001who is chair of the search committee for public schools at [Music] the good afternoon board of education members and Dr. Williams night, thank you for having us back out to provide an update on our progress with respect to the search. Um, as shared, you should have a copy of the full presentation that we'll provide at this point. The focus for you could go to the next slide, please. The focus for today's presentation is really to talk about the community engagement process and the public input that we um had throughout to help us get to this point and make sure that the board of education has a clear understanding of the voice of the school community and specifically around priorities for um the next superintendent schools. So our goal will be today to provide an overview
002of that feedback and there were um two main vehicles for us to uh capture the feedback through both the thought exchange which is a virtual platform in addition to that also through um a a variety of focus groups. Um before I start getting into specifics I do want to thank Dr. um Rachel Dominguez and Barbara Girdle who were essential in helping us pull together the different focus groups across the community. Uh without their help, it would not have been possible. So I appreciate their work on that. As an overall, I will say that uh both the thought exchange and the focus groups were very engaging. We had a strong participation, lots of interest, great conversations and um my takeaway is a clear pride in the work that the school district is doing, that the teachers,
003that the leaders, that the pair professionals, and that you as a board are doing. There was a strong respect for that work and passion for it as well. To the next slide, please. So I'm going to this is just the agenda presentation Dr. OC talk about the following from that and then I'll talk a little bit about the focus groups and some key themes and ultimately just an update on the search. So Dr. Slide ahead. Next slide, please. So, you may recall, and this is just a a review of what thought exchange is. We talked about using this um online platform to solicit community feedback electronically. And we asked two open-ended questions as part of this process in the thought exchange. The first question was, "What qualities or characteristics are essential for the next Buffalo
004City School Superintendent?" And the second question was, "What are the most important strengths and challenges facing the district at this time?" Um, and so we opened up that thought exchange on April 7th. That is the same day that the posting for the was also released. And we did close the thought exchange on May 2nd prior to the facilitation of the focus groups because we used the feedback from the thought exchange survey to drive our questions and our next steps with the focus groups in person. And if um if you recall, thought exchange uses artificial intelligence as a way to rank and and rate and uh theme thoughts and responses from the community stakeholders. And um we're really pleased with the engagement on this um exchange. If you could uh next slide, please. So at the
005opening of the bot exchange, participants were asked to identify which stakeholder group they represented. And you can see there we then categorize those those stakeholders into essentially two buckets as an easier way to to analyze the data and to categorize the thoughts. And so we we we took the approach of internal stakeholders being the students, teachers, support staff, parents, caregivers, and administration that are involved in the day-to-day operations of the school district. And then the external stakeholder group being the community members, district partners, and we did have the option for other um for folks that felt like they didn't fit into one of those categories to identify themselves as other. And um not surprisingly, many stakeholders uh self- selected several different stakeholder groups for themselves. Um you this is not uncommon. You will have teachers,
006administrators who are also parents of the district. They may also be uh linked to community groups and have other affiliations. And so um this can become a bit of a challenge but by categorizing them into those two buckets it helps to create a clearer picture um when we look at the data. Next slide please. So you'll see the response um and ratings based on those two buckets of stakeholders. For question one we had 339 responses. For question two we had 199 responses. I think this is also not uncommon. Um, I think the characteristics are much easier for folks to identify rather than some of the strengths and challenges, particularly if you are an external stakeholder. You may not be as familiar with, um, the inner workings of the school district. And so, uh, based on
007those responses, um, we started to, um, categorize the results for you. So if you take a look at the next slide, um you'll see for internal stakeholders a summary of the qualities and characteristics that they felt were essential for the next Buffalo City School District Superintendent. And I won't read all of them to you, and I don't think that there should be um anything there that's really that surprising, but integrity ranked at the top. um they thought that the next superintendent should have a background in education with hands-on experience and um we heard that a lot through the focus groups as well that they wanted this person to have been a practitioner in education, classroom teacher, school counselor um likely a preference for a building administrator, someone that really came up through the ranks um
