001to add to is that I know a district who does a board report after every board meeting that they share with their staff and then they have a different version that they share with the community, not with different content, but just with a different audience in mind. Um, and so board meetings for that district become the uh the prompt for a new kind of message out to the community. And when the board meeting agenda is about strategic plan, right, then you're hitting that um and and and in addition to talking about what the board's um goals and etc. are um and then yes, sometimes this work is intricate and complicated. I see you Renee. Right. And so that's where that clarity piece comes in. How can we make things clear? Um the other is that
002some of them are hard to measure. And so that accountability or oversight role that you all play is really key. If it's hard to measure how you're doing on a goal, it's going to be hard to provide oversight on it. So, um posing more questions about how we can measure this could be an approach um to hearing from district staff. Um that Yeah, Kelly, absolutely. Um and I think I'm going to move us along to the next slide. Thanks everyone for sharing and for doing some question asking if it makes sense in your in your context. >> Okay. So um as we said your core values, your mission and your vision are really well encapsulated in a school district strategic plan. And this is a this is both an important document for you as well
003for providing that roadmap for the organization, making it very clear uh to your community what is going on, why you're making the decisions that you're making, how you're planning for it. Um, and it's also an incredibly helpful tool for you as a board member to not feel like you're constantly um, reacting to things instead of being able to be proactive. uh I found in in our district that was re it was we leaned on it a lot in our uh district and on our board when we were making budget decisions because you have to make sure that for each year of the plan whatever the the action plans are that you're going to be engaging in that you have funding that's going to be able to make that happen. Uh it helped us uh when
004we had to do budget cuts um so that our community could see what we were prioritizing and that we were prioritizing what the plan had been um had identified. And we had a lot of confidence in doing that because we had really strong community engagement um as a part of the process. And that's really helpful for you as a board member uh when people are questioning why you're doing what you're doing to be able to say we are doing this based on the input we received from our community. So um in it is important that you're keeping them up to date. Um they tend to run for four to five years. Uh and you definitely if it's coming up if you go back if you're curious it's like what year are we in in our
005plan? um you want to be doing the work the last year of the plan getting ready for the next plan to take effect. You do not want to have a gap there. And I've found that that happens far too often and it's um you know quite frankly that happens when the board has not been keeping that the plan front and center. And so one of your strategies as a board um to make sure that you're doing the things that are aligning your resources and your decisions to support your strategic goals is that you have calendared in um that you are on a monthly basis getting a review and an update on one part of the plan which mean and usually those are broken out into like four or five different sections. So you are hearing
006what is going on more than once during the year so that you can be doing your monitoring and evaluation process. So the question has come up um and it's a great question about uh on point number four here an opportunity connect and learn from and engage your community in the work of the district. It is absolutely critical that you have um a group of people who represent the diversity of your community a part of this plan. uh in smaller communities, uh you're going to have a smaller group. And so the the challenge uh becomes, okay, uh who wears multiple hats that we can pull into this? And you absolutely need representation from your students, from staff, from parents, from the um different staff uh administrators, people, the people who are going to be actually implementing
007this plan, different um members of your community, uh your business community, your faith community. Uh every every community is different. You know, who are the people or the entities that uh have a a strong influence? Sometimes you'll have a city council member on there. I said each each community is is different, but you really want to make sure that you've got that kind of representation on there. And I will put out there because this makes people uncomfortable sometimes. You want to make sure that there are some people on the your committee that are not supportive of the district or who have not been supportive of the district in the past. And I can share with you that nine times out of 10, these are the people who will become some of your biggest supporters. Uh
008because they now understand the why. You know that uh there there's a reason behind the way some things are done and they've now had a part in creating something and so they definitely um will want to be out there in the community helping support it. And again, this is part of the ripple effect of that community engagement is you can't be everywhere all the time. Neither can your superintendent and your other staff. So, you've now created a group of um people who can also be advocates for you and help people um understand what the district's um mission, vision, and goals are. Uh one superintendent shared with me that uh he was so thrilled with the outcome of it because it brought people to the table who weren't necessarily normally there and he now had a
009a new group and an expanded group of people who were asking what they could do to support the district and be engaged uh because it had been a positive experience when they were when they were doing that. So, uh, again, those are, uh, we could go into a little more depth about that, but I wanted I hope that responded to the the questions about what are some strategies for this. Um the other thing that's really really really really important um is that when you have the small steering committee group, you've got to have somebody in it who has communications responsibilities in the district because the communications piece of this is critical for keeping people updated about the status, how things are going. Um they should be putting out a report every year to the community.
