001Yes, my right. >> I call to order this uh work session of the Oland City Schools Board of Education. Please call the role. >> Miss Anderson White, >> Miss Garrett >> here. >> Miss Dagel >> here. >> Missa >> here. And I will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda for this meeting. >> Second. >> It's been properly moved and seconded. Um assuming that there's no changes. >> Yeah. Future meetings. Our meeting on Tuesday the 25th is at Langston. It starts at 5:30. >> Okay. There is a change. Okay. >> So with that change, any other comments, questions? Okay. With that change, please call the role. >> Miss Anderson White. Miss Garrett. >> Yes. >> Miss Dagel. >> Yes. >> Miss Becca. >> Yes. Okay. Now I hand it over to I'm sorry I forgot.
002>> That's okay. Um my name is Christine Robbins. Um I was with you this summer. So it's good to see you all again. And I'm with the Ohio School Boards Association. So um glad to be back and to share the results of the self assessment that you all completed. And I was speaking with uh Dr. Hall and Bob a little earlier. This can be the baseline for you knowing that you're going to add a new voice to the table, a new board member. It'll be an opportunity for you to look at areas that you think you can improve and then if you choose to, you can set a couple of goals for the remainder of the year and then revisit this either in the summertime or at the end of the summer, beginning of the
003school year. So, everyone should have a uh packet with that includes the slide. So what my plan was was to go through the slides, go through the results, and then we'll go through it standard by standard. There are five standards and we could have some discussion if that makes sense. Um any questions that you have, but it's really this is your discussion to be be able to share your thoughts with one another in areas that you feel might need improvement. So why boards do this? Um ultimately promotes accountability and it helps you as a board to establish board culture and to help uh establish district culture. Ultimately we'll help with assisting with good decision making and oversight. As I mentioned earlier, we'll point out areas for improvement, opportunities for improvement. You want to be transparent.
004So, it's a good opportunity for you to demonstrate that as we assess our students, our teachers, our staff, you two are assessing the board, yourselves to be able to improve. Um, and ultimately will help build relationships and clarify leadership roles and responsibilities. So, um, it also will be used to help describe how the superintendent, the treasur, the board use the district strategic plan effectively. I know you had a plan in place um that started back in maybe 2018 um that I think OSBA helped facilitate and that's on um your website. I don't know if you're in the process of developing a new plan. I think we kind of talked about that, but what I'll focus on is alignment. your results, your goals, your objectives should all be aligned with the superintendent's goals, the treasur's goals,
005with the goals of the strategic plan so that it all makes sense together. Um, it'll also show the community how you work with one another, with the treasurer, with the superintendent as a leadership team, and um explain how the superintendent and board members monitor student achievement. So, as I said, alignment, alignment, alignment. Um, you have lots of plans, I'm sure, uh, facilities, master plans, those types of things. They all should come together in one big plan. And goals that you set for yourselves as as a board should align not only with the five standards that were that you assessed yourself against, but any of the overarching goals. So for good board governance, these came initially from the National Association of School Boards and they include a focus on government governance, high expectations, conditions for success,
006accountability and community engagement. So starting with standard one um as uh we shared this with you standard one is provide responsible schoolboard governance and there are um several items within that standard. So there's benchmarks and one a as it says conduct board and district business in a fair and respectful manner. That's a benchmark. There's also indicators for evaluation beneath that that we could talk about if you want to get into it a little deeper. But this is an example of um you know the results basically you either believe all five of you believe that you either meet or exceed expectations. So um something that you may really not need to focus on when it comes to conducting board and district business in a fair and respectful and responsible manner. Um for 1B this is about
007ensuring that the board is accountable and open to the public and um including seeking diver divergent perspectives in its decision making and it should go on to say decision-m process. So this is one where again there's five of you three of you believe that you meet the standard two of you believe that um one of you believes that you exceed the standard and and another one believes that improvement is needed. So that this is one that you might want to think about as we move through this that what else can we do if there is improvement needed to ensure that the board is accountable and open to the public and seeking um different perspectives in its decisionmaking. Um this one is about adopting policies based on wellressearched practices that emphasize a belief that all students
008can achieve at a high level which and it goes on to say at high levels and support continuous improvement of student achievement. So again um the majority of you believe that you meet this standard. There's one of you that believes um you exceed this standard. So there's not nothing really specific pointing to the need for improvement here. Then we have promoting healthy relationships by communicating supportively, inspiring, motivating and empowering others and exercising influence in a positive manner. So um again you have uh three of you indicating that you meet the standard, one exceed and one improvement needed. So again, if you're kind of putting stars by these results, you might want to start this one to have some further discussion. And then finally, um the uh the uh final um benchmark of success is that
