in many cases choice. They decide how they want to build their schedule to get the answers to the questions
066they have. And in some cases, like Mr. Vaughn Sherer, we do monopolize and say, "No, we need to see you at a specific time." But it uh I I hope to think that our leaders appreciate having that choice and uh really allowing them to navigate their calendars as they see uh best fit. >> Excellent. Um the last thing that I will say is based on this you know, this is the first time I'm seeing this presentation, but based on what I'm seeing here, I'm getting the feeling that maybe one of Dr. Davidson's goals is coming to the surface for next year for me, which is potentially focusing on the what most companies would call their intranet. So, like the SOPs, the hubs, potentially also enveloping in there some PD, um some of the new teacher
067um trainings and mentoring and all of that. I feel like maybe we need to do a better job with the resources that we're providing to our staff and spend some time and resources um internally on that to strengthen that. Um there there could be something to that. So, um we'll continue that discussion at our retreat this summer. >> Ms. Wallace, do you have any comments or questions? >> I don't have any questions. I just appreciate that we survey all of our employees in all the various departments to get their feedback and that we value that feedback to make positive change. That's all. >> I don't have any questions either. Um I feel the same as the rest of the board in that it's nice to see the positive trajectory of our scores and um I
068do agree that we did have some toxic positivity going on, but I don't feel like that's the case now. I also think it's interesting how some of our things that are our wins are also our not wins, but that's common, right? We see that all the time because people think it's an emergency cuz you didn't get back to me within 5 minutes, but it's probably not and but it was really important to that person. So, I'm not going to say that what they're going through and what they're experiencing isn't important. It's just it might not be an emergency like they think it is. Um but I do appreciate that everybody's taking the time to fill it out. I love that we're seeing a growth in the number of people that are doing it. I would
069also like to see those numbers increase, but I do get that actually that's considered a pretty significant number of people to do a survey. Um I think there's definitely some good information for us when we do our planning for goals and things like that for next year. What if we send out this presentation to all our staff? That's a way that they can see like you're presenting it here, they might not watch this meeting. They're on break, they don't care right now and that's good for them. But if we send this to them, at least it's there and they can see that we are looking at it, we as a board are talking about it, so it's important to us and it's important to you guys enough to show here's what our wins, here are
070not wins overall globally so that they'll see that we are doing something about it and maybe that will help with getting more and more people to do the survey if they they see that. And I think we should send it out to them every year. That's just my only feedback, so. >> Yeah, thank you for that feedback. We'll definitely take that back to admin cabinet and talk about what that might look like. >> Okay. Thank you so much for your presentation. We're going to miss you and you're not giving these 20 minutes. >> this is my last one, so. >> What? You don't have something for her to give to us next month? Okay. >> I did say on the way over that we were going to start uh formulating our plans for for June,
071yes, ma'am, so. >> Okay, okay. >> Hang hang tight. >> so maybe not. Okay, thank you for your time this evening. >> Yes, thank you. Uh, with that guys, we are all done, so. >> I move to adjourn the meeting. >> I'll second. >> Having a motion from Mr. Owens and a second from Mr. Mikesell, call for the vote. Mr. Mikes? >> Yay. >> Mr. Owens? >> Yay. >> Ms. Moran? >> Yay. >> Ms. Wallace? >> Yay. >> I'm also a yay, motion passes. Thank you for joining us tonight, guys.