010This is what we accomplished. this is what is coming up this year. So the um uh that having that communications person very involved in the process so that they understand it and are hearing the conversations is important. >> Okay. >> Can I just I'll just add Mary um um we've had a few folks share in the chat about what their district's doing and that it tends to be kind of an outsider um you know consultant that's supporting them. Um and it looks like in some cases the new a new superintendent is using the opportunity to kind of through onboard meetings um uh gain input from the community. So um sounds like uh we have some examples in the room of folks doing this work um in their district right now. So that's great. >> Awesome.
011Um, and I also wanted to just share I'm going to put a link um that the resource um that you all uh were that was shared with you during the newsletter um on March 1st that is all about kind of why do a strategic plan and so some of the content that Mary's going to mention next um is also in that resource. So I'm just going to put that in the chat. Go for it Mary. >> Okay, great. So we can go move on to the next slide. So, just very quickly from um some of the research that we did as we were pulling together the um the guide book for doing strategic planning um came from a a really great um literature review um for a school district in New York that I thought
012did a fantastic job of defining what strategic planning is. So, it is it's a process that draws together the thinking of your community and gives stakeholders an opportunity to articulate their hopes for the future of their schools, address issues that need attention, and come to consensus on priorities. Your strategic plan describes the future rather than the past. And the goals are designed around improving our students experiences. They go on to um say uh on the next slide please that your plan establishes a path to accomplish the district's desired future through your vision, mission, and core values. So some you're seeing repeated language here. There's a reason for that. Um the process allows the district to define and understand its curriculum, instruction, assessment, finances, other needs. Um often uh a long-term uh plan related to construction
013and facility needs can be a part of this. Um the plan defines spec specific priorities, allows districts to work together to establish and accomplish goals, objectives, and activities. So, there's a lot contained in your strategic plan that helps you accomplish the different areas um on one of our first slides um the six areas that a a board member um has some responsibility for. Next slide, please. So, how does Orion align with our Washington state board standards and research? Um next slide. So, this is um you should all have this Washington school board standards booklet. if you don't, it is on the WASDA website. It is a fantastic document um that has been well researched and third-party validated and in fact there are other um states that that use this um because it really shows the
014the five areas that when that research shows when boards are doing this, you will be seeing student achievement um increase. you absolutely have a role uh in that. Um so uh these are the five standards listed here. Um not going to go into all of them except to say that the uh the strategic planning tool or lever is incorporated across all five of them. Um and so that was uh really kind of exciting to see as we were focusing on this and um the uh the different um practices that are were identified in the research are documented in great deal um in great detail in the the booklet and it is absolutely um focused on best practices around what boards do and how to do that work. Go on to the next slide please. So
015one of the standards I am going to highlight is standard two um uh the set and communicate high expectations for student learning clear goals and plans meeting those expectations. Um next got some animations in here. We can just put them all up. Um and one of the the benchmarks is adopting and a collaboratively developed district strategic plan that is focused on your teaching and learning and achievement outcomes for each and every student. Um so we can just go ahead and put all of the uh you can do all of the animations on this. Um it goes through this is this particular standard has quite a bit um that is related directly to strategic planning. I want wanted to highlight um number 2C3. Uh it's it is your role as a board member to ensure that
016the community is a participant in the process that they understand the strategic plan as it was adopted and that they are aware of how it's going. Um again the continuous updates um to to let people know. With this in mind, your um strategic plan process can play a role in improving community relationships with the district and the board. Um so again that that engagement with them there are multiple reasons why you want to do it and lots of um positive outcomes from that. Um on 2C4 um when you are um basing your policy development decision-making and budgeting on the plan this allows you to be proactive rather than reactive. And I know that that was something that especially as a new board member, it just felt like I was getting hit by a fire hose
017of things and I was constantly trying to catch up. And so being able to have this road map was incredibly helpful um to to help us feel that we were the ones in the driver's seat like we were supposed to be because it was laid out for us. Um and then the um 2C5 uh the monitoring and of the implementation of it as a board role is really important and if any of you have been involved in strategic planning processes in other spaces um you're probably very aware that implementation is where things fall apart. You can have this great plan, great framework, everything's there um but the implementation piece uh falls flat. And this is again another reason why it's really important that you're getting a monthly review of at least one section of your
018plan um because it's keeping things um front and center um and not allowing that implementation piece to go by the wayside. And you know, let's be honest, there's a lot of competing um interests and issues that are going on in school districts, but it's there was a reason why the plan was designed the way it was. And so it's um important to keep your foot on the pedal and the board has a a huge role in that by ensuring that it's being reviewed on a regular basis. Um next slide please. So um again um I had mentioned that we did a lot of research looking into strategic planning as we were putting ours together and it probably won't surprise any of you that u a large percentage of it is focused on business entities um
019which is a different um kind of um strategic planning. Yes, there are common elements but in most businesses you don't have the community engagement piece um because you have multiple audiences and you are responsible for public dollars. Uh so by definition you need to be having a lot more eyes looking on what you are um doing and it is very helpful and definitely recommended that you do have somebody from the outside as a neutral partner partner to be your facilitator for this. They can raise questions um that you might not be able to internally. They can see things um from uh different viewpoints um and they can say some things that people uh in a system might hesitate uh to bring up and then you just don't have the kind of dynamics and and that
020that exist if somebody within the district is doing it. And oftentimes that would fall on your superintendent. um or somebody who actually really needs to be able to be a full participant in the process um and having an outside facilitator allows them to do that. The small core team that I mentioned briefly before this focus uh this center this acts as a steering committee for you and really really key people um to help with some codees. Um when I do this I going in as a facilitator I I always rely on this steering committee because I have the content knowledge and they have the local expertise. This is their community and so ensuring that their voices are there that um we're planning things in a way that's going to work for the community and again
021having someone who is really um engaged in and has responsibility for communications is key to this process. Uh next slide please. The research also um says that um the implementation and the monitoring piece that I've talked about Oh, it's going in slower. Okay. But we'll we'll do the implementation and the monitoring. I I can't emphasize this enough. Again, I've been through enough strategic planning processes in different um settings to know that this part is this is the long haul piece. This is the stuff you'll be doing um as you're going through each of the four to five years of the plan. and how it keeps on on track. Fortunately for us, again, this is considered a key responsibility of boards to be doing evaluation and monitoring of what's going on to be able to meet
022your goals. So, I'll I'm I'm going to say it multiple times. This is you just need to be calendaring in that you are getting a monthly review of at least one section of your plan so that you can be continuing to make adjustments. Um, and it and if you've calendared it in, whoever is going to be doing that presentation, they know exactly when it's coming up. This is no surprise to your staff. They know what to plan for. Um, and again, emphasizing that your broad community representation um is key. Uh again, given the unique nature of a school system, the multiple audiences that have legitimate um and valid um claims to be a part of your process since you are stewards of public dollars. And again, I I've just found that it gave me a
023lot of confidence as a board member doing a process that represented our community um so that I could as people were questioning some things be able to say with confidence we are doing this because this is what the community has told us they want. Next slide. So the four phases of strategic planning um and this is laid out in the the um guide book that we've put together. Um won't go into a lot of detail a lot of on a lot of this but the planning and data analysis is really that that first one is um one where you see not as much board involvement engagement because this is an operations function. So this is where your facilitators working with the superintendent and their their team um and the steering committee. But then on the
024community engagement um through listening sessions which are very very powerful um and again done by an outside facilitator. I actually quite been uh shocked uh at how much people was will share with me because I don't have um skin in the game. I don't have uh baggage that I'm bringing into it. I'm there to help ensure that you're doing a process that's going to be reflective of your community um that you can be moving forward with. But these listening sessions are critical and you will see in the um outline that these take place before you've had a single one of your committee meetings. You are going you need to be bringing this qualitative information into the meeting space along with your quantitative your data uh because that shows people this is an authentic process. When
025you do it this way they will know that decisions have not already been made um and that their input is being considered at the front end of any conversations around your strategic plan. Then you're doing your plan framework creation, which is the core values, your mission, your vision, identifying what the categories are, and it's usually four to five. Um and then a short narrative that clarif under each category that clarifies the intent um of what uh you want to see staff doing as they are the ones who then after the board approves the framework will be moving forward and developing the action plans, the timelines, who's responsible um for taking the lead in different areas um who will also be the people reporting back to you. And then the um this fourth part which is
026what you'll be doing every month your ongoing uh progress monitoring for the next several years. Okay. And now I'm going to turn it back over to Heather >> and Rats me actually. >> Oh sorry. >> Yes. Thank you Mary. Really appreciate it. Um we are closing out our our session for um the new director gathering. So, thanks again for everyone being here. So, we'll um give some time um to look at what's coming up and um address any questions um at the end here while Heather and I will have to bop on over to uh leadership. Um Mary will be available for uh to stay um a little bit longer on the gathering just so you know. Um so looking ahead, our next gathering or first our med um newsletter will come out on April