009you work as an effective and collaborative team and you all indicated that you believe you meet or exceed the standards. Then there was an opportunity if you recall for each of these standards to um indicate how do you know it's so why why would you say we meet expectations or we exceed expectations or there's improvement needed and these are just some comments that you noted. So verbatim our board works extremely well together as a unit which is great. Um you'll need to do a really good job onboarding the new board member. We have an orientation checklist we can share with you, but a lot of boards um unfortunately fail to take the time to bring someone on board properly. Um provide training. We at OSBA offer um their postelection workshops in January and February. Used
010to be known as board 101. We've revamped it called from election to action. And they'll be held regionally, five different regions around the state. And we also do customized workshops, but that's really essential for new board members. Um, another person indicated we follow all the rules. Our policies are recommended by a company. So, do you use Niola? I'm assuming. So, Niola helps you make sure that your policies are up to date and understands when new laws come out. In particular, House Bill 96 this year where there was probably 40 different changes that needed to be made to policy. So you you do have a company that does the research and provides you with those updates. Um we ask for data from time to time. Mostly it's anecdotal experiences from students and staff. That could be
011one area that you want to work on in terms of improvement. Being very clear what you're looking for in terms of asking for data so that it's not necessarily all anecdotal. Um, someone said, 'I believe it is so because my observations of the collaborative and committed engagement of the board, rarely hearing complaints from the public, which is great, and watching the members attend to the agenda items with dispatch and sincerity is impressive. And then ultimately, we are kept informed by the staff and administrators. So for this particular one which is provide responsible schoolboard governance. Is there anything that you would want to discuss as a group at this point or would you want me to continue on with the next standard? I'll just leave it up to you. Anything you want to add to what
012we've covered so far? Any surprises? Okay. So this particular and we can go back if there is after you process. I'm a processor so I need to think about it a bit. So two of the five um benchmarks that we looked at for this particular standard indicated there was at least one of the board members that felt there was improvement needed. So again just star that and think about that going forward. So moving to standard two um which is set and communicate high expectations for student learning with clear goals and objectives. So this particular standard out of the uh four benchmarks um that we'll be reviewing there were three that at least one person indicated there there might be some room for improvement or you might want to focus in this area. So this was
013not one of them. Um you either indicated that it meets you believe you meet the standard or exceed the standard. And this is all about articulating the conviction that all students can learn and believe the belief as a board that student learning can improve regardless of existing circumstances or resources. Standard two is about leading the development, articulation and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the district community. So here again you have two who indicate they believe you meet the standard. Um two indicating you believe you exceed the standard and then one who indicated that there may be improvement needed there. Um the third is about adopting a collaboratively developed district plan and we talked a little bit about you know this the strategic plan that you're going to be
014working on or you're in the midst of working on focused on learning and achievement outcomes for students. So um again you have the majority of you saying exceeds or meets the standard with um at least one of you saying improvement is needed in this area. And we'll again look at the comments. Finally um ensure non-negotiable goals for student achievement are established and aligned to the district's plan. And I think this really all comes back to as I look at this the need for a plan or an updated plan and making sure that the everything is aligned as we talked about earlier. So um you have uh most believing that you meet the standard, one believing that you exceed this standard, one believing improvement is needed. So here's some of the evidence and answer to the
015question, how do we know it is? So um we are extremely careful that all procedures and rules are followed and no stone is left unturned is one comment. Our strategic plan covers all of these. We meet on a regular basis to discuss and the curriculum director gives updates on achievement. We are in strategic planning mode and learned that our strategic plan is still relevant. We are just not monitoring or measuring our progress and need to do so. So that in in itself is opportunity for improvement as a board and it is as as we talked this summer it's at that governance level which is where you need to stay as a board. again as the newest board member. Well, we we may know who that is with that comment. I can only comment on what
