001and I'll call this meeting to order, the study session to order at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9th. We'll start with excusing Haley Larson. Um, and we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. Ready? Begin. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Well, we have Heather Curl here from the Washington State School Directors Association. uh she's here to provide information about the Washington School Board standards and and lots of other nice uh new publications. I included the the one in the board packet for you and they still don't have it in hard copy yet, right? But we got hard copies of the board standards here, the open public
002meeting and then she's got a nice uh presentation for us. So, I'm not going to take any more of her time. And here comes Haley. So, it'll be wonderful. It's perfect timing. And um >> welcome. Welcome. Thanks. >> And Haley, we have uh Heather Curl is here from Wazda and she has >> Hi, nice to meet you. >> something for the new board members. So, >> yours is at your desk. >> I'm gonna make my way over there. >> Sounds great. Welcome. >> Um >> All right. Take it away, Heather. >> Yes. Thanks so much for having me. I I I hear you worked with Cindy McMullen in the past. Um close friend, lovely consultant. Um she wasn't available to come, so I am a second choice, but really happy to be here and hopefully
003it'll be beneficial. Um, I was just telling Natalie, um, that I was a former educator and have been in WASA at WASA for a year and a half, but before that was a teacher educator and education professor. Um, and I found elected officials to be just an incredible um, new student body, if that makes sense, with new complications and challenges and really um, exciting uh, opportunities for growth and um, learning with you all. Um, y'all come from very different backgrounds and experiences and I just love leveraging that to support growth. So really excited to be here. Thanks for having me. Um uh the first thing to do is say thank you for having an hour of PD as a part of your schedule. Thank you to Dr. French and the district for um uh carving
004out time for this. It's one of the things that we say is most important for board members to do. And welcome to the two new board members because I think this is your first time here. So welcome. Uh great way to start um the fire hose of new information. Uh but also just thank you to the uh the work you do in your community. Um I hope people say that to you, but I think it doesn't happen all the time. So we want to just express that from LA, gratitude for um the service and time uh that is unpaid that you do and offer to your community. So gratitude your way. Um today we have an agenda that's going to focus on intro and objectives. It's just 55 minutes, so I'll move pretty quick um
005through it, but I hope it'll still be meaningful. the the um key topics we have. I'll go over roles and responsibilities. This will largely be for the new board members, but I think it's helpful to have a refresher always. It'll look familiar, Natalie, from doing the um um virtual board boot camp. Um but it'll set the groundwork for everything else we talk about. um we'll go into the standards and I'll talk you through a little bit of that document. But quickly we'll move into some of the research that undergurs those standards and then do some um discussions around what the research finds and how your board tracks with that if you've seen examples of that and they're the experienced board members members will want to speak up um since you've been doing this for a
006while and kind of share what it looks like for West Valley. Um then we'll talk about the board self assessment which also is born out of the standards and the research um and just let people know that that's a annual component that a lot of districts take up uh for their own PD and then we'll do takeaways and closures. So that's the plan. We're going to start with intros though and what I'd love to hear there's postits there. You have some paper pads if you want. I put some resources out. I'd love you to just think for a second and we'll go quickly through the list uh through the line. What's one goal you have for this short time together? What's one thing you hope to get out of it, accomplish? And then what's one
007thing about West Valley that you're proud of? It's going to be really valuable for you to hear each other's responses to that and me to support your facilitation. So, few minutes to think about those two questions. members. I teach you. Well, I'll know you're ready when your pens come on. So, and we'll start with you if that's okay. Go down the line in one second once everyone's had a second and I'll take some notes here. Um, and we'll start start with the goals and then come back around with um something that you're proud of for West Valley. So, go for it. >> Okay. So, for the first one, I just said um >> I'm um hoping to understand more about the roles and responsibilities since I'm brand new and >> just a deeper understanding Excellent.
008Thanks. >> Um, I would say I'd like to just our new board members, I'd like to know maybe like their communication styles, you know, and how best to be able to communicate with you guys and and also what motivates you and coming on school. >> Yeah, I'm just excited to re-engage and refocus our thoughts as we go into the next year thinking about what our students need. >> It's pretty simple. I just want to learn one new thing that I don't know from the last couple years. >> I'm just hoping to learn more about WADA and just what resources are available to us as school board members because I'm also brand new. Yay. Welcome. Excellent. Um I think we'll get to well hopefully we'll learn one new thing. I don't know. And um communication styles
009isn't on the agenda now, but I'll carve out time to make sure we do that. That was a great um call out. Dr. Finch, did you want to share? Oh, just >> um I didn't hear from see it in the agenda. So, I'm hoping introduction to the standards, the Washington school >> board, the schoolboard standards. Um that's really helpful and that the um self assessment is aligned to those standards and the standards actually show that school boards that have alignment to that do have higher student achievement. Yeah. >> So, it all kind of fits together. So, it's nice to have the introduction to the standards here in the first board meeting for our new board members. >> Yay. Thanks. That's great. And then let's start with Haley and go back around. Something you're proud of.
