001We have four members here in person and we're going to talk about the strategic vision uh with schoolboard focus group with student education. Can I have a motion to open that up? >> So moved. Motion by Miss Macauen. >> Who I second? >> Second by Dr. Gould. All those in favor? >> I I. >> All right. >> Sarinos. Switch. >> And we'll wait just a couple minutes. We have our superintendent that stepped out for a second, but once she gets here, Mr. Adams, we'll open it up to you. And if anybody sees me texting on my phone, it's just because I'm trying to coordinate transportation for a child. So just FYI, I'll also point out if anything cuts out with the live feed or anything, if power goes out, um there is obviously weather that
002everybody's probably aware of right now. So, if anything cuts out, um, we'll try to get that resumed as quickly as possible. All right, let's go. Go ahead. Let's get started. Thank you for the opportunity to be back in Woodford County. Uh today is uh one of my favorite days in the strategic planning process because we start the work of focus groups and focus groups give us the information gathering and we call this the information gathering phase uh which helps us learn more about the perceptions and priorities. So, we really have four jobs today and I understand that we have a regular board meeting that will begin at 6:00 and so our goal is to be done at 10 minutes till which I I think we can and that'll give you a 10-minute break in between
003the two meetings. Uh so, the four jobs that we have are number one, I'd like to quickly go over the process again. We talked about it at the last meeting, but I'd just like to give you a quick overview of the process and how that works. Number two, you will be participants in focus group number one uh where you will share your perceptions and priorities uh for the work uh and we will have seven meetings tomorrow, six meetings tomorrow I think and Dr. Jones will lead one at a later date uh where we'll get some other stakeholder feedback. The third thing that that is really important is I'd like for you to give us some guidance for tomorrow's work. So, as we go through the work, not to say you are the guinea pigs, but
004you're the first. And so, if we get to a question, you think it would be better if we tweaked that question. It would be more effective if we maybe asked it in a different order and a different way, you feel free to give us guidance so we can make changes for tomorrow to make it more effective. And then uh if there's time, we'll talk about the um community survey which will go out after this round of information gathering and we'll talk I think we'll have time to talk through what the potential questions might look like for the community as we push that out. So, um, quickly through the process, I was here last month and and we got started, but, uh, this is I didn't show you a picture of my family. Um, which I
005think that's important. So, I have spent 34 years in public education. I'm passionate about public education. And, uh, in that little group, I have two daughters. One is an eighth grade English teacher, one is an English language learner teacher, one is a special education teacher and there two are not in education but um that is my family. Uh we are student education. So uh you met us last month. Uh but uh to those of you who are online with us, we partner with school districts uh to work through different processes and systems um really all around the idea of visioning and improvement uh work to make sure that that our local schools are the best possible places for children and families and communities that they can be. Uh we are a nationwide uh organization. Uh
006but we have um 24 or so school districts in Kentucky. It's one of our largest markets. And so there you see the Woodford County schools and that is you. We do several different things. Our first step in the process is really strategic planning. And our goal, and I showed you this timeline before, is to have a strategic plan to you at the January board meeting. I feel like we can have a draft to you for review. And then I like to tell people repeatedly, then the work starts. Sometimes we think, oh, the strategic plan is done, the work is over. But that's not the case. The work is really just beginning once we have that completed. So um in essence a the strategic plan that we'll present to you in January will be short uh
007very likely one page and that will will be what we call the outward facing document which will show the the big priorities the big anchors and the items that will drive our commitment. We think this is important because Forbes tells us that alarmingly nearly half of all organiza organizations achieve fewer than half of their strategic priorities and bless you. >> Excuse me. Thank you. >> We feel like there's a better way to that. Um an important part of the process to us is um to look at the past and the future. And so I tell people, you have to envision yourself as this little red stick figure and and you have one foot in the past and one foot in the future. And there's so many great traditions and things that we love about the
008Woodford County Schools that we would never want to change. But at the same time, we have a an intended future for all of our students and families that we want to move forward. So, we have to have a foot in both of those as we go through the process. I told you that there would be seven different focus groups. And so, here are the groups. Your number one, the board of education will have a focus group um meeting tomorrow with a group of parents, a group of students, a group of administrators, uh some certified staff members, classified staff members, and community leaders. And what we'll gather from that, and Jesse is taking notes, um, and so what we'll gather from that is is just a volume of information that will help guide a steering committee
009as they work to to align and prioritize those notes uh, that'll help us move forward. >> How were the uh, parents selected to participate in this steering committee, steering guide? So we asked for recommendations from our uh leaders, from our school leaders. Um and we tried to make sure that we had a wide representation of different groups. Um for instance, some of the things we really wanted to make sure of is that we had um a grandparent raising >> a student. We had a foster parent that we have um you know just a variety of families represented. Great. >> And those will also um they are also members of my family hive group and they will meet quarterly with me. Yep. Good question. And the good news is is that when we have these face-to-face
010meetings, we'll also put out a survey that will go to the entire community. And so they will have an opportunity to share in input before the steering committee um get well we'll see how when it comes back. It may come back while the steering committee is working but the community will have at large will have an opportunity. uh what we have learned as we go through the strategic planning process is essentially that the the big chunks of the work don't necessarily change whether you were in Versailles Kentucky or Orlando Florida or Honolulu Hawaii and and so we have kind of gotten this from the healthcare industry and so if you look at the healthcare industry they have what they call a quadruple aim which essentially our four areas of focus they're kind of locked in.