008and understands the whole system. Uh, additionally, transparency, effective communication, collaboration, um, a commitment to equity, student focused problem solving, and the ability to efficiently handle resources sort of round out the top um, summary of thoughts for intern. And then if you look at the next slide, what you have um and we'll we'll go into more detail with this um later on this evening, but the top two thoughts for internal stakeholders. Uh and these are direct quotes from the thought exchange. Um you'll notice that the thoughts contain many ideas and that is a pro and a con of using a platform like this. So folks can really um start their their summary of thoughts and it may include all of the characteristics. It may include positives and challenges. So it it's it tends to sometimes be
009a run-on sentence. Uh we didn't fix anyone's grammatical errors, but you'll see there um you know the top two thoughts being the ability to understand the importance of arts and education, the soft skills necessary for students to achieve in the world beyond school. I think we um you know as educators think a lot about college to career readiness and um I think you sort of see that theme in that first thought and then the second thought that was the most top rated is someone that's compassionate and fair a commitment to providing for students first. We heard that we learned that very clearly throughout many of the stakeholder groups and so um you know that those those two thoughts were really what was top of mind for internal stakeholders and then we'll we'll flip the slide
010and we'll go to um external stakeholders. So again, these are folks that are part of who have identified themselves as either community members or district partners. And when they were asked about the qualities and characteristics for the next superintendent, you will see um many of the same characteristics uh in their list that you saw on internal stakeholders. And so um you know, again, not to read the whole list to you, but Yes, ma'am. I I would you please read the list because this is being recorded and some people, you know, won't be able to read it like that and at least they'll hear it. Thank you. Thank you. Um, communication skills, leadership skills, transparency, integrity, innovative, willingness to challenge traditional systems, a clear vision for the future, understanding of urban education, financial literacy, ability to
011unite diverse communities. someone that's empathetic, student focused in fostering equitable and supportive environment. Thank you. You're welcome. And that's that is the list from the external stakeholders. Um, you know, I think what you see here is they're really looking for someone who cares about the city uh who understands the dynamics of of the school district and a person that wants to be involved in the district. Um, so those are what your external stakeholders are really thinking about. And if you flip the page, their top two thoughts or flip the slide. Um, their top two thoughts are boldness in the face of adversity. Times are changing and we need someone who will fight for our kids. And then the second top rated thought for your external stakeholders is someone that is strong, transparent communication that is
012clear, honest, and frequent with families, educators, and the wider community. go to the second question and this is where you'll see um the strengths and challenges and you'll see them combined in the thought. So sometimes you have to parse a little bit like what was intended to be a strength and what was intended to be a challenge. Um and so a summary for internal stakeholders, uh they really felt that this was the diversity committed to teachers and staff and the variety of programs that the district offers. And I just want to highlight here that um it may look like there's not a lot of strengths, but what we heard were these three themes over and over again just in a thousand nights. So, it is actually a positive um that the strengths were able to
013be boiled down into those top three because what you want to start to see with something like this is consensus building or a sense of like everyone's on the same page and so we were able to really see that in the strengths particularly with internal stakeholders. Everyone was really feeling and saying the same thing. And then the challenges identified by your internal stakeholders are a bit more um diverse in in their thinking. But those challenges include inequity among the schools, financial deficits, a lack of communication, behavior issues and absenteeism, administrative inefficiencies, special education services, mental health supports, parent caregivers, community engagement, and social. Thank you. So those are the bills. Yes. Was it in order or they were just listed? That is an order. So anything that we've listed, we've listed in order for how
014it was so that you can see what really rose to the top and not necessarily what's not priority, but if you're thinking about secondary priorities or long range planning, perhaps what is not just at top of mind for folks. Thank you. Yep. So if you um switch the or flip the slide to the next uh page, these are direct quotes again from the thought exchange survey related to the strengths and challenges question. And no surprise, this is uh something that we also heard in the focus groups that there are 60 plus buildings filled with talented people. CPS has the budget and resources to make a difference if allocated correctly. So again really focusing on what is available um and the size and the strength of of the district. And then conversely the next top of