010>> Um I'm just proud of how connected um West Valley community and whole especially even in the schools is and how evident that is just throughout our our area. >> Yeah. >> I really like the variety of offerings that we have for students, CTE, college and high school, etc. There's several things we have going and I think uh makes us stand out. Nice. >> I'm really proud of the cohesion and the unity that we see in all of the school district. Uh there's a very strong overreaching plan. >> Uh I mine was right along there with what Steve's, but I was thinking of the innovation center and just the fact that we have um every student has different um learning pathways depending on how best to learn. And so I think ours ours is in
011many ways is cutting edge and there's not a lot of districts that have what we have at the innovation center. So I'm proud of that. >> Nice. That's awesome. >> Um I said the people I think we have really exceptional staff and teachers and students. Um if you get to know our students um they just really stand out as kind of being really high. Um that's awesome. So we have community offerings, educators right at every level. There's some pride here. It's really um powerful to hear. Thank you. Um and what what we um what we'll talk about with the research is that um the conditions for achievement and success for students in all the different ways you talked about. Um uh the role of the board and the work of the board is central to
012ensuring that all that's true. and we'll talk more about that. Um um but thank you for um for sharing and bringing that kind of ingred and West Valley's work. Um we're going to spend a few minutes now just talking about those roles and responsibilities. And what I'd love is um folks who have been here, right, to um bring this down to West Valley for us, right? So in fact, this is how we do it or this is what it looks like for us, feel free to speak back to me, right? And kind of bring it to life for our new board members. Does that sound okay? be partners with me in that. Um, and so this shouldn't be surprising. The governance team is made up of everyone at the table here, right? We have the
013school board directors and we have the superintendent. Um, you're all responsible together for leading the school district. And um, what we find is that it's most effective when you all work together, right? When we have the arrows moving in the same direction, then um more progress occurs whether it's CTE, CTE, programming offerings, PD for teachers, whatever it is, everything is more seamless when we're going the same direction, which takes intentional communication so that everyone feels like their voice is heard and they can be on board for going in that same direction. Right? So a bunch of our work together is figuring out what those communicate communication pathways are and the processes so that everyone feels like they're part of a governance team in part because no individual school director has authority. >> You actually only
014have authority as a quorum of three. So, it's just going to be much more effective when there can be pathways for communication so that you can get to quorum with clarity um and so that one or two people aren't kind of confusing the message or getting off track of where that pathway is going if that makes sense. So, um that that can be one of the most important learnings for school new schoolboard members is that they don't act they can't actually just come on and say here's what we're doing. Um um but you can convince, you can share, you can offer your story, you can ask questions. There's a lot of power and importance with the one individual. It's not that you don't have any power, you do, but you don't have authority, right, to
015vote except as a quorum. Does that make sense? >> Um so that is a really important thing to know about the role. >> Um so now we're I'm going to offer three different ways to make sense of the roles and responsibilities. um knowing that people kind of um uh engage with the different ways of thinking about it. We're going to start with a gear metaphor. >> So we have um three different key components of making a district work. Um the strategic level is going to be that school board. You're determining the what that strategic plan that vision what the goals are, right? Um, and you are driving the work of the tactical level, which is that superintendent who's deciding who, right, with their staff and how they're bringing to life that what that's been determined
016by the communitybacked board, right? So, um, you can see that we need to move in the same direction, right, in order for progress to work. And then we have the soup who is most directly related to the operations level which is literally doing the work with young people in schools uh with principles etc. right to make all of it actually happen. Um and so when we're all working in tandem we don't work without the others right so even though you're not directly on that operations side because that's not your role you're supporting that work that's really important through your relationship with the superintendent. Does that make sense? So, we're all uh on that same path, right? Um if you're going the other direction and you and the soup have a different You can see how
017work is thwarted and the operations isn't moving, right? And that's where we get student achievement going down or students not getting what they need, etc. Right? Because if the operations wheel can't turn, then we're not doing the actual work of the of the education. Right? So that's one metaphor that helps people see uh or think about what their role is and how important each of these components are. Um and if you're not doing your role of strategy, then no one is turning that. And so that's a really important role actually to support the district. Um and so um so we're going to think about another metaphor, but be turning those wheels. Um, so let's now think about uh a map and the important work of of educating young people right in your district. Again, we're
018going to think about the different roles as it relates. Um, so the first is going to be the schoolboard role. This is evaluating where we are, asking for data, knowing where we're at, how's the district, how's the budget, how's the progress, okay? And then choosing that destination. What's the goal? What's strategic plan? That's the strategy, right? Um you're thinking about determining the what where are we, right? What do we have working with us and where do we want to head? Um and then we're making sure that we have the resources in order to make that journey. If we don't have the effective resources, we don't we won't be able to make from where we're starting to where we want to go. Okay. So that's financial oversight, that's strategic planning, that's um uh academic oversight. Right?