016I've observed and hopefully participated in meaningfully. So, you really do have a fresh perspective um since you haven't been on the board for a number of of years or even months, but um to be able to kind of see things from that perspective and share your observations and the new board member coming on in January will as well. And then evidenced by our feedback from various educators. So that's standard number two. Any questions about that particular standard, the benchmarks or any specific indicators for success? And I will send along and follow up underneath each of these standards in addition to the benchmarks that we have are some specific indicators. for example, um, for standard two, the one that we were just looking at, if we're looking back at one of them that mentioned there might
017be a need for improvement. Um, so, uh, we talked about, let's see, D, this one is ensuring non-negotiable goals for student achievement are established and aligned to district's plan. So um some some clear uh indicators would be things like the board and superintendent agree on non-negotiable student achievement goals and review them regularly. Uh board demonstrates responsibility for student learning by using the district plan and its non-negotiable goals to drive board decisions and actions. Board continually monitors district progress toward non-negotiable goals to ensure they remain the driving force behind every action. So those are some you know getting back down into the specifics I can share those with you as well. >> One comment I wanted to make is number 13 but um in relationship to the community district's view on you know how we're educating
018our students. I think there's a misalignment um I think that we get a lot of comments from the community. It's not the whole of the community but the who are vocal say it can know >> that there's something lacking in what we're offering to the students and then we have parents that are taking their kids out of our schools instead of a private school or elsewhere >> and so I really feel like it would be helpful if we did something intentional you know I don't know if it's a meeting or coffee talk or something to try to be an open communication with community members who feel that um because I don't know that I necessarily agree with that given where I sit, but I'm not going to ignore, you know, what the parents in our
019community are saying. Plus, it is being evidenced by children actually leaving our school district. So, I think it's something that we could address. >> Okay, great. That's a good suggestion for a board goal. Okay, moving on to standard three and this is all about creating conditions for districtwide for student and staff success. So two of the five um of the uh the uh indicators um or the benchmarks under this particular standard have opportunities for improvement listed. This is one of them. So again provide for the safety and security of all students. there's at least one of you students and staff that believes there's an opportunity for improvement there. So, um you know, an example of a board goal might be um to have presentation related to safety and security to review the the safety and
020security plan if you have one in place just to make sure that you're all comfortable with what's in place and you're communicating that to to district and and community members in the district. This one is about employing and supporting quality teachers, administrators and other staff and providing for professional development. And um the majority of you believe that you meet the standard with one indicating that uh that you believe you exceed the standard. So again, it's not that you ignore these, but it's good for you if if this time next year you go through this process and somebody says, "We really need to focus on this. something's happened to cause us to look at it for improvement. You may switch your attention to this particular um piece instead of the others that we've talked about that
021need improvement this year. Um this one is about providing for learning essentials. So rigorous curriculum, technology, and highquality facilities. And uh again you have the majority believing that you meet the standard with um one indicating that you believe you exceed the standard and another indicating that improvement may be needed in this area. And then finally ensuring management of the organization but this would be the district operations and resources for an efficient and effective learning environment. and um you believe that or you stated that you believe you either meet or exceed this particular um expectation. Oh, I guess then one more under standard three. That's right. Adopt and monitor an annual budget that allows resources or allocates resources based on your vision, your goals, and your priorities for student learning. And when I served on the
022board, what I loved about our strategic plan was that it did provide that alignment for us. We were able to identify those key pillars, priorities, goals and objectives and allocate our resources accordingly. So it made a lot of sense and it was based on the vision, the goals and priorities that you set in the planning process. So um in terms of how do we know it is so um one of you indicated we address all needs as they arise. Um someone stated several of our buildings are old security is lacking. So this may get to that issue of needing improvement in the area of safety and security. We have quality staff but subs especially long-term subs are often unable to teach the subjects that they are covering for. So there's uh interpretation or impression that
023that's the case. The youth truth survey shows that students want more rigorous work. We're able to pay for all of our projects each year. We just need to better manage our specials and extracurriculars. Someone's referencing previous answers and then financial and facilities updates. So any comments or questions about this particular standard? I think this standard has a lot of things that we're currently working on, like we're working on the new middle school building. Um, we just had a big meeting about IB at both the middle school and high school level. Um, feel like rigorous curriculum is something that came up a lot in our strategic plan update. So, I feel like these are all things that we're currently working on >> and that's great, you know, and so then just continue to say you want