0271st. Um and we should have a link for you um to sign up, but unfortunately um I forgot to Oh, no, it should be it's in there. Okay, it's from our in one of our um uh messages and Heather will drop that in the chat for you to sign up and then you'll also have an opportunity to sign up for a couple of other um for the the gatherings and then the newsletter that directly to your inbox. So, so that's a way for you to to get that communication. Um if for whatever reason you are not getting other communications um feel free to also reach out and we can make sure that you we have an updated email address and adding you to those um to those communications. Thank you Heather for putting that in
028the chat. Um and then our next gathering with Maya, one of our other leadership uh development consultants um is next month on Thursday. Um same time, same Zoom link. So, um, again, if you need to save this to your calendar so it's easier for you to to pop up instead of reregistering or you can just sign up on the same link that you did to get to here today. Um, and then looking ahead um, spring regional meetings are getting um, started here shortly. So, feel free to check our website and the web page here. Um, and again, that'll be dropped in the chat for you to to check in um an regional meeting that's coming near you. So, feel free to check those available dates and and the times and it's a great way for
029for you to see us at WA's staff and be able to put some names to the faces uh in person. So, thanks Heather for putting that in the chat. And I'll just add, it's just a wonderful opportunity to connect with other board members in your director area where um you may not have a chance to um you might be dealing with similar concerns kind of that are more local. Um you get to hear kind of how other boards have problem solved some of those issues and just learn um some kind of professional development from colleagues um in your region. So it's a really great opportunity and it's not too expensive. It's really just for dinner. Um, so it's a lowcost way to get some PD and some networking. >> Yes, it's really it's really fun.
030It's just a great way to have a social opportunity to see everyone. And Carson, thanks for sharing. You opted to go to region one to connect. I love that. Yeah, connecting with a different group since you're on the sharing the same board. I love that being able to cross u cross, you know, pollinator across the areas. Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping to like be able to work better with Snomish County in the things that they change that affect us and maybe meet some other people who have to deal with Snomish County too. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. You're w you're welcome to go to any um regional meeting. So, it's wonderful, Carson. And we also want to just encourage you to um encourage your student reps to come. We have a student component um
031to it and we're really um uh encouraging. We just know that u whenever there's a student present in a space, it's elevated, right? because their perspectives and insights are really great. So, do some encouraging of student reps as well. >> Yeah, great idea, Heather. Thanks. Yeah. So, try to go to other areas and encourage your your student reps to come to the uh regional meetings. And then, uh also looking further ahead into the summer, uh we are offering our in-person leadership academy on those two dates. It's a Friday and Saturday in um in August. And again, we'll be offering um deciphering the district budget um a financial uh training and then um advancing inclusion through belonging. We offered um those two uh in our virtual offering in February and then uh serving as a board
032chair and discovering educational disparities. Heather, you want to add um on the the offering for a board chair more about that? >> Sure. This is um it it may not track for this group because some of you are just kind of learning and we don't recommend beingcome a board chair until you've um until you know you've been doing the work for a bit, but this is basically um based on request because so many board chairs or folks who know they need to be a board chair eventually or soon um really want some support. They want some networking. They want to learn from one another, share um input, ideas. So this is a initiative that we're taking where we're going to have kind of a longer workshop um to support those who are serving or hope
033to serve as a board chair. And the others are discovering discovering educational disparities and advancing inclusion through belonging. Both um uh taking both will um uh help you complete your RCW required equity training as a schoolboard member. So if you just come for both of those then you get the CS and you're all done with that requirement. Awesome. Thank you. Um and to close us out, just a reminder, we are here to support you. We all um appreciate the time and that you are attending these gatherings. And um thank you to Mary for being our very special guests for our our March meeting this month. Um so you can always view our up um upcoming trainings and events on this link. Um and again, Heather and I um are available via um email. feel free
034to reach out and connect with us with any questions or um other opportunities that um you have questions about uh regional meetings or trainings and and other upcoming events that we have. Um are there any questions for either myself, Heather, or Mary? Okay, I don't think there were any questions in the chat or >> I don't see any. >> Uh, yeah, >> I just see lots of resources we shared. So, there's a lot to read, >> lots to read through and thank you. Yes, thanks Renee, Natalie for being here. Oh, great as always. We so appreciate you all is um coming back to the gatherings again. We'll um have our next one in April. Uh so, uh please do uh hope to see you all then. Uh if not then we have other exciting events
035coming up that we'll hope to also see you there as well. Thanks Susan. >> We'll see you later then. >> Thanks all. >> Bye everyone. Bye >> bye.