019Those are three key strategy or um responsibilities of the board. Um so now let's talk about the superintendent's role as it relates to this right on our journey. Um the the soup is choosing the route. The soup knows what each principal is capable of right or has a sense of who he's hired who they've hired in each of the schools. He knows the curriculum right what's going on in each case. He knows what how the students are doing. there's um knowledge of the operations that is going to determine he knows where the mountains are maybe right or where the river is or what boat is best to get across the river. Just going with the metaphor, right? But the nuance of the day-to-day operations has to be taken into account in order to determine the
020the the route we're taking. Um and then we also need to lead that team, right? Um that's the who, right? at the soup has done the hiring of the folks who are working in the schools. And so he's the leader of of everyone who's on that journey. Um and a key role then is going to be to report back to the board did we make our destination? How is it going? And that's where question asking of the board is paramount. That's where you are playing that role in in asking intentional questions to support the superintendent to report back in a way that's valuable and that's going to help you make good governance decisions, right? Um, so it's a loop. Okay. Um, and again, if one side doesn't do their job, then it's going to be
021really hard to um get to the destination efficiently. And now our third way, sometimes you just need a list and some direct um here's what I do, here's what you do. So what boards do explicitly is evaluate and oversee that superintendent, right? So the soup is reporting back to the board, right? that's a part of that evaluation process. Um, uh, they're not evaluating or terminating staff, right? Um, there's a some confusion here, right? During the board, you often as in a consent agenda, right, you approve any of those things, but the actual hiring is going on with the superintendent. Um, we approve the curriculum, right? Um, but we're not overseeing how the curriculum is taught, right? Or what's not done in the school. And often that approval system is coming with a a cur curriculum
022approval committee, right? Or not approval, but a committee of folks that are practitioners and community members who are talking about the curriculum, right? But you're doing that approval, creating policies that will be enacted through procedures. Okay? So, we're creating and adopting policies, right? But we're not creating the procedures that'll determine how that policy is done in the school. um representing the entire community, including the students, including the communities you don't come from, right? Like the ones that didn't necessarily elect you, but who is in your community, reaching out, getting to know the community, representing everyone, um rather than just one constituency and then approving district policy and the budget. So, we're doing both um overall district policy and the budget um rather than setting those school rules. hoping those distinctions, this is clearly operations and
023this is clearly governance, but hopefully the metaphors help make sense of where they came from, right? Um because not everything's going to be on the list. There's going to be a ton of stuff that comes your way that you're like, uh, is this operations? Is this governance? I don't know. So that's why the metaphors can hopefully help you distinguish and make sense of what's coming your way. >> Um, so now that I've gone through that, how does this track for West Valley for folks that have been here? Um, >> is this feel right? Is there something that goes across the lines because every community kind of makes sense of things their own way? >> Yeah, I think it's exactly what we think. >> Yeah. >> And I I just think there's a real sense of
024of a team between the superintendent and the board members and really open communication and listening. We've always modeled really good listening to each others to really understand where everyone's coming from. >> And then we bring it all together to lead the district. >> Awesome. Any questions from the new folks? >> I have a comment from an old folk >> only two years. Um I agree with Dr. Finch that we're that we do work together. Well, >> I think what we have to be careful and I think about this a lot is I like to go into I've done it somewhere. I've gone with Dr. Finch where I'll go into a school. >> Yeah. And you know, I don't go in for the purpose, and I can't. I mean, I don't go in for the purpose
025of evaluating this. Sometimes I feel like, should I even go in there because I don't want people to feel intimidated. Um, but my whole reason for wanting to go is to just learn >> and see, you know, what's going on and how how's things going and, you know, for the most part, what I'm seeing is like, this is good stuff. And and, you know, so just to keep that clear line and distinction, I think is important. Mhm. >> And always thinking about it in my head if I go into a room just try to make sure I'm not there to evaluate. I'm there to >> observe, >> question, learn. >> Nice. >> Primarily learn. >> Right. >> So that's going to this this kind of sense of role is going to help you show up