015thought uh there must be changes in how dangerous student behavior is handled. It negatively affects students rights to an education and everyone's morale. So again in thinking about what's top of mind around the challenge that was your top rated thought from your internal stakeholder. And then lastly we'll go to external stakeholders around the same question. What are the most important strengths and challenges from a community and district partner perspective? And you'll see same here. There's consistency and cohesion in both the strengths and the challenges. Um this is really indicative of a lack of divergent thinking, which is good in this case. Um, so your strengths here again are diversity, the variety of programs, fostering mental and cultural growth through art, language, and career pathways. And if you recall back to one of the first comments
016about arts in college and career readiness. So there is consistency in the thread here. And then the challenges being inconsistent staffing and funding and inequitable distribution of resources among the buildings. And so that um those are your your top summary thoughts from um external stakeholders. And lastly before I turn it back over to Dr. Ken, you can see the direct quotes from the external stakeholders on the next slide. those being um having a variety of of programs allow students to grow not only mentally but culturally as well with music, art, world languages, career pathways, etc. And then the second top rated thought from your external stakeholders here is not all schools are given the same attention, staffing and resources. Any school one attend should provide a quality education in a safe environment. And so with
017that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. capital one who's going to fall in love with the focus groups that dug deeper into what we saw in the thought exchange and allowed us to have a more in-depth conversation with your stakeholders in person and virtually. So as Dr. F mentioned we um facilitated the focus groups before that though we really worked with Dr. press this in the district to identify what those groups would be and ultimately where there are already meetings and engagements occurring when we could bring um the focus group conversation in. So this was facilitated by our team at a basis and with the assistance of the district um really participants ultimately asked to reflect on the responses of the thought exchange. So we gave them the results of that thought exchange
018and then some additional questions for more concrete and smaller group conversation. Next slide please. So the practice itself for these um we begin with sorry I have to put my glasses. Um individuals that attended asked to focus and reflect on the following questions. Um given the results of the thought exchange, what thoughts or themes from the thought exchange resonate most with you? what seems to be top of mind for the stakeholders and what thoughts or themes do you feel are missing? So folks that attended had time to go through those questions, look at the results of the thought exchange and then groups were formed off of that and the groups discussed the following questions. What attributes, qualities, experiences and skills do you seek in the next superintendent? What are the strengths and positives of the
019Buffalo City Schools? What are the current and future challenges? and do you have any other thoughts or questions about the search for the next superintendent? That last question really just designed um to answer any of those outstanding questions that that people may have about the process itself. You'll see the list of dates for the focus group. So, we had an all bargaining units leadership meeting on the 23rd. We had the high school students on April 24th. We had the community partners May 12th. All employees grouping on May 13th. May 14th, our parents and caregivers from the district. May 15th, cabinet members, and then May 21st, an additional parent and caregivers grouping. Also note there that a survey was sent to anyone that was not able to attend the session but was given as a potential
020attendee. And so we sent the same questions for them to complete that individually. And then ultimately the analysis occurs where our team reviews those results and try to determine. Next slide please. So the stakeholder groups you'll see broken up there and the number of uh attendees in each um the high school students representing six different Buffalo city high schools. Again the bargaining unit leaders across the district's bargaining units parents and caregivers. We worked with the network of parent groups that would be in existence in the district uh for both a virtual and in-person session. All employees that group was um by the individual bargaining unit designated uh specific employees to attend from that grouping of employees that they represent. and then community organizations that were again already working with the school district in a variety
021of capacities in addition to other groups that were recommended to us to engage if we're invited as well. And then next slide please. So you're going to see really a summary of those same questions and discussions broken up by the different groupings and focus groups. So the first question being what are the attributes, skills and experiences and on the left hand side those key themes that crossed over between all of the different groupings. So a big focus across the different focus groups was integrity and transparency, equity and inclusion, unbiased and fair leadership, strong understanding of the district, supportive and empathetic, culturally aware and experienced with diversity, seeing the whole school community, a datadriven decision maker, effective communicator, an experienced leader, and without political motivations. In addition, you'll see the breakdown of each of those groups