024to get updates and you want to discuss how things are progressing. So, um, that's good to hear. That could all be aligned to them. Um, standard four out of the five is hold school district accountable for meeting student learning needs. So, when we take a look at this standard, there was one out of the three um, benchmarks that indicated that you needed some improvement perhaps. And this was the first one. commit to continuous improvement in student achievement at each school and throughout the district. So again, there's five of you. The majority of you believe you exceed expectations here. Um there's one that believes you meet the standard and another that believes you need improvement in this area. So there's a bit of a disconnect again, but just need to make sure that whoever indicated we
025need to improve in this area is getting the information they need and that you may have that discussion among yourselves about how um you can do that. This one is evaluate the superintendent treasure on clear and focused expectations. Uh the m majority of you believe that you meet or exceed the expectations. So if you're doing um superintendent evaluations, treasurer evaluations on a regular basis and again those should be aligned with the strategic plan and aligned with priorities and with board goals as well. 4C is measure student academic progress and needs based on valid and reliable assessments. Um you believe that you either meet or exceed the standard in this area. And then the evidence, the comments that we received, we all we use all the required testing. I wish we could put less testing on
026our students, devote more time to instruction. That's a common theme around the state and across the country. We use a variety of tools to access students and use all of that information to provide tutoring to students and training to teachers. We are doing all of these things. I believe the perception is that we're not. So, we all know perception is reality. And to your comment, there may be some comments that you hear in the community by a few, you know, the the loud or vocal minority of folks that are commenting that they don't believe that you're doing this. So, that's still important. I mean, you're you're weighing public opinion. Um, it's likely that the majority of the folks out there don't have that feeling or thought, but it's an opportunity for you to be transparent,
027to have perhaps opportunities to meet with, you know, have coffee chats or make yourself available um with the superintendent. Two board members at a time doesn't constitute a meeting. So you could, we used to do this in our district where we would offer maybe on a quarterly basis um to send some time out, advertise it widely, say we're going to meet at a local coffee shop or someplace that's a lo local gathering place, just with no agenda, just to answer questions and just to provide information. That could be a goal. I've had the honor of watching our treasur and superintendent attend to the data and systems that assure progress in Oberlin schools. their work is thorough and timely presented to the board and the public. So, kudos to the superintendent and treasurer. Um, school report,
028I believe that it's meant to be cards. I didn't change I didn't edit. Um, and family feedback. So, um, that's evidence in terms of of your belief in this area. Any comments or or questions here? >> The only thought that I have and I, you know, haven't asked recently evidence of this is I know that our district works hard um to make sure that each one of our high school seniors graduates and they put in specific efforts to support specific students and I just know that I would like to see that happen for rigger as well. I know personally and I'm I'm quite old at this point, but when I was in public school, there was several people who kind of took me by the hand and said, "Hey, you look like you could do
029this. You look like you can do that." And then they kind of push me towards it. >> And so, I don't know if we're doing that in the district, but I think that might be a way for us to address some of this disconnect between how much rigor. I think we do an awesome job of providing many different ways of students um learning. It's not all just IB. It's not just uh honors, you know, we have vocational schools and we have all these other things, college credit plus and you know, all these different ways for students to kind of stretch themselves in the way that they're interested in. And I think that's awesome. But when you talk about rigor, I don't think people equate that to rigor. >> Yes. Yeah. Yep. And again, that could
030be part of a communication plan to to make sure that you are communicating that and explaining that thoroughly to the community. I really like your suggestion of having a couple of board members meet with the public every once in a while just to take the temperature, you know, and see if there's something that people want to talk about. >> Yeah. Just so and and that, you know, oftentimes boards only do that when they're getting ready to place an issue on the ballot. And this is something that in in our opinion a best practice is it should be done on a regular basis regardless to show transparency to gather feedback and input to be able to address myths that are out there that aren't true. >> And um you know you can you can try it
031see if it works see how many folks you get to attend. You could also um do board reports. You may already have something like this, but putting information out um to the community and um a state of the district type of address that you may do already with the city and our in our community. We had a it was the state of the community address every January. Is that something that you do here? That's great. So, doing all sorts of different things to reach all sorts of different people is a good idea. So this really does get to engaging the community um in terms of uh the final standard it's engage local community and represent the values and expectations they hold for their schools. So in this particular or with this particular standard there were