026in a particular way. Although when you're a board member, you're a board member, right? So that might influence how everyone sees you. >> Yeah. What's the protocol currently for when um board members go into schools? >> Uh they go with me. They go with you. So youize it. Yeah. Got it. Great. >> But I go all the time as a parent. So I mean there's a balance there, right? Because I was in there today. >> Um but I know there's that half now, right? So you're kind of switching. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And and I, as I understand it, people kind of develop that. You're just getting started. So like once you're there for a bit, you'll figure out how to show up differently. >> Yeah. >> But I can't go every time with with
027you. >> Yeah. Great. anything else to to bring this forward for this district before we move on? >> I think in terms of communication, we um just have some standing operating procedures that we have in terms of providing information to the board. Y >> we always make sure that the information is in the board packet. We never give just hand out stuff right on the spot in a board meeting. Right. >> I don't think that's fair to the board members. So, we always put the information in the board packet and then that gives the board members time to review it over the weekend and Monday and and then if there's anything they have questions on, they can give me a call and just clarify anything they might have a question on. >> So, it's much
028much more helpful, I think, for them to be able to have those questions answered ahead of time than waiting for the board meeting and us trying to scramble for answers and such. So I think it really facilitates good communication by having the information in the board packet and then knowing that they can call me anytime. I have my cell phone all the time so they can call anytime and answer any questions they might have. >> And Dr. Finch is very responsive too and >> anytimes we anytime we tend to ask him a question or even ask him if he'd do something, he's usually right on it. I think of today the legislative breakfast. Um we um just uh throwing out the suggestion as we're looking towards this levy and bonded up doing videos for social
029media and he >> responded right away today and and reached out to uh >> yeah the field group >> field group and um it has the ball rolling already. So >> all right that's great. Yeah. >> So, super responsive, I'm hearing. And it and um I'm also hearing maybe that you would >> um request that questions come in advance. If there are questions on the packet, then that would be great for you to get them in advance rather than bring those to the board meeting originally or immediately, >> right? Yeah. It's helpful to have them in advance because we'll be able to answer the question that the board member has and then also if it happens at the board meeting, sometimes we don't have the answer. So then that's a little frustrating probably for the
030board member. they have a question and we can't answer it right away. So, >> right, >> much better to just give us a call when you have the question and then we can answer it right away. >> Totally. A lot of people call this no surprises as a goal so that there there no surprises for anyone. There's no surprises in the meeting. You're giving all the materials ahead of time and there's no surprises from on the board member side. If you have questions or concerns, you're bringing them up ahead of time um so it's not right then and a lot of districts have that as a part of their norms. Right. And then I think just for the new board members, the way we structure board meetings is that we we have presentations that we
031have annual presentations by the different departments and >> there's an annual calendar. >> Great. >> But then also we have some flexibility so that there if there's a certain area that we'd like to hear more information about, we have some we have some space in the schedule that we can schedule that. So, it I think it it's helpful because it gives us these annual updates, but then also some flexibility to look at some certain areas that might we might want to focus on for that year. >> Nice. That sounds good. And I'm I'm just thinking about one of those goals. Um do um Haley, is it okay if I call you? Haley. Okay. Either of you want to talk about your um communication um styles? This is a good time for >> um this seems
032like a good moment to bring that in because we're hearing kind of the way it normally happens with the board so far. And does that track for you? And is there a request you might have as you're getting up to speed? >> No, I think that's helpful to know. And I mean, I'm used to communicating with all sorts of different people. So anyway, smoke signals, text messages, phone calls, emails, smoke, >> I can do it all. It's fine. >> That's great. >> Yep. I agree. Okay. Do you have consistent meetings with um do you have like two on twos? >> Right. We have the agenda prep and that gives us a chance not only to look at the upcoming agenda, but long range. what are the areas that we want to get more information. Also,
033you know, one of the things I'm very proud of is that we do have high academic achievement in West Valley and we have a commitment to continuous improvement. We're always looking to get better. Uh, the board has been very helpful on that on identifying um metrics uh data that they would like to have us um um track. Mhm. >> So when for example, you know, we look at post-graduation success of our students and then one of the areas that they were asking for was what about our students going into the military and the and uh so we've been tracking that for quite a few years now. Okay. >> Like last spring we had every even the space force we had I think 17 students get full ride scholarships >> go to going to space force.