022and a couple that I would highlight just to rather than read the whole list. I think students we heard a lot about student voice. The student group we met with was very impressive, very engaged and just super thoughtful about their experience in the school district and how they wanted that to be uh changed and improved for kids that are coming uh in the years behind them. from community partners. I would highlight the fact that a lot of the community partners were looking for an early engagement with the new superintendent rather than um having months pass once the new superintendent school starts. They'd like to be able to hit the ground running um and really understand all of the different opportunities they bring to the district on a regular basis to enhance that. I'm going to
023jump ahead then to the next slide, the strengths and the strengths of the district. So you'll see those themes um most consistent committed and experienced staff the diversity of the staff students and community thought exchange variety of course programs and a sense of community highlights from from this area um parents and caregivers a significant level of engagement in the fair um looking to engage with those community resources and also just a credit to Dr. Williams night we heard a great deal from across the stakeholder group about visibility um being out in the schools connecting with the staff connecting with the students and and the larger Buffalo community. I'll jump ahead then to the next slide which features the challenges of the district represented by the different focus groups. The key themes there, financial challenges and
024stability, community engagement, safety and security, improving student achievement and outcomes, student attendance, school building needs improvements, transparency and communication, a concern about a lack of mental health and behavioral supports and resource shortages in general. Um, of note here, all employees, um, you know, we we heard about staffing shortages and the retention challenges. Um I would just point out that that is a consistent theme across schools uh in New York State, right? Staffing and educator pipeline is always a challenge. Um and also uh equity in school program and access. You're going to see that in the community partners and some of the parent feedback. So that focusing on equitable access for students. Next slide, please. So the key themes when we look at across the board here the strengths of the district again not only from
025the standpoint of the thought exchange but district of diversity the dedicated teachers and staff the variety of programs are available and a sense of community and challenges student behavior discipline and safety finances and resource management and transparency and communication. Next slide please. So one of the resources where we utilize artificial intelligence to help us coales all of this information is to get to this profile here. So what you see there is when we take all of the data from the thought exchange and focus groups and bring that together. This is the profile that comes together of the next leader of Buffalo City Schools. The next Buffalo City School District superintendent should possess qualities such as integrity, leadership, strong communication, comprehensive experience in education. They must understand and value diversity, support inclusive and special education, and
026prioritize student and teacher needs. a firm believer in accountability. This individual should be from within the community or deeply knowledgeable about it, ensuring they can effectively handle the unique challenges faced by the district. Empathy, transparency, strategic thinking, and long-term vision are essential for fostering a safe, productive, and equitable education environment. And then finally uh just I think important to give an update on the search timeline process. So next slide please. Outline the next step. So we are officially at the end of May. This is the presentation on the result of the community input. Um, and we're going to move into June, which will feature the interview process with the board of education, initial interviews and final interviews through the month of June and then working towards uh having a candidate identified by the board of
027education sometime in July and um moving forward there for a contract and to start at the beginning or right around the start of the new school year. And then finally um last slide is important to note um that the QR code that's there uh the thought exchange itself which has a much more detailed report of all of the feedback and comments that stays active throughout the search. So, if community members or faculty, staff, families are interested in looking more detailed than what came through that thought exchange, that QR code and the website for both uh Buffalo City Schools and Erie One will feature a link to all of that information. With that, I'm happy to take any questions or comments from the board. Okay. So yeah, thank you for a detailed uh thoughtful uh timeline
028and thought change the focus um summary. So board is up to you. It's open. Any questions? I would say app I appreciate that you stuck to your timeline and you got the job done. We appreciate that. Thank you for your presentation. um very thorough. My question is why was there only six school high schools involved in this search this conversation? That's not your question. That's somebody else has to answer that. Why was there only six high schools? It's something that's important. And what were the high schools? Do you know? So I can just maybe from the focus group exchange was shared widely with students as well. So we were able to connect at the high school. The focus group was determined by what? Dr. want to add. So what I can investigate with a regular
029question number if if it was uh conjoined to the regular meeting of the all high council then it would largely depend on who was in attendance at that particular meeting but I can double check that for you and if it's it's related to that. I do know as the superintendent said um that kind of the backup to keep getting a broad stroke of the whole district was making sure that every single uh school high school had that survey opportunity through those history classes. And so what did the principles do to make sure or what would the staff do to make sure that it got completed? Because when I look at the amount of responses, um, I really was, uh, hoping for more in a district this size. I really was hoping for more. I really
030was. Um, what do we have? Three, four, five, six, not even 700. About 700 responses. So, it's not I I I just was hoping for more. That's all. Just hoping for more. But, thank you for what you've done and for what work you're working with. I just want to make sure and the reason I bring that up is that I want to make sure that a a concerted effort is done to include all high schools in the process. Okay? I can I can pretty much tell you what high schools weren't included in it. Okay? Uh as a rule of thumb even with the meetings that we're having. So I that's the reason I brought it up is to point it out that uh it doesn't go unnoticed at the board level that uh when there's
031only six high schools that are represented out of 16 out of 16. Right. Any other comments? Thank you. So based off of the question that was presented, um will there be opportunity for the schools that weren't identified as participants to be able to at least do maybe another survey or have a representative from those schools be the voice for that school? Would there be like an additional survey? Okay, these schools weren't represented. going to need here whether it's an inner high student or somebody you know student voice for that building um I am I was also concerned that that considering student voice was a topic that they were talking about that not all students had a voice in this we did work with the district I understand the timeline and as a facilitator I've been
032very concerned with making sure we're on it so my comment was going to be yes it does we're and made this is what we're doing. But if we do have that opportunity, I think that that's something superintendent or however we go about this, that's something we should definitely look into. [Applause] Any other comments? Well, I mad. Oh, I'm sorry. Just real quick. So everything where you've listed you have lists. Are they all ranked? Okay. Thank you. So there were no surprises from my perspective particularly since we had just uh Paula and I had just had a very successful tour with the council of great city schools and many of you also had a successful um meetings with that. There was no surprises in here. Um, one I I I I personally was was a little
033bit taken back that I didn't see more um more feedback uh in a different way from our uh internal uh stakeholders and I'm curious to know was there a large percentage of of any particular group that um dominated the um questions in the thought exchange? Mhm. So I think Dr. Freeze. Sure. By far I think just based on numbers alone you see more teacher responses than administrators, right? Because then the the the ratio alone would would indicate that. Um, but that is also why we we put them into those buckets so that we could try to balance out those the voices um and have like a more clear understanding of exactly what the groups were looking for. uh we're going to provide you in executive session a um a a more detailed summary and I
034think you'll start to see uh what thoughts particular stakeholder groups may have have had or what would resonate more say from a teacher perspective speaking to classroom concerns um administrators speaking more to building concerns and and cabinet more to system level concerns. Did that also include um our um teacher aids and assistants that population affect the people? All right. Okay. Thank you. That explains it. Okay. Anything else? All right. Well, thank you so [Music] much. All right. Well, thank you so much for that. That ends that particular segment of the superintendent search. May I have a motion to go into executive session to discuss one matters related to the superintendent serve in the appointment and employment of a person with the district. Two, a proposed settlement litigation brought in state supreme court under index number
035808151 2020. Number three, a proposed settlement agreement regarding litigation brought in states to court under 2021. Number four, matters related to the appointment, employment, and potential discipline and or dismissal of specific district employees. And lastly, for the purpose of receiving legal advice below bylet Woods second. Thank you.