032three out of the four um benchmarks there was at least one person that indicated there might be an opportunity for improvement. Um not this first one. This first one is collaborate with families and community members responding to diverse interests and needs and mobilizing community resources. So you all agreed that you either meet or believe that you either meet or exceed the standard. Um this next one is to ensure school board and district transparency through a process that is open and accountable. And again what we were just talking about can get to that. um the majority of you believe you either meet or that or this is one that's a little different. Two of you believe improvements needed in that area and we have talked about this a bit. So um that makes sense with two
033of you believing you exceed one believing that you meet the standard. But transparency is one of those things that no matter what you do, there's always going to be some folks that believe that you're not being transparent or communicating sufficiently in in the district. So, it's something that we hear repeatedly around the state and um we do have a communication plan template. I don't know if you have a communication plan or communication director. I think you do, but just to make sure that you're addressing, you're identifying the various stakeholders in the community. You're addressing them um getting them information the way they like to receive information. Not everybody is on social media, Facebook, or goes to the district website. and we have different generations at work side by side. So, we just need to make
034sure that we're doing what we can um through our communications expert to to reach these these folks. The next is ensure district information and decisions are communicated widely. Another area where there's, you know, some who believe we exceed expectations here and um someone who believes there might be an opportunity for improvement as we've talked about. and then solicit input from staff and a wide spectrum of the community so that a diverse range of interests and perspectives on issues is considered and there are there were two that indicated that improvement might be needed in this area and this could co go anywhere from you I don't know if you do surveys you know of the community surveys of staff um just making sure that you um get input um to understand what the issues may So,
035some comments related to the question about evidence. How do we know it is? So, um one comment, we go out of our way to make sure communication is happening and when parents raise an issue, um it is addressed at the very next board meeting. So, you know, again, you want to make sure you're following your chain of command. If you have a a parent raise an issue, um it's something that you need to make the connection. As we talked about this summer, your role as a board member is not to resolve the issue. Your role is to connect with the superintendent who will take take it from there and, you know, figure out if it truly is an issue. Um, while we provide a wide range of community events, they are not always well attended.
036Surveys are often filled out by families with similar backgrounds. Some information is sent out to students and families, but other districts are more transparent. How do we become more fiscally transparent? We're improving communication through newsletters and social media, but there's a lot of information that people are interested in that's not easily available. Again, an opportunity there to brainstorm, think of ways that you can do what you can to be as transparent as possible. Um, and uh improving communication. We do surveys. There's a there is lots of wrong information the community relies on, which is part of our culture. or the district could be more transparent. Administration tends to downplay even the smallest things creates a lack of trust in my opinion. So that's something to pay attention to. Um and those are things that you
037know as soon as as as trust is lost it really creates issues in a community. So do whatever you can to demonstrate that you're sharing information that you want to hear from the community that you want their input and that you're being transparent. The board is committed to transparency at every school board meeting. both faculty, staff, and the public have an equal and unfettered opinion to address issues before the board. More moreover, the board's active participation on the ad hoc town and gown committee is an excellent way to engage with and welcome the community to further monitor commitment to community involvement. And because you have Oberlin here, um, you know, the university, the college, I was on the Westerville board of education. We had Otterbine. And so that town gown relationship really helped, um, build
038community trust and build confidence in our board of education. So it's great that you have that opportunity here. And then someone just mentioned staff and community feedback. Um, were ways in which you know that that uh that that's the evidence that you you have So um currently at least on your website your vision your mission um this may stay the same this may change depends on whatever process that you're going through but these are the foundational pieces as you know um that support the priorities that you establish and ultimately the goals that are set for the district for the superintendent for the treasure and for the board itself. These were the four strategic pillars that are in the 2018 plan. And I'm using this as an example because I'm not sure if this is what
039you're going to be using going forward. But when we identify board goals, we want to align the board goals not only to the standards, but to the overarching strategic pillars or strategic goals. And this is one way to do that for the board. as you spend some time thinking about, you know, what are two or three goals we want to set for the upcoming calendar year or for the remainder of this academic year. And so we listed we you abbreviated this five standards that we just reviewed. And then across the top you would list things like educational programming, student and family support, facilities and finance communication and then what is something that the board could do that not only supports the standard in terms of improving but also aligns with the goals that you have
040the overarching goals and the board goals are for the board itself. So, it's uh it's not something that you want to do specific to the district, but it's how can we manage our meetings better? How can we communicate more clearly to the public? How can we be meet the public where they are at, you know, having these types of coffee chats? Those are the kinds of things that we're talking about. So um what our board did in area of community engagement which was the area that we saw the need for most improvement we um even went beyond having the quarterly coffees meet and greets. Um we wanted to establish an event calendar of key events in the community and make sure that there was board representation or attendance essentially. So, we had Rotary, we had
041Kowanas, we had Lions Club, we had the Chamber of Commerce, we had um events at Otterbine University, and there's a lot of events in in communities, but I'm talking about like the big major ones. And that was a that was a realistic goal for us to say, let's identify what these key events are, what these key civic organizations are. Let's make sure that we kind of divide and conquer. Some of you may belong to these things already or attend these these events already, but let's just make sure that we're covering our bases, that we're representing, that we're visible, and that we have the ability to share information about the district. And that worked really well for us. So, that might be something you consider. And this might be a way to to structure it. So,
042as far as staying on track, um each year, um typically boards will review the mission and the goals, and I would throw the vision in and values if you have them. Set performance objectives and make sure they're aligned with the goals and the standards. Have a couple of formative discussions throughout the year. So, put this back on your agenda with your goal. You know, one of your goals is to establish quarterly meetings with the public. How are we doing? you know, who went, how many people attended, what was the topic, what were key issues that were mentioned, and how are we going to address those? And then at the end of the year, if you're doing this on a, you know, we're kind of closing in on winter here, but if you're doing this again
043at the end of the academic year, then you have a summit of discussion to reflect back and to think about what have we accomplished, which is great. And then looking forward, what do we want to carry forward or what do we want to do differently if we weren't able to um to meet all of our goals and expectations? Um or again, take the assessment, compare it to your baseline assessment, see what's improved, see maybe some things that have changed that need improvement, and then establish some new goals. So, these are just some examples of of what you would be talking about as you're doing a formative assessment. um trying to make sure you're determining how your progress is related to your objectives. Are you improving in all of the five standards? Um discuss any challenges.
044Adjust expectations. If you were, you know, back in 2020 and you're a board and you established a a lot of, you know, two or three board goals and then there's something come called a pandemic that comes along, you're going to have to pivot and that's understandable. So there may be things that get in the way of you being able to accomplish these goals, but as long as you're transparent, you have these discussions and you're open about it, then it's it's completely understandable. And then again at the end the summit of assessment is more um just you might do an individual reflection come back together have a full board discussion um review the self assessments as we are tonight and then create um you know a summit of assessment that represents consensus and what you're going
045to be doing as a board. So all of these things ultimately are tied together and that's what you know I I get really jazzed about strategic planning. It seemed like when I um when I observed my board before I ran for the board, I appreciated the fact that there were many different types of plans there was, but it was it was not fully aligned. So once we did that and we were able to establish, you know, put our resources behind that, which made decision- making easier for the board um because it's part of your plan. So, um, this really all comes together and you're able to determine, um, what you're going to do in terms of goals, your action steps, who's accountable, what the timeline is, and then any evidence of success. So, any any
046questions at this point? I've kind of run through it quickly, but any questions or surprises or comments about the results of your self assessment? I guess I was surprised how varied our answers were. I thought that we >> I guess I I thought we were going to agree more. >> And there were quite a few that you did, you know, you agreed on. There are some areas that there may be one or two people that said, you know, I think we could improve. And it's all different perspectives, which is what makes a board great >> because you're coming at it from different perspectives and different levels of experience and different segments of the community. So, um, you know, I would take that as as a positive and, uh, figure out what you can do to
047to try to improve in those areas. And this would be a good thing to share with your new board member. Just, you know, if if you're doing an orientation, however that works, but just this is where the board saw themselves or sees themselves and what they and then have a discussion about what you want to work on and actually put some goals down um, going forward. So that's something we would have to do in a board meeting >> or we'd have to have another work session >> to do. >> Sound like a great retreat initiative too as well. >> Yeah. Get our initiatives gather vision and all looking at the data. It's a great retreat activity. >> Absolutely. >> You could do a self assessment prior to and then bring it all together. Do that
048at the retreat. >> Yeah. I guess I wish we had done this before we had our retreat this summer. But now, and this is definitely the first time we've done this since I've been on the board. >> Yeah. Um, well, definitely for YouTube videos. >> Um, >> yeah. I don't know about Rosa. >> So, I guess I'm just really glad that we did this. I feel like it is sort of a lot of information to digest. Um, but I guess I'd love like if we can all like think about the things and then come up with an action plan or decide on which things we want to work on. So many things. And you can, you know, if there's someone on the board that's passionate about this, that person can take the lead and can
049draft or suggest some goals to the board and then have some discussion and and uh determine whether or not those are the goals that you want to settle on. But having them in writing, reviewing them regularly at board meetings um again will help you to move forward. It's it's all about improving and improvement. So, you've taken a really good first step and you'll, you know, you'll get into a rhythm. You know, I know we had the retreat and um or the workshop that I did. I don't know if you considered that your retreat, but that um get that all aligned with the assessment piece and as you move forward, it would make more sense >> and then your strategic plan will be in place, too. Not many boards do this. So, congratulations for taking the
050initiative to to do that. We're starting to see a few more um realize that they too need to assess theirelves and how they're working with one another and the district and um get feedback from the superintendent, get feedback from the treasurer um because you are one big leadership team and you're here for the kids. That's the bottom line. >> You'll be able to send this to us electronically as well. I can do that. glad to go over with my team as well. >> Absolutely. And then if that you find anything that you have questions about, feel free to reach out at any time. >> Thank you. >> All right. Anything else you want to talk about this evening? >> Well, I'm just wondering um how how do we present this to our new member? You
051know, it's too bad that she wasn't here tonight. >> Yeah. Um, how are you handling the an orientation of your new member? Is it something that you're you're scheduling meetings for the new member with the superintendent? A lot of times the le the superintendent will take the lead and this is something the superintendent, the board president, um, whoever the president is at the beginning of the year and vice president even could sit down and review. Um, I'd be happy to to take a call with the person if that helps to walk through it and explain, you know, they're going to be feeling like they're drinking out of a fire hose unless they've been really really engaged. >> So, I could help explain what these where these standards originated, what they're used for, what the purpose
052is. We have an orientation checklist that I can also share that's helpful for new board members. Um, >> I think that would be helpful. >> Sure, I can send that along. >> Yes. the I just noticed your uh flyer, the strategic planning service. Can you tell us some more about that? >> Yeah, so we do offer strategic planning services um with uh and we work with districts all around the state. There's I'm working with a couple of districts right now, Lake um and West Carolton. But um this involves um designing a strategic plan that would include bringing people together that that you would identify that would you would invite them to be part of what we call the core team which is the strategic planning team. We have sometimes as many as 40 to 50.
053And um so we would have a design team which would typically includes the superintendent, some of your administrators, treasure, maybe a couple of board members to meet and to plan. And then we have four core team meetings where basically like once a month or once every six weeks where we bring all these people together and we go through the process of looking at the current vision, the mission, the values. um there's a state of the school address with information that's presented. Then we get into identifying um critical issues and uh roadblocks that could potentially get in the way of the district being successful in the future and then from there go into identifying um what we call strategic priorities or pillars and then goals specifically um that will help accomplish uh those priorities. So there's
054four meetings and when we invite people or we don't do the inviting you would um but they would need to make a commitment. It's usually a two or three hour meeting commitment in the evening um to and we invite students. It's up to you. But we've had high school students which has just been wonderful some you know having their voice and and their participation and and in the end then um we come up with you know once you affirm your mission or rework it uh vision mission values and then this is on your website the pillars and then we help you um we actually have a new tool that's available um at through a strategic partner that we just ended up um we're working with now, but it's it's an online tool to help manage
055your strategic plan. So, where we stop is, you know, we're here with the the vision, the mission, the values, the priorities, the goals, and then you identify action teams and who's going to be responsible for championing those specific priorities and making sure things are moving along. It's a really the process itself is so important because people really do you know the outcome is too but it people really feel like they have um input and then that leads to ownership and and that's really valuable as you know in the community >> great community exercise. >> We did a big meeting with the community about our strategic plan and updating our strategic plan. Um >> I'm just asking >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but which just made me think that like I don't know that you were
056part of that. Um, probably because we could only have two board members at it. Um and like maybe a work session that we want to have towards the beginning of the year is like where are we on our strategic plan and what are all the things that we're working on and get updates from all the different you know we have different groups of each and I don't know that we've had like a big update lately. Um, I feel like we used to do that kind of like at the end of the school year, but I don't even remember if we had one at the end of last school year. >> Yeah. Well, it really helps guide your decision- making. We're starting to see more and more boards actually list um their vision and their mission
057and their values on their agendas along with uh categories of the strategic priorities, maybe one at a time, but here's what we're doing. If we're focused on facilities and finance, you know, these are the goals. here's how we're starting to move toward achieving those goals. So, and that's what helps not every meeting obviously you have a lot of other business to tend to, but it also helps you to keep that right in front of you and right in front of the public. >> All right. So, I will send you the PowerPoint. I will send you the onboarding checklist. I'm happy to have a conversation with um your new board member. Um also make sure uh that your new board member is aware of the dates of the um our our we used to call it
058board 101. Um it's now called from election to action that they could attend and meet other new board members in your region >> and um then we're happy to come back and do anything customized for you that would help help you move forward. >> I'm lucky to have a secretary that was a former board member as well. >> Oh, that's awesome. So she sends out um all the communications workshops and things forms good. >> Um also our new board member was able to attend OSBA um conferences conference. So that helped a lot. >> Well, I know when I was a new board member, I had no idea that OSBA existed and I was just so relieved when I found it and all the resources that are available as a result of your membership online. Um
059it really helps. It really helps. So we're here to serve you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I just our district I feel like is really great about sending new board members to >> those I know I went and you went and you didn't go yet but because you came out in the middle and I think you guys only offer it at the beginning of the year that >> we offer Yeah, we offer the regional um from election to action the year following the actual election. So, it's every two years, but we also have other I think we've offered it one like a one-day event in the summer. We have a board leadership institute in the spring. So, there's different events and that we could go to. We could also do one-on-one consulting and customized
060workshops. >> Is it available um online recorded anymore? >> There are some that are available online. I can send that information to you as well. >> Yeah. When I joined the board, it was it was dependent. It was like >> Yes. So I watched it. Well, I think it was live actually. >> Yeah, we do coffee chats. We have webinars. We have all sorts of different topics that we'll be talking about. There's one coming up. Someone suggested since um we're moving into a new year that we do. We re revisit the board president's role. So there's a webinar called presiding with purpose and it just talks about the responsibilities of the board president to make sure that's clarified. >> And then there's also those little booklets. Do you still Yeah, we do have those. Um
061and those are available online. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I got several of those from, you know, a colleague. >> Yeah, there's a new board member toolkit that has five of those booklets. Um, so with through your board services fund or whatever, you would be able to to do that if you're interested. >> Certainly any board members, Charlotte, I know you came on kind of in the middle. Um, if you'd like to attend any of those workshops, let us know. We'll glad to see you there as well. >> Okay. >> Very helpful. >> Okay. Well, thank you. It was good to see all of you and I hope to see you again soon. Any other comments, questions related to the board self assessment? Okay. Next, we have our future meetings are November 25th, which is next
062this coming Tuesday. It's a regular meeting, but it is at 5:30 p.m. and it will be at Langston Middle School. We will do a tour of Langston Middle School first, our annual tour, and then we will um move into our regular board meeting. And then the last board meeting of the year is December 16th, which will be 6 at 6 PM back here. Oh gosh, I'm not on. Oh no. Okay, so what I said was should I re Yeah. Was it picking it up or should I? >> Okay, good. Um, so I'll start with the December 16th again, but our last board meeting of the year is December 16, 2025. It's a regular meeting 6 PM here at the elementary school. Um, the meeting before that, November, which is this next Tuesday. Coming Tuesday is
063here is at Langston Middle School. That's what I said before. Um, so with that, any questions, comments on the meetings? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> It's properly moved and seconded. Uh, please call the RO. >> Miss Anderson White. >> Yes. >> Miss Gats Miss, >> excuse me. Miss Garrett, >> yes. >> Miss Dagel, >> yes. >> Missa, >> yes.