034>> Not not just space force but all the all the military. Yeah. just so so we've incorporated that data collection into the way we do things and that's been based um collaboratively with the school board. >> It's excellent example of that communication in action. Yeah. Very cool. >> Great. I'm going to keep moving on, but whenever you want to bring some forward, please please do. Um, so we're going to think a little bit about the standards and um, what I'd love you to do is take out this. I'm just going to walk us through just a few minutes. Don't worry, we're not going to go through the whole thing. It's a long um, and so, um, we have five key standards. They're up here, but I'm going to actually take us through, um, this first,
035and I'd love us to go to pages two and three. This is just telling you where the standards came from um and why they're here basically to support board members to understand what their role is and how to do great in their role basically. And there's um a bunch of research that focuses on this. This was just redone in 2023 with some um the old research was there and then um updated research is also highlighting every single component of it. Um, if I could have a volunteer because I was a teacher, the very last paragraph of the second of that third page right there above the picture. Anyone feel willing to read the last paragraph? I put I annotated it with a heart on purpose so that I would make sure I knew to read
036it. >> Anyone feel willing? >> I will. >> Thank you. >> WASDA or WSSDA recommends a three-part approach. Become familiar with and apply the standards to your board. Use WASDA's freeboard self assessment survey annually to track your progress in relation to them and supplement individual and team learning through professional development including taking trainings offered by WASDA and attending its annual annual conference >> if you want those two are optional the idea is PD right continuous improvement figure out I don't know what SIPs are I need to request a work session to learn all about SIPs right or I don't know about the budget. I need to learn. So, WASDA does offer a training about the budget. So, that might make sense. But really, um figuring out what you need to learn more about and then
037and then as a team figuring out what your areas of weakness are as a team, right? In fact, none of us know this community, right? Or none of us know how to about this particular policy, right? Um none of us are doing advocacy at the at the at um in Olympia this year. figuring out how you're you can leverage the strength of your team and then figure out where the holes are for PD and and decide to take that on. Right? So that's what we recommend and the standards are central here because they are um they are based on research that says that the work of boards really really matters and so um that's the the the key. And then every year we recommend checking in on how your board's doing. Um we offer a
038self- assessment. you don't have to use ours, but have some annual way that you're checking in on your progress. Um, so we'll talk a little bit about that. And then the last component is learn more, right? So those are the three things that we really recommend. And the standards are the starting house. Um, so next page, here's the five standards kind of written out. And what I want to do is just orient you a little bit to what in this what in the world this booklet's talking about. So um, we have responsible school district governance is standard one. Standard two is all about high expectations, communicating them and really believing them, right? That all students uh in your district can um reach high expectations or or achieve high expectations, creating conditions districtwide for student and
039staff success, holding the district accountable for student learning, and then engagement of the community in education. So, you can see that these overlap, right? But they're key distinct ideas. And within each one um in this booklet there's a benchmark. So the benchmark is saying what this might actually look like in your work. So everyone turn the page for me and let's look at standard one just so that we can know what we're saying. Responsible school district governance. So there are six benchmarks here in this one standard. And we're just going to look at the first one. Conducting board and district business in a fair, respectful, and responsible manner. So this is just what this might look like in practice, right? How do you actually practice responsible school governance, right? Well, you conduct your meetings fair
040and responsibly and respectfully. And then you go down and you see the indicators. Those are questions to ask that help you say, what does this actually mean? What does this look like? Am I speaking respectfully? Am I doing all these things? And what you'll see is that this the the um self assessment is grounded in these indicators. So that the questions you'd answer in your self- assessment once you've been doing it a little while for those of you who are new as you answer it, it'll help you reflect on whether you're doing some of these indicators that help answer this benchmark which help you achieve that big standard. Is this making sense? So this is the breakdown. And of course, if you've been a teacher or you've been working with the standards at all, you're
041familiar with this breakdown. But sometimes it can be um different when it's not a topic area you're familiar with. So this is how this whole booklet basically works. So I just wanted to give kind of a primer so that you know how to engage with it. Um and then what you'll see is uh we're going to talk a bit about the research um and uh in a second but first I want to do this. So what you'll see is the board self assessment. There are a series of questions that are organized in each of the standards. So then when you see the results of your self assessment, you'll be able to check in on how your board is doing at each of the standards and then maybe do some goal setting if as you analyze
042yourself and your practice um what um what areas of growth you might have as a board. >> Does that make sense how those connect? Um and so um I guess I have a question. Do you all do the annual self- assessment consistently and when is it in the year? Yeah, we we did it last uh January and had Cindy come and debrief in February. Great. >> So, we were thinking, you know, with the new board, we probably wouldn't do it this time in January since they would have had one meeting. >> That's right. >> Yeah. We probably wait and do it after a year. >> You're like, I'm doing wonderful. I have no idea what any of this is yet. >> Yes. And we do know that uh that is a prerequisite for the board
043of distinction. And West Valley did receive the board of distinction just recently at the annual conference. So, >> yes, you did. And I appreciate the board the board has done the self- assessment in previous years as well. >> That's great. >> So it does help and we we have shown alignment and understanding of >> you know like that example there that the board meetings are done in a fair, respectful and responsible manner, right? >> There's been quite a good alignment on that. >> Absolutely. Great. Um and that and that's the kind of evidence you can say that like we we work well together, right? even when we disagree, even when we are coming up with, you know, processing something, there's still evidence over years, right, that it's an effective strong board and that it's really
044helpful to show that over years. So, um, great. So, hopefully this helps understand kind of where some of those questions are coming from is that they're anchored in those indicators that support um, you to reach the standards. Um, so now let's talk about where those indicators come from, right? Why? Um, and so there's been a lot of, so I was an education researcher, right? I've read a lot of research papers. There's a lot on proximal factors that's closest to the student, right? Ultimately, the teacher really, really matters. And no question, right? An effective teacher is everything, right? But it's not actually everything. There's a bunch of other stuff that goes in to an effective community, effective um um school-based um, you know, a sense of belonging, right? a sense of access to other things, right?