011How we achieve those goals based on whether we're in a rural setting or an urban setting or whatever our demographic is may look different but the four primary aims are the same. And so uh with your permission we have started using these as our primary chunks of the work as it were. And so in education essentially if we looked at successful and engaged students as a massive part of our work, skilled and committed teams as a large chunk of our work, parent and community partnerships, uh safe and sustainable operations as maybe four big chunks with safety and security as the foundational piece. and and we will see as the information comes in what bubbles up but ordinarily it will and likely should land in those four areas. Okay, that was a very very quick overview.
012Um do have we have any questions before I start asking you questions and you do the talking? >> Yes, but maybe if you ask the questions mine will be answered so I may hold off. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. So, these are the questions that we will ask all of the focus groups with the exception of the students. The students have a slightly different question list and we'll I'll show you those at the end. Uh so, number one, uh we always start with what what do we love? What is going great with the Woodford County Schools? Uh because we recognize there are so many positive things. So, um please feel free to share. We're capturing notes. Um what do we love? What are the strengths of the Woodford County Schools? our people. >> Thank you.
013>> Y >> students, >> extracurriculars. >> Okay, great. Perfect. >> I would say I'm going to push back on extracurriculars at the elementary school level. I think that's an area of growth, but I think in high school and middle school, those areas are better. Um, I would say one, our buildings have been worked to be improved to be safe and having that that space. Um but I love the kind of echoing on the connection um the strength of our people but the connection that they have to one another be it to each other as a team but also with our kids having that um passion and coming in with caring and commitment every single day for our children and that our kids are able to connect to one another in a safe space as well.
014So I think that's a definitely a positive. >> Thank you. What else? >> Our size Yes, >> I think we're the perfect size. Like, you know, I'm okay with one high school. I don't feel like we need to have multiple high schools and all that. We're just perfect. >> Yeah, we've got the right number. I mean, there may be opportunities shortly for some changes to schools and stuff like that in terms of the number of people that are there, but overall, I think we're a great perfect little size. >> That is really well said. I think when you look at schools across the nation really if you're too small there you miss out on opportunities. If you're too big you become anonymous and so there is that little sweet spot >> where you're big enough
015to have a lot of opportunities yet you're still small enough that you have these deep connections. >> So that's good. I think we also have really strong partnerships with organizations outside of the school system, with local government, with other types of like youth sports or other types of organizations that really partner well with the school system. >> So community engagement I think is great, >> strong. >> Absolutely. I think small class sizes >> are a benefit for sure as well. >> Thank you. Anything else? I think we have a supportive arts program. I think that, you know, our community is supportive of the arts, our schools are supportive of the arts, and there's opportunities to grow in those areas, too. >> I also think we have like just a really good community in general, really
016good location, really good history. Um, just a lot of of positives and strengths in Woodford County schools. We have a lot of graduates that come back, >> you know. Um, as a Wer County alum myself and Miss Macauen is as well. Um, we leave and maybe go to college and then we return here to raise our families. So, I think that historical p piece is um, super important, but also a lot of our leadership are county graduates as well. >> So, we're giving back to our communities as adults. So your proximity to Lexington, Georgetown, Frankfurt, >> Jim County, >> Jess, you really Nicholasville, you really have >> um what 30 minutes in almost any direction >> to to probably wealth of jobs and opportunities. I'm not a board member, but I will say as a
017newcomer to this community and school system, a history of of excellence and a tradition of excellence is a very large strength of this community and this school system. >> I do too. >> Just a very long history of we're going to be excellent and we're going to do everything we can for our students. >> Do you think the word an expectation Yeah. of excellence. That is >> that's that's the word that goes there. >> I do I actually had that written down when you talked about kind of >> having one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Some things that I had written down, some words that I had written down for the past were the gold standard or top five school district, you know, in the state. So, those are things
018that >> my kids uh my oldest graduated in 2018 and he'd be like, "Mom," and you know, Noah and Luