001at 7:10 on April 21st. Let's call to order the pledge of allegiance. Again, >> I aliance 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, we will open up for public comments. We have any public comments? Hearing none, we'll move on to discussion of strategic plan. >> I gave you in the packet and I can uh display it on the display the the content both their final documents that administrator assistance provided as well as kind of more of a working document and I can probably even go in and get the Google doc if you want to look at it. And I guess maybe to expedite the process maybe a couple thoughts. One is
002that um Steve Whitenower called me matter at some point and asked me how this was going and I said well we haven't adopted it yet and you know we're we're probably going to make some revisions and I may even want it in a different format so that's easier and he his response was whatever you want from us we will we will do for you. Um, and you know, if that means sending the consultants back or whatever, he said, "We we will not leave you. If you want us to come back, we will come back." So, if if that's a process that you want to use where, you know, I don't know if you wanted to, one thought I had was maybe even an expedited version of them coming back and either doing it in a
003whole group setting or doing some individual interviews. I think what I saw in it was I think the board was surprised at some things that made it into the final plan that you didn't really feel like had been identified as priorities and so wanting to excise those out of the plan and then maybe some of the that was probably the big thing and then just some of the procedural aspects of it as well. So, and I I didn't force the principles to come, but they're all here. And so, I think if you have questions you want to ask them or input from them about specifics relating to their buildings, they'd be happy to answer those, too. Anybody have a different process in mind or >> So, are we looking for comments or just adoption of
004the plan, more discussion? >> Yeah. all be. >> Yeah. I think I mean if you said, "Well, no, we're satisfied with how it is," then we probably need to get it on the May agenda for adoption. But I I didn't get the sense that that's where you were as a group. So, well, I guess maybe from the beginning, does the board feel like that the correct input was received? I know they did a lot of planning meetings. I know we had some hiccups at the beginning, but if we don't trust in the process to get information, we're never going to trust the plan. Do we feel like the input was gathered as expected? >> I feel like it was I mean, I think they they attempts that they made after the first one were were
005well received and attended and spoke to everyone or I mean had chances to talk at each of the schools with everyone. and the scan cards. I think a lot of people were talked to them and even sent in things. I know a lot of people even emailed or text her to a lot of >> yes and no. Um I was disappointed in how it originally >> panned out like the communication with when the meetings were going to be held or the listening sessions were going to be held. Um, and then later on we found out, you know, if you didn't have a Yorktown zip code, you didn't receive a QR code and and that was probably difficult for them to capture the we have one street that's Alexandria and one street that is Adeleville and
006so forth and that but then there's also the Muny one. I'm curious if if we didn't collect all of the the feedback, but overall eventually I mean I think they they got the root of what they were looking for. >> What about from the staffing standpoint of has the feedback been positive? Like they felt like they were able to provide feedback, let their voices be heard, be anonymous, whatever >> it did and Carla even extended her time at Pleasant View um and stayed longer than initially she was going to. >> I will say both of them also said how surprised they were by how much feedback they got because they never expected to get so many cards back and then um outside of the first strategic planning session. All the other ones were more well
007attended than they had anticipated. So I think what they were coming in expecting they we got what it was and what they thought >> and they gave a lot of opportunities to the community. I felt like they came to the football game, they came went to the restaurants and set up times to talk to people. I did find it in this interesting that at one of the sessions, one of the most um outward spoken group of people were not even Yorktown families and they were saying things that were just not true. >> So that was a little >> interesting. >> Yeah, >> they don't live in Yorktown or their kids didn't attend York. What was the >> They are not York. They do not attend York. I think we had at least one meeting where
008we had someone who had maybe formerly been a student and was a student somewhere else. Whether or not they're residents, I don't know, but had had some more negative things to say in the interaction. >> But I mean, that's that's part of >> you have to collect that information though. >> Is there a resident? >> Yeah. Does that answer your question? Yes or no? >> I think so. >> So, I think if we feel like we've gotten the right feedback, the question is now are we are we okay with the report and the format? It's the expectation what you guys expected to see because me personally I feel like I expected more I think it was like Warsaw had I think they used I think we got a proposal from them but it was more
009of a metric type system like here's here's what identify as is our weaknesses or strategies or goals and then here's how we measure those over time those those may change it's not just test scores but it seemed like it was more adaptable versus this like you need to do this this and this Um, and so that might just be my impression of what I expected versus what they came up with. But some of these are like form a working group. Here's some added tasks to do to manage this versus like hitting the mark analytically on some of these things. Um, >> process more than outcome. >> So, I think they've got the information. It's more of the my fear through this whole thing was is it is it a document that we can utilize with
010this board, the next board? I just don't feel like that is there. But I don't know it would have to change drastically in order to get to there. >> I think that's what you were trying or we were trying to come up with a document or a plan that it didn't matter who is sitting in these seats, right? That it could still be moving forward, that it was the best for this community. And there was I know something that was identified in here that I was actually kind of shocked um was about the um oh uh sorry my brain it's mid-40s and after 5:00 um oh referendum with raising tax I was >> I'm not gonna I don't know who >> that was you guys are all talking with but >> I don't know a
011single person that lives near me that is really happy with what their tax bill has been or their assessed valuation on their homes. And so I was kind of surprised to see that because we already I think when I was looking at mine, 53% of my property taxes are going to Yorktown Community Schools, which I support, but I don't know how much more the majority of the people that live here can afford to be going towards that. So I was really surprised to see that as a top needed item within here, >> I think. And I'd have to I'll have to pull it up. I think as I understand it, they got some feedback >> around giving consideration to it from board members. >> I don't know. I >> You feel like that was coming
012from board members and not put anybody on the spot, but I think and I don't think it was we have to go. We need to find it. I don't think it was a hard commitment to have a referendum. I think it was more of undertake a study to determine whether a referendum is an answer to some of the challenges. >> Yeah, I probably read that more along the lines of like look at all of options from a revenue standpoint, not that we want to do X, Y, and Z. Well, and if listen, if it's a if it's a strategic plan that's going to to um >> to live on despite who the superintendent or who who the board is, >> then >> I mean, realistically, if the >> if the climate continues where u if
013if more property tax reform is going to happen, which there's probably going to be a push for that at the state level, that means there's going to be more onus on local government, towns, cities, and schools to make up that funding somehow. And um you know, right now there's this push pull between the town and the school of who gets the lion share. You know, the countyy's taking a portion of the library is taking a dinky part. I mean, the majority of is the town and us, right? And I do think we're going to be in a position probably five years or so from now where you're going to have to consider a referendum because we're going to continue to lose uh tax cap money um way more than Delta and a lot of other
014districts. It's going to continue to hit us hard and we're we're going to hit a breaking point at some point in time where the the only alternative we're going to have because of the cap is if we want to do something or maintain some of the services. And again, it's up to the community to decide and and I think we would have to consider a referendum. >> I think that that's where we are charged with being fiscally conservative and responsible for that. And I >> and I think we have been I mean, tremendously. >> Yes. I mean, we we have some I mean, what we're up to $60 million in improvements. Some of it was a necessity. Some of it was let's have the new shiny toy. Let's just be honest here. like we want
015to have a nice facility that I'm not saying that that's a negative thing, but it is if five years down the road then we have to say we can't afford this and now we have to raise property taxes even more or have a larger draw on that tax base that's available. So I would just I don't I'm listening to my friends that are still in education and two out of our local school districts are already talking about reps for next year and I I had said that from the beginning. I never wanted to sit on a board that has the new fancy whatever it is and then have to start rifting teachers. >> I don't want to be >> these are new fancy things. These are things that other community schools have but we're finally
016getting. >> I don't think they all I mean and within our area we have two that have what we now have. You know, I mean some don't even have a football program. Let's not go there. They're not our the ones that don't have football program are not our size, >> but they're within our community and our tax base. >> Yeah, we're compare. That's apples to oranges in my opinion. But I I disagree. It's a shiny toy. I think it's a holistic approach of all right, if we want to keep enrollment going up. You have unfortunately got to keep up with what people want. And so I think it's the program as a whole. Whether it's the best education, the best sports programs, the best, you know, arts programs, all of those are initiative we have
017to do. It's not a shiny toy, but it isn't attractive to the district. So I think we're stagnant. Like I don't think we did it just for fun. Uh part of it was strategic on keeping people excited, keeping people where they have the facilities that, you know, keeps up with other things. Um, but I think that's the goal I think in this is like I feel like it was too specific of we want to do like I think you point out like >> middle school coordinator >> activities coordinator school for where did that come from the convert middle school athletic director to full-time activities coordinator that was in there >> that whole thing was that was that >> where did that come from I don't >> that was from Bizaro >> because I know we've
018talked and it's if if we had extra resources for me to spend that's not >> that would not be my priority. No. And it and I do understand like they're saying design an integrated behavior framework with community partners, conduct comprehensive mental health staffing analysis, but I would think more of like centerstone or one of the mental health meridian, one of them coming in and working, not adding to Matt, you know, I mean that >> that doesn't make sense to me. But then >> well, no, I know how busy he is. I mean, he's he's has no other probably room to do more. >> Would some of like that mental health piece if we do but with maybe a different co-op version, would that be covered or an option? >> Well, I mean, it's it's still
019a cooperative relationship. So, the that's a that's an emerging discussion that's getting more intense. Um, and I don't think it's I don't think I would surprise anybody at MCS if I said this, but I mean I think that the breakup is imminent. >> Yeah. >> And um, as that unfolds, then if if the other outlying districts decide to reorganize together, then they'll have to decide how they're going to staff those shared positions, what those are going to be, and how they're going to staff them. And one of the things that I would say without going too far into the weeds is part of the dynamic is I think it's like 45% of the enrollment of the co-op is in MCS but the the needs that are served by the co-op. It's far more than 45%.
020And so if you're an outlying district, it feels like, well, we never see those people because but if you're on their side of it, well, we have the most intense needs. And it's that way in every every urban >> and suburban co-op. Um, so there might be an opportunity >> to hire some of those people in some of those specialized areas and share them in a way that feels like there's more visibility, more services. But I mean, that's we're we're going to build the bridge as we go across it, I think. So I'm I'm kind of making some notes here. Some things that you have identified as concerns. >> Yes, we don't think Red Wine needs to be the activities coordinator for and it also says implement mandatory annual coaching professional development. I don't know
021if that's something >> I was going to say. I think that's a requirement anyway. >> I just say a requirement. Was do you think that this ask was being more for the middle school? Like our middle school coaches getting that same training? >> They all do the National Federation of High School courses. >> Do you guys feel like as a whole that this format is useful? What format are you reference of the report plan? >> You're looking for actual items. >> I just look at this and and it's hard for me to be convinced that this doesn't just sit on the shelf. Like I don't see anything of substance where it's like all right, we have a dis let's take that for example. We want to do a a gymnasium. If we had a report,
022it would have helped us decide as a whole, this group, the next group, the next board member decide is that the right decision based upon the input from the community. I don't think I could have used this as a tool to make that decision. And I think that was the whole goal was how do we how do we have a framework to make decisions? Well, I mean, it does have the expected outcomes to what that I feel like do highlight a lot of the things that we've talked about in the front page two by 2030. >> Yeah. I mean I you know Ryan to answer your question I I mean I think there is a lot of of substance and I mean each one of these areas has key action steps. I mean if you
023look at the first um the first objective uh fiscal and facility sustainability and transparency and and you look at our our key action steps. Yeah. If you've got demographics and facility planning and you got funding and finance, I mean, those two areas, if we don't have a good plan for that, we're going to be we're going to be spinning our wheels, we're going to be jumping from one thing to the next, right? So, on the facility planning and we have more stuff that we, you know, that I think we want to do, but you know, finalize a 10-year master plan. Do we have a 10-year master plan for facilities right now? Not really >> kind of maybe. >> We have an a list of identified. >> Is that what you were really wanting was maybe
024more of a facilities? >> No. Um I mean I mean that's one and then funding and finance. How do we not only do things that we identify we want to do, but how do we also make sure that we've got the right funding mechanisms in place to to just maintain but I don't think those are things that aren't on every school board's agenda, right? like none of that's specific to Yorktown to say if I if items come up, how do we make a decision that's the right whether it's a referendum or another financing source like yes, those are all important things like oh create a committee. Are we going to create a committee for those things or not? If we're not doing those action items, this is never going to be useful. >> Well, I
025mean that that's the purpose of our discussion right now, right? just to make sure we're doing that we're doing the action items, identify which ones are the most important and and put them in place. Right. >> But was a strategic plan to point out specific items we need to go do immediately or help a framework because you've been through this enough where you had another school member or another one. It's like, yeah, that's what somebody else wanted to do. I'm going to do this or I'm going to support this. Um, and again I don't know if these are in any any chronological or order of importance, but for instance, the first thing they have for demographics and facility planning, which I think we've agreed in the past I want to do is we need to
026do a new comprehensive demographic study, right? The one we have now is was it in place when you started? >> No, I had it done when I first came. So it's eight and a half years old. >> Yeah, it's approaching 10 years old. And since that time, our district has changed quite a bit. And again, with the additional housing um that's here and and is coming, um we we need to do that demographic study. It's going to tell us a lot about what our district movein is going to look like. And again, we've got the ability to flex as Dr. Henshaw indicated based on our our transfer students, but we couldn't do that overnight. That's transitional flexing, right? Right. right? Where you're waiting for folks to basically graduate or age out of the the district
027before you could rightsize again with folks that are in the district and we have to take the district students regardless. >> So anyway, I mean to me that's one that is super critical. Finalizing a 10-year master plan of which part of that is a facilities plan. We don't have that. I mean, those are things that I think we want to identify, right? And say, what are which ones are we going to bite off now and and make a priority between now and the end of the year or this time next year? >> Yeah, I think the demographic study would be helpful. I think the facilities plan is more difficult because we kind of did one like it depends on how you do it. If you have unlimited money, what would you do? it would that
028plan is going to look much different than a lot of our decisions are based upon the financial aspects of it, right? What can we do? >> The pool could be the most highest priority, but if it's $20 million, we're never going to do it unless you do. So, a lot of these are interconnected if you're making the decision of the order. You're being forced to the order based upon your income. >> Yeah. But from a priority standpoint, pool's a great example. Are we going to be able to fund and build a new pool for 20 or $25 million in the next year? No. or ever. No. But if it's identified as a priority, it moves up a list of saying, "Okay, what can we afford to do to to make the pool competitive and and
029to bring it up up to speed and what does that cost?" Right? That's to me what a facilities plan helps you do. >> But I think that's also taking in effect like account, you know, different portions of each one of the buildings. roofs were identified, right, that needed to be >> that's very heavy on infrastructure that's not very glamorous that study >> like that's not >> shiny but it's a necessity >> from a dis a disciplinary standpoint I mean like a self-discipline of board of administration something that we need to keep in front of us because it's really easy to go I'd like to have that but oh I need a new roof at Yorktown high school >> so >> you know I I think that's good information to have how you how you structure
030working that into your plan is that >> so are you saying Ryan that you wish this study would have come through and said I really or the community really wants a new auditorium or the community really wanted a pool or identified those items? >> No. Um I think it's quite the opposite is what is the plan to get. So I think those are okay like a 10-year plan but how effective that plan is depends on that committee if it's to me they're all intertwined. This facilities committee will they consider financial impacts through that process. If it's just that report of here's a list of things that might go bad in the next 10 years. Are you going to make all your decision? I don't think that committee I guess it's how does that committee get
031set up? Each one of these is creating a new task versus a framework to make decision which I think that's fine if that's what everybody wanted through it. We might be at that point is are we willing to do all these things to make this a useful plan because as as is there's a lot of work for everybody to do to make it useful. I mean just the facilities planning committee creating that and selecting it in its own is going to be a challenge. There's a lot of heavy lifting in here if it's done with fidelity >> and some of it is already happening. It happens naturally and there are processes in place, but there are some other things that require cycles of work. Well, and I know I mean when you said about the
032boards changing, I think it's up to whoever is on the board that started with this to try to continue it, you know, making it happen and keep going and following it even though they may have other thoughts or, you know, this is something that's agreed upon for the district to use as a framework and a guide for the future. Maybe I I'll ask a different question. Is there enough here in the current format to use as a starting point to go forward? Okay. So then I think we're back to maybe the you're identifying some things and I made some notes. One of the things I struggled with is they they gave it to me with a lot of really pretty graphics and so that was really hard to try to edit it. >> It is
033kind of hard to >> and so that's why I circled back with Steve Whitenower to maybe connect for >> um a more refined or streamlined version of it. But I think we're to the point where I need you to give some written feedback. If you just take the the is I don't know how many pages it is, the long document that's >> 15. Yeah. >> So this one for seven. >> Yeah. The the 15page document. And and I gave it to you in a less formatted version and go through and just put some comments or redline it or whatever. with the things that really um you like or you don't like. And then >> you do that. >> Well, you had you had a you have a version of it. >> I think I think
034you did it. >> Yeah. >> I don't think everybody did. You did your own work, Jason. But >> where you guys at on this? >> Did I miss something? Like I have it on paper here. I mean, like >> Well, I shared it as a Google doc and I know there was some reluctance to use it in that format. Shared a few times. >> So, >> totally missed that. I'm sorry. I think we're at a point. >> If you sent it during DC, that's the reason why. >> Yeah, I think we are. >> I'm sorry, Jason. >> I think we're at a point to get it adopted. >> Yeah. >> How How about this? I can resend that to you and then you can individually communicate back to me. Here are things that I would
035like to see taken out or things that I think are missing. I think you've already done it and I'll have it. And then I can share that back with AA and ask them if they can incorporate those changes. And I can even give you a marked changes copy. I think if we could do that and then I mean it's like what was really in there that was different and actionable than what we were going to be doing anyway. Perhaps you could kind of take that responsibility to keep us somewhat on track on that. Right? That's that's how it becomes useful versus sitting on a shelf. So, it's like >> reduce this down to, hey, we're already doing this stuff anyway. >> But here was some good stuff that we got out of it. Help keep
036the board on track on that. >> And that has been kind of my intention with the monthly reports I've given you without going too far into it because I don't know if you remember, but you gave me a goal for calendar year 2026 to start implementing some of this stuff. And so I don't want to wait until August and then try to address some of the things that are actionable in there. >> Yeah. Because I do think there's the communication, audit, plan, these are all things we already were aware of. It's just now we got to focus on doing it. I think we talked about like a culture audit at some point. Um, so I do think there's some good deliverables in here, but to your point, maybe condensing those to like what is the
037most important and which one are we going to actually implement? Some of these are going to be a lot of time and a lot of effort. If we did that, if we approved or, you know, revise it, approve it, you kind of keep us on track. Is there value to have them come in once a year and take a peek? What have you accomplished? What haven't you? Because that that's the only way you're going to get value out of the money we spent. Otherwise, it we're just going to be business as usual. >> Yeah. I I think there's maybe also some value in in forming some subcommittees around this and having >> a a board member or maybe a couple board members uh serve on those subcommittees along with our staff um to to move
038some of these things forward. >> Um >> that's what I was questioning. You know, like it has this facilities, what do we call it? Facilities planning committee. We even have a facilities planning committee. I think they were saying we need to create one. >> Okay. Yeah. I was like that facilities planning committee is doing a lot in this plan. >> We've had them ad hoc for specific I mean we have a softball >> planning working group but I think this is more of a higher >> Do you think that's where we I don't want to say miss the the mark but we do like we'll pick specialies right like for our football project we put those people specifically for that project together like an ad hoc group. And then for the softball, we're going to
039have a particular, but those they're not all working together for the greater of the corporation. It's the greater like for that specific project. So that's where I'm saying like whoever's sitting on the softball planning, they have no idea that, you know, a section of the PVE roof needs to be replaced x amount of years down the road. So, I guess that's what I'm when we make this committee that there are people on there that are aware of the total school corporation, not the project. >> I think that would be the idea. I think no matter what, my fear would be you're going to have I mean, how big do you want the group to be? But it's a group of 10. It's like, well, those 10 people heard the loudest voices. We we have the
040same issue and that's why we wanted to do this. It's going to be a challenge for for the board to trust that committee to say, "Did you get feedback from everybody? Did you consider that? Did you consider financial issues or concerns?" If we're not going to trust that group to get feedback, the board's never going to make an educated decision on that. But I think picking that group is going to be difficult >> very >> to know they're going to consider all those things. Um, so I think that's a good on paper idea. In reality, how will that work? because I I know it's going to happen where they're like, "Our recommendation is X and somebody's going to say, well, that's good because you heard from the loudest group of people, you know, >> well,
041if you have board members though on it to help facilitate, right? >> But at the end of the day, >> at the end of the day, the CEO of the corporation is sitting right there. the CEO of the corporation is on the master facilities committee or or if not their recommendation goes to the to the superintendent and the superintendent is ultimately responsible to make a board recommendation. The committee may make make a recommendation to these are the the things that are prioritized, but the superintendent may go, "Yeah, that sounds great, but we're gonna we got to fix the roofs first." to your point, Ryan, of what's really the priority and to your point, Vicki, of of yeah, it' be great if we were if we had unlimited funds to do X, but at the end
042of the day, we we've got infrastructure to maintain, not just to build. I think one I see one of the values of this as I think they did a good job of identifying what I forget what they called them but the strategic priorities >> and maybe something that we want to revisit with them along the way is what was our intent in having a strategic plan and I I think it was as a way to establish some long-term um highle level concepts that are always going to be central to the the commitment of the board in these areas. And so it's communication, it's student experience, and it's high academic achievement. And then they've got these foundational things that every every district is going to do all the time. So I also think that the intent
043of the board was that when we're faced with these decisions of should we do this or should we do this that you can use those things as a screen to say you know what that may be a really worthy thing but it doesn't align with one of our identified priorities. And so I I think I would encourage you to just look back through it. There are some specifics in there, but I think the plan can last longer and work better if we look at it as kind of this highlevel lens to look at everything that comes across your desk because well, what the what's this saying? The enemy the enemy of the good is the perfect or whatever. I might be misquoting that, but it's something along those lines. And you you all you all
044have this experience. They have this experience. It happened on um your town of Yorktown Facebook page when you're celebrating your ribbon cutting. Well, what about you know well what about and as we all get more experience we learn to be able to say well that's a great idea but you know we have to take this through our system to determine where it falls in the priority list. So I think maybe I would look at it from the standpoint of how can we use this so that we can easily go does this fit into one of these four areas like foundational student experience uh high performance and communication and if not we're not saying we won't ever do it. We're just saying it's not going to be something that's at the forefront for us right now.
045So, how do we work this document if the majority of strategic priority number two is pretty much based along this middle school activities coordinator? >> That's easy. We just ignore that. >> Well, I mean, I think I think we take it out >> and >> but then who do you replace? You fill in assistant work, >> you know, because it's still targeting the mental health. But you see, I'm saying every single part of this. So, >> oh, while it won't be an athletic director, it might be someone else. >> I And I know there's probably reluctance to to go in this direction, but I think you make it more general. So, if you're talking I mean, you're talking about student experience, that's what that was all about. >> And if you were at one of
046the breakout sessions, they even had a piece of paper that we had to talk about student experience. And that was identified as a defining piece for Yorktown that the things that kids can experience because they're enrolled here that they wouldn't get. You know, you're talking about um your DC trip and athletic opportunities and extracurricular opportunities and things like that. So, I think we maybe make it more general, but we continue to say, and I think this is a priority of the board, that when people come to you and they say, "I'm I'm interested in enhancing student experience." I always hear this board say, "Yeah, so are we." Maybe not in those words, but we're interested in making sure that your experience here is excellent. You have the opportunities. Um, I don't know if that makes
047any sense. Maybe it's maybe it has places where it's too granular, almost too prescriptive. Well, I don't think they got this entire because I do think that they got some of this right based upon the feedback. I just think the result of activities coordinate, but like a lot of this is things that we've heard through the through time communication. So maybe that position is more like communications marketing director because I think communication's been number one for this board and other other folks. I think that's what they were getting at with some of this stuff. I don't know how became activities coordinator, but some of the language there relates to that of >> Yeah. And I think one of the things they tried to accomplish, you know, noly is for a district of our size, it's
048not unusual to have hybrid positions where, >> you know, we we don't have enough money to fund a full-time communications director, whereas a lot of districts do. And I know that's not what they're recommending for that particular position, but I think that was an effort also to to, you know, well, let's take this position that middle school ad doesn't really is not really a full-time position and we'll hybridize it and keep that in place. And I I don't those just it seemed like a apples and oranges kind of the kind of a comparison. La last thing I would just say with regards to getting as much of this right and prioritized as we can is twofold. A I've joined other boards before, nonprofit boards and things like that in the past. And if there's already
049a solid plan in place, it's a lot easier to to to plug in as a new board member on a board like that where you feel like there is there's a good road map of where of where you are and where you're trying to get as an organization. And secondly, this board is going to look different next year at this time. There'll be some new seats here. And it'd be a whole lot better if we've got some really solid plans and a direction in place as specific as we can in a lot of these areas when a new board member arrives because some of those people may or may not come with some agendas of their own of things that they would like to see get done. And that's not going to say that they're
050going to be a majority at that time, but you know that over the next two election cycles, you could have a lot more new faces than just two. And so the more organized The more planned, the more specific uh that this board and the corporation is at that point in time, the better off I think we're all going to be. >> Is it out of the line for us? >> Not at all. >> No, no. >> Address, please. >> Yeah, start the timer. Um, I know I don't want to speak for them, but we've kind of looked at some strategic things before we knew you guys were going to do this. Uh, so we've kind of met and planned some things out. Um, really focusing like on the special education side because we have three
051people retiring. Um, so I know after behavior, communication, class sizes, we've kind of discussed some of those things. Um, and I wonder if you guys would be willing um, if we were able to see any part of this and kind of get some feedback as well because um, I know three buildings have made concessions to um, as we replace Jan Brown to make sure that positions housed in Pleasant View uh, because we feel like behavior-wise if we can catch it at K2 and that's our main concern um, beef up that area, give her that extra staff member, then eventually the the rest of us benefit. Um, so I think there's already some things um that you guys are doing and things that we're doing and because it's not that intermingled of >> is what's actually
052happening kind of behind the scenes, I think that could help answer maybe some of the questions on both sides. >> You guys know that you I mean >> share with us what you think and what your thoughts are. >> Yeah. I think it's more than okay. I think it's warranted. >> Have you guys seen a copy of this? Is that what you you guys haven't seen? >> That was kind of my >> You want to see here's my paper? I mean, it's not like >> we put it on the >> Yeah. I mean, it's the the initial plan had some things in it that were not that I think the board knew that were not >> readily available. And so, I mean, there's some staffing stuff in there. And so I did not put it
053out to anyone else because, you know, I didn't want to make implied promises or whatever. But I mean, I obviously we're at the point where we need to >> copies. I I assume that you guys had seen >> I think you guys some of our homework too and could probably help um focus in on a couple areas that we've already kind of been looking at. >> Um >> yeah, tell us what you guys have been >> that's an objective that the board will not solve. Why don't you just bring your chairs up here? I mean, seriously, and be at the TE, you know? I mean, >> sit in the back rows. >> One of the part of the activities coordinator is a bullet point. I think we've all hit like a needs assessment and staffing
054realignment. You guys could look at your staff and say, "Hey, this position has now been broken up over the years. Maybe it's one position now." I think looking at job descriptions, >> can I repeat it? >> Yes. Please, this has like my hand like my notes. So, it's not for grading. >> I mean, you can make him a copy, but I can email. >> He can email it to us. And I think for me, does anybody want copies right now? >> I would like to read through it process and say, "Oh, >> this and this." Yeah, let's give him time to kind of look through because Do you want me to >> I was just going to say he's like one that doesn't have all my notes and underlines and scribbles >> these electronically shared
055information with us to to protect the integrity of some other items we were more ann >> I think too like one of the things you guys talked about that uh athletic person at the middle school I feel like some of these things have been brought up are like one offs I was at all the one strategic meeting. I feel like there was maybe one very vocal person that brought one thing to the table and just from what I'm hearing from you guys that landed on this. >> So I don't know that athletic thing. >> I think I don't think the first meeting that we were >> No, I think that was one person in the first meeting that kind of made a deal about >> that was a goal to get the common themes like
056pick apart the loudest voice. >> Yeah. I think that some of those things that I'm hearing were oneoff things and >> and I would look at it from the lens too like because I think as we look at the objectives like who's responsible for that. So for example, you know the KPIs is a good idea but who's I think it goes back to if we had unlimited money what would we do? This looks like if we had unlimited time, what would we do? Like I want to make sure that these are things that are actually achievable, but identify and assess key performance indicators, evaluate and eliminate a publicly launched district, a final assessment like in a prepare now. Like who's doing that? We can put it in there, but is that really achievable or not?
057Um or maybe is this that staffing person or assistant superintendent that's helping do some of those things? So, >> if you guys don't mind looking at the key action items, is that achievable or not? Because I want to put it on there if it's nobody's going to have time to do it. >> And and I don't know, I haven't seen seen this, but like it does it make more sense once you prioritize that to to-dos or these are things the board wants to accomplish. Do you put it in that table format of here's a goal from this? Who's responsible? What's our timeline? What are the strategies to get there? And and then that's okay, let's pull our table out. Where where are we at? That's the way my mind works. I'm like I this one
058is fluffy, but it's like what is that chart that says >> I think we all we probably all when we have our >> we call them nest meetings, right? But it's a table format. Here's the item, who's introducing it? What's the actual responsibility? What's the outcome? I think we all probably function that way as well. But I do think another area we look at is what would cost money and what wouldn't because looking like the communications audit like that would cost almost nothing for us to at least initiate and then like we use some free versions. I know they use some free versions. So those could be things we could fix very very simply. >> Right. >> It doesn't require a person. >> Correct. Or money even. Right. >> Is the bigger issue with the
059communication that there's just too many platforms that are >> being for me as personally as a parent. Yeah. I mean it's great like thank you for your communication your weekly letters and the monthly newsletters but then I'm also deal you know and I only have two kids. Some people in here have more than two. And so trying to handle every teacher is going to either use seesaw or class dojo or and every how do I want to say even coach you know like not to try to call some I mean like my son's been going to some like practices and I'm like can I see a a schedule or well no we were told we're not man enough to go home and tell our parents what the schedule is then we are not man enough
060to play this sport and I'm like I still need to know like where's the schedule at and they're like well then it's on Twitter. or well or X or whatever it is. Well, I haven't used that since I was a teacher because all I wanted it for was twoour delays, right? Like who's going to be the first to pop it in there? So, it's just trying to find the information and all the multiple >> That's probably something that the four of us could really sit down. >> I've been in one conversations with a company called Parent Square. >> Yeah, that's that was another parent today from another county for several years and it's a fantastic product. just trying to figure out financially what we can replace that would not be needed anymore. >> And I
061think that's another hard conversation that each, you know, because what is being used at PBE, you know, what what apps those PVE teachers are using, clearly we don't want to use that app for our high school, you know, ways to communicate. Or if they're a coach, are they allowed to use the same app or or I was even saying just like a basic calendar somewhere like >> Yeah. Yeah, >> here it is. You know, it's like if I don't pull that, you know, newsletter up and transfer that information right then and there over to my family wall calendar, I'm I'm going to miss, right? Like there's all sports, you know, the free sports physicals on that date. There's no other place that that information is going to be listed unless you had it right then.
062So that's why I was always like it just be nice to have a location where we got practice going on here, we've got conditioning going on here, we've got iLearn going on, we have whatever field trip. >> The thing is the four of us work really well together that we could get some of these things streamlined. And >> yeah, just >> I have very confidence. I I also think a communications audit is uh you have to look at all the different stakeholders and constituencies that you're talking about, right? One of the things that public boards run into all the time is transparency. How do we know what the board's doing? And you know, you know, in 21 years on the board, I I can't even count as many times of like, well, you're not being
063you're not communicating with the the general public. And some of that was, you know, a couple local crazies coming in here and saying, you know, people want to know what's going on. And but um you know you ride that line between as a board member and as a corporation in general we have a job to do and we want to be open and transparent but at the same time you know uh you know uh anyway I I think we have to consider when you look look at communications how do we meet that that responsibility to the community to the taxpayers to the people that don't have any kids in school at call that want to know I mean their taxes are being impacted to your point pretty heavily by by the school corporation. Now I
064I maintain that higher assessed values equals I can sell my house a lot more for a lot more today 10 years later because I think of the quality of the school more than anything else more so than the quality of the town. But it's probably a combination of both. But anyway, I think that audit's got to look at internal communication, communication to our parents, and then communications to the to the the the community as a whole about what's, you know, and and a two-way feedback system of how how can people give input to the school other than what we just did when we did our, you know, our survey and and did our audit. I was going to say I don't feel like that's for our principles though to have% you know like >> no
065I think they have a role to play in terms of how we communicate with parents and internally with with with our staff. Yes. But the communication audit I took as a whole is the community has asked us. We have been you know when we went through the failed referendum you know uh and everything that happened as a result of that and then we didn't touch the schools for you know other than you know general maintenance for you know almost you know two decades. We didn't do much construction at all. And part of that was, you know, we got burned on the stove and it was like, well, you know, if we're if we're too transparent with what's going on, we're going to get a bunch of people are going to come out demonstrate or or
066protest everything that we do and we'll never get anything done. And so anyway, that communication audit has also got to be how do we make sure as a board and a corporation that we've got a good two-way communication with the community to tell us I mean we're elected to do a job, but to tell us what direction does a school need to go? How do we know that? >> Yeah. I think on top of just the comm this dialogue with you guys, I don't know we've ever had that kind of communication before because it's you guys listening to report us getting reports from you. is like I think if we all got in a room and figure out like let's just talk about things >> that would make things so much easier. I just don't
067know how to do that or everybody's like a free talk. I mean, even some of the facilities meetings, it's like I may make comments that you don't like or vice versa. Ultimately, the project as a whole ends up better and nobody's offended through that, >> right? >> It's like that conversation like you guys can offer like oh yeah, there's a software already know about like >> we can talk about for an hour and you probably already know something that's available that probably solves that problem. But like I think the more we can encourage that dialogue, the better. And then you guys are encouraging the dialogue with parents. we hear from the community and we're all going to talk about it together. >> You could probably even loop that into even like our teachers like we
068don't >> have that open communication with our teachers enough either. >> But we do >> Yeah. >> And and we do probably a lot more than what what is put out there. >> Yeah. I mean, I think that we all anytime we're getting ready to move forward on initiative, the back end looks much different than the work that we put in before that to run that through our channels to make sure and get feedback from the experts and those different disciplines. >> That was kind of off topic, but I think that's, you know, beneficial to have these type of conversations on specific items. So, >> we kind of help with some of the loud voices, too, because I think >> for us probably one or two loud voices to where we're like, actually, majority of
069staff is aligned with this. I think we can help >> communicate that. >> I love this. Thank you guys. >> Forward. Um I think this is like >> next time speak up earlier. You could have kept been talking the whole time. >> I'll give you the soft chair. >> Yeah. Because I think we want you guys to advocate for us and vice versa. So like if there's things that come up, it's like Yeah. Have you gone through the chain of command? It's much easier like actually, you know, here's why they did it that way. that's super helpful to me if you're like, "Yeah, that makes sense." A lot of times they're misinformed on some of that information or it could be something like, "Yeah, I didn't think about that angle." Um, >> but we're getting
070information differently from what you guys get it. So, I as you guys look at that, maybe look and see what form we might be able to have more discussions like this, I think, would be helpful. I don't know if you guys agree, but >> absolutely. >> Yeah. >> More work sessions. I mean, if we're >> prioritize and implement this and plan for this, we're going to have to have more work sessions. And it can't just be the board. It's got to be the board and our our our team. >> Yeah. So maybe think through maybe it's a 30 minute before and there's five or six topics you guys want to talk about or I think that would be helpful. Just have an open >> everything's better when you work together. >> You can also do
071retreats at places like French Lake. I'll just throw that out. >> Florida. >> I was just going to ask for pizza next >> dinner would be nice. I mean, charter planes to DC retreats stuff with planned. So, >> all right. One of the rules I'm trying to I think I heard people say that they can live with this format and so there may be some tweaks to the content. And so I'm kind of circling back to you probably need to put it in writing so that I can see >> what it is and maybe I can synthesize it and bring it back to you again and I will share it with the gospels. >> What is your deadline for this? So we >> give me some time on this. I'm sorry. I mean, I think
072>> tonight, >> oh, in a month or something. >> Yeah, I think that's fine. >> That's not very long. That's 10 days. >> That's actually two months. >> Yeah. >> So, >> what did I miss? I am so sorry. >> A while back. >> You're saying by the first time either. So, I'll I'll share it out to you. I had to resend it. >> What? >> I missed it two times. >> You definitely missed it two times. >> Yeah, I'll one time. You were you were showing a goat or a cat or something like >> So, how are you facilitating their feedback? >> We can do it cleaning up after a storm, April. >> Trying to find this. >> So, we do another work session next month. >> We'll have to. Yes, >> we'll have
073to. You guys want to do it before or after? >> We'll have to probably do it after >> after it's going to work for everybody. >> That's part of the reason I think we're in this position is because the work session with administrative assistance was before >> and so there wasn't a lot of opportunity for some give and take. >> Yeah. Somehow I missed that update too that the work session was after >> May 19th. >> This is just life right now. I don't know field trip that day commitment. It would have to be after for me. >> Well, let's let's start with I'll resend the link and you can put your comments in um make suggestions and I think I heard by April 30th. >> EOM. >> Is that time for you guys to
074actually review that? >> Yeah, we can just cross reference what we already have and Yeah, plus their principal. >> There's a work session >> and I think >> we told them to talk by the bar. >> We can look at the schedule and see whether it works for May 19th or whether we need to schedule a different date if there's some conflicts. >> So, and I mean I have I would have no problem having Crystal Phillips come. I have a good working relationship with her. So, >> I would like to see some sort of chart identified in there of like whose responsibility, what our timeline is because we can't achieve all these Right. Which ones fall the top of the list? That that feedback from you guys probably makes the most sense. >> There is
075a section that was in here that's talking about technology and I was curious what the principles I'm trying to find it here. I don't know where it went, but um if they felt like if that needed to be an outside um >> where is >> audit? I'm trying to find it here. I think it's under priority number one, high academic performance objective number. >> Yeah. Instructional technology and pedagogical efficiency or efficacy audit. >> Yeah. if that needs to be an outside or do you feel like that is something that >> we could something that we actually talked about last spring about going through and taking a look at all of our different um educational um subscriptions and what are we missing? Are there gaps? Are there things that we're paying for that we're not utilizing?
076Are there ways to streamline um what makes the most sense? Is it more effective to look at you know a packet or a workbook or something else in lie of so I know that we we have discussed it at one point I know Dr. Haw I think Dr. Sturgeon put a note for someone in the tech. >> Chris had started to do that right before he left because he had a Google sheet. >> I have that sheet. >> We're going through everything on that. >> I know our math and ELI departments are really trying to pull back a little bit from uh Canvas and you know kind of how reliant we are on that and try to do more paper pencil >> just that connection that the kids make. So, we're in the process of
077doing that through that STEM grant that I know the three of us have been working on. That's something that's been a big focus for us. I think the new K5 curriculum, it's a lot more paper pencil. >> Yes. >> Math and ELA and so they can put their iPad up a good portion of the time but still use it >> because they need to know how to use it. But >> yeah, >> and they won't be able to use their phone. >> I think we should set the examples aboard and go back to paper agendas. >> Cool. You're the one that supported Board Docs, the upgrade. >> Get rid of board docs uh completely. >> Well, we already signed the contract. >> All right. >> So, I think that's a good first step here and
078everybody good with that? >> I heard a lot of stomachs growing the first step. >> Thank you all for staying for us real quick.