045Mental health, whatever. A lot goes into student success. Um, and so there's been a lot of research on students and parents, um, on teachers and on principles. Um, and they and they do matter, but the distal factors also matter and there's just been less research on that. Um, so superintendent really matters, an effective superintendent. If you get a lot of turnover with superintendent, the test scores start to go down of the district, right? Even though the soup is not teaching the kids, it really matters. Similarly, when there is upheaval in a school board, this test test scores go down. We see lower test scores for those boards that reported disarray or disagreement or disrespect or focusing on one issue instead of student data, right? Um and so we see that it does affect student achievement
046when the board's not um working together. You don't have to agree, but you have to work together, right? Um, and so those studies out of Montana, and I know you researched, and then there's been others out of Texas, um, which is part of the same project, all out of Iowa called the Lighthouse Studies, they really found this connection between schoolboard work and student achievement. And so um ultimately because when boards are addressing factors within their control like how they talk to each other, right? How they talk about students during the board, how they uh the questions they ask, how much time in a board meeting they focus on student learning, those are the kinds of things that create the conditions for district-wide success, that third standard. Okay, so a lot of board actions really do
047matter. Um and so this is um uh a lot of this these studies were um a lot of this data was published in um a series um in the Texas Lonear out of the Texas state agency. So our like sister agency. Um and so um it's published there. If you'd like copies, I'm happy to give them to y'all to read, but I'm just going to give you the um results and use it as a chance to talk a bit um together about how it all shows up for West Valley. Um, so we're going to start with boards and districts with high student achievement. So these are the kind of um consistent highest rated um board actions of those districts that were the highest achieving. Does that make sense? Okay. So, I'm going to give you
048a second to read them and then um think on your own and again you can write down some notes and we'll hear from whoever wants to share what resonates for you as you review the list of these board actions and then what surprises you if anything. So, we're going to start hearing from everyone after you jot down some ideas and then the next round we'll do some um pair work. Okay. So, we'll give you a second to read. >> Can everyone read it? Okay. So, we'll just take a second now to think as a community member, if you're newly elected, or as a parent, as a board member who's been doing this as the soup. What of these resonates for you based on what you've experienced and witnessed? Um, and does anything surprise you? happy
049to hear from anyone who feels ready. >> I would just say number 10 is kind of the whole point of everything and so all of the other stuff should be in service to number 10. >> Nice. >> Um and then I thought it was I was surprised at number four that I guess I guess I'm just surprised that there would be people that disagree with that or don't believe that. um >> that that would be >> um yeah >> even a thing. Right. >> Right. >> It it does exist actually. There's some boards who talk about certain groups not succeeding or who express it um in their interactions. Yeah. Because you don't always communicate just with explicit language, right? Sometimes you communicate it and how you receive certain feedback. >> Agreed. >> Nice. >> Number
050four that all students can learn in the board packet. Uh we're going to have a presentation from Autanum Valley and there's a quote from a teacher in the board packet that's all about that that >> that they believe that all kids can make it here at >> they do everything possible to make make that happen. >> That's great. >> I like number five. It feels like we're doing it right here right now. >> Carving out time to or have orientation for our new board members and absolutely >> help to form a new inclusive team. I feel like we're doing >> we've we've taken time to do that this evening. >> Check. Exactly. >> Yeah. >> And it's so important. Um and so I've been I've worked with boards who um a new board member has
051been on for six or seven months, right? And I'm with them and um we they find out through the board self- assessment that they that the person put I don't know on almost all the questions >> and it surfaced and this is a high achieving board, but it surfaced that they hadn't onboarded effectively. And so it just you miss six or seven months with that board member really being a part of the team, right? Um so yeah, it's really important and even higher, right, than some others that you would expect. >> Yeah, for me it's different because I've been on multiple other boards and other aspects in my life and I've never really had like an onboarding to the board. Like I've had like strategic planning and stuff, but I've never had like this sort
052of a session. So it's kind of above and beyond what I expected. I thought I was going to be thrown into the wolves a little more. So it's nice. Good. That's good. >> I think number two, we've talked about it, resonated with me, just the respect issue, even when you disagree. I think uh I think this board I've been on a couple years and >> even through some disagreements, we we've all just had a respect with each other and even even outside the board. We we'd say that to each other in the parking lot like, "Hey, even though we disagreed, thanks for >> being respectful and back and forth." And I think that was that's been a really good thing. And probably like the rest of you, I I agree that number four, I'm not
053sure why it's there, but it's like, >> yeah, all students can learn, >> right? But I I've worked with plenty of board members who've had to um work with board members who didn't always have that, right? But they had their own learning path and and got there. So >> maybe it just serves as a good reminder, too, that we need to keep our like policies and actions like focused on that as well. >> That's right. Mhm. And sometimes um uh a way to look at that too is that um the amount of time you're spending on students during the board meeting, the amount of time you're spending on student learning and focused on students. Sometimes we can get distracted by the bus schedule or a levy. Not that that doesn't matter. It's everything really, but
054also if you're not spending time on that, then you're not communicating it maybe um in in your choices of agenda. I suppose I should represent our assistant superintendent who's not able to be here this evening, Stacy Drake, because >> she always references the John Hattie meta analysis research and you know the number one factor that has the largest um effect size is collective efficacy of staff. So everyone working together and working in the same direction. Yeah. >> And then number two is uh the teacher expectation, student achievement. uh if you think the kid can do it, then you're going to keep working and help them make it. If you think the kid can't get it, you'll probably give up on the kid and just move on. So that belief that all students can learn, it
055really is researchbased. >> Absolutely. And you can message that from the board and it trickles down, right, in a really important way. If if you set a goal, you're believing you you believe with the superintendent that we can achieve that or make some progress toward it, right? But you're going to spend time during your meeting. You're going to spend time asking. Right. It's that relationship between belief and time spent that can help achieve it. >> Right. I think some ways, like you said, creating the conditions and creating the culture that this is the way we do things around here. And we do believe in kids and we want to have multiple pathways so they can have success. Maybe success looks different for different kids, but there's multiple pathways for success. >> But you believe in
056success of them, right? >> Nice. Great. Um, I think commit to a clear and shared purpose is another key one, right? That when we have a shared purpose and we're all um putting our time toward that and that's going to just increase its potential for being reached, right, or met. Um, great. Um, I'll move to the next one. This is a little more negative. Low achieving districts and low performing boards. So qualities of low uh here here's some of the qualities of those and what I'm going to have you do is just um read it and then when you're ready turn to the person next to you where it's six so that'll work out and just talk through what resonates right what tracks for you and if anything what surprises you and then anchor it
057to to West Valley uh when it makes sense >> in that you're not doing it is what I'm hearing which is great. So maybe she's not >> there's no surprises. >> Yeah, >> it takes away from the focus of district. >> Yeah, totally. There's nothing in there that is surprising that >> are there any working together >> you're able to >> give me a heads Well, that's one of the things that I feel in the positive check. I feel like each other. >> Oh, I love that. >> Oh, she's >> I have elementary kids that history and then I thought that's okay. >> I like little crisscross applesauce and they turn 16. >> Oh, sorry. >> 10 minutes. >> Yeah. Um um we're almost we're we're doing great with time. Um and so anything resonate
058let's start there >> I share with um Natalie I think just um the uh number five bless good working relationship with the governance team um you know and I think just the better we know each other the the better we work together you know so and I think that's just something that resonates with me and as far as surprises I don't think anything is surprising but Hey, >> anyone else? >> What' you say? >> As in that we're good. >> They're good. Um, you you'd be surprised how many boards need to work on some of these things actually. Um, I I would say particularly uh members advancing their own agenda. um some sometimes and it's complicated because they are elected sometimes with the idea of change of putting something forward because there's disagreement maybe with
059something that they've seen. There's a natural tension that that surfaces um and yet um uh the onboarding is a really key part where you understand what your role is, you work as a team and that when you're advancing an agenda that's not going to support like the the um the work of the district, the work of the student necessarily, right? um in terms of the research. So for some that can be really surprising and helpful. Another is excess taking excessive meeting time. There's some districts who feel like um some boards who feel like you um it's really good for the community to hear the board discuss things a long time so that the community knows where the board members are coming from and others who feel like that time is better spent with on student
060data and on other things and getting the work of the board done. So that is another disagreement that can surface. Um and so it's just helpful to know that those um that exists, you know, um but it sounds like your your team is on um on board uh with with not doing these things which helps student learning. So that's great. Anything else to add around um around what what to make sure we don't do? Well, I think you talked about keeping the focus on student learning and I think our programs help to do that. And then the board members um often have questions for the presenter and I think that shows some really good engagement and it also is really some accountability. So, you know, it's holding our staff accountable that we are making progress
061and we have that continuous improvement mindset. And then these questions that the board have usually are spot on on on like basically what's the next step, you know, >> and uh so I appreciate I think there's a place there for um the board to have these questions that they might have of the presenters. >> Yeah. >> And the presenters are most times all about student learning. >> Yeah. And sometimes I know um you can have strategic questions, right? so that you you might even know the answer because you've already talked about it, but you pose the question so that the community hears the response. >> Um, and so that there's a chance to demonstrate engagement with the content. Um, and so that can all be really intentional. Um, because you are doing you're it's a
062way to show engagement and alignment and um and the and governance uh to the rest of the community. So question asking is a thread that we have throughout our trainings. It's really important. Um, wonderful. Um, so, uh, I've already talked about the board self- assessment as it connects to kind of the work and the three things we recommend, which is getting to know the standards, um, doing an assessment of yourself on those standards, and then, um, and then just growing in PD. And with that, I think we're at a place where we're going to, um, just do some overall takeaways. And I have one final activity, but I do want to hear from, um, to benefit the new board members. I'd love to hear from the experienced board members um a way you've grown as
063a board member um since your tenure started so that you can kind of share some of that PD or growth that you've had. >> I think that would be a nice way to model it for them. >> Yeah, I think just asking good questions and thinking things through, getting to the point where >> you're looking ahead, you're planning ahead, and you're checking in with Peter is a great way to get oriented. >> Nice. I think one of the ways is maybe just understanding more and more that we're always learners and we're always learning and and you know like that's why that's why we're doing this, right? none of us have arrived. And I think um I'm reminded of that um you know that I haven't arrived and there's always room for growth. And so um
064and and um I like the challenge of of learning more and stepping into maybe like the legislative world and how that affects the school districts and stuff like that. So >> nice. >> I've enjoyed that. >> That's great. Are you a ledge rep? >> Not right now. >> Nice. I think for me similar listening and learning. Um I'm never um I'm never done learning and I'm also not afraid to call Peter, text Peter, say, "Hey, what was that?" or "What did that mean?" or "Where are we going with this?" Yeah. >> Yeah. There's not a dumb question here, right? Like it's important to ask. >> Sometimes it feels like it, but there's not. >> That's right. >> Even just the acronyms. I mean, people throw acronyms around education and >> Yeah. >> feel free to
065ask. Oh, I keep a running list. >> The other thing is >> it's always changing, right? The legislature happens every single spring and like new laws come out, new policies then exist. There's just always um ever changing. The board is always changing. Um sometime the soup change. So there's just it's such an evolving thing to learn that you never really arrived, right? There's always something to grow. And um for the two new board members, you'll see in your packet there's a a a new board member um kind of path for growth. And you'll see that kind of advocacy and policy and those things are on your second term and that even your third term you can think about WASDA board work or leadership WASDA there's an opportunity to grow um with each term that you're
066here and we try and support that because we want to leverage your experience and also ensure that you have a chance to um continue growing as a governance leader. So, um that's that's the goal. The last activity is going to be just here. And um you you all see post-its in front of you, post-it notes. So, you might have taken some, which is great. I'd like you to open a new one. And what we we'd like to close with is just a few of these questions um and and think about supports for success moving forward. So, from the board, what does the board need from the superintendent? What do you need from the superintendent? we already have clear communication, but particularly the new board members, what do you need? What's on your mind that you
067need from from the soup? Um, what do you board members need from each other? >> Right? Because you're a governance team together. So, what do you need from one another? And superintendent, what do you need from your board? So, go ahead and jot down some of those things on the postits and I'll walk around um and collect them in a second. >> You want one on each? >> I do. Okay. >> You can just put all your ideas. Yeah. One on each. Yeah. And I'm going to collect them on this paper. And as you add them to the paper, you'll read it out loud. >> The craft group. I don't know. It's really sticking through. So, I'm gonna be behind y'all and when you're ready, let me know and I'll just ask you to read
068your poster as you put it on the poster. >> Are you feeling ready? >> Yeah, I'm ready. >> Okay, go for it. >> Consistency and information to help ensure we're prepared not just for meetings, but also when we're representing the district and the community. >> Nice. The last one. And then do you have words from one? >> Uh just grace and understanding as we kind of learn the ropes. >> Grace and understanding. Wonderful. >> I'm superintendent. Clarity and communication and no surprises from each other. Respect each other. >> Nice. >> Thank you. >> For our first one, we did history. How did things work in the past? What's the data? How do we communicate those things? And then for second one, the ability to talk things through, gain understanding, get where everyone's coming from. And
069then for the third one, support and questions, making sure that you feel affirmed. >> Yep. >> Nice. Thank you. >> I just ask questions. >> Ah, that's what you need. You need them to ask questions. >> Yep. >> Excellent. And that takes engagement, right, and presence. Wonderful. So the board from uh what the board need from superintendent with uh consistency and just along the lines of >> I think as he fulfills his role he's just consistent. I think that continues to build the relationship that he has with the administrative staff and teachers. Um, and then bored from one another, I think, is patience. You know, that just goes right along with um communication and understanding how to work with one another and um and realizing we don't all communicate or work the same way. And
070then a superintendent from the board, I put trust. >> Yeah. >> So, >> nice. Excellent. >> Okay. So, for the >> Yeah. The board needs strategic questions and background content. >> Nice. And then the board from one another. I said respect and understanding and appreciation for different voices >> and superintendent needs consensus and direction. >> Consensus and direction. Nice. >> Thank you so much. I'll um I'll type up everything I have here as notes so that you have this as a list and knowing what you all need from one another. >> And that takes me right to the end where I can say there's a bunch of resources. I'm here to support particularly the new board members, but anyone um should you want to present at annual conference, should you want to talk through something,
071if you have any questions, um watch is available. So, please just reach out and thanks for having me. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. We'll take this meeting to adjournment at 6:56 on Tuesday, December 9th with a brief break and we'll return at 7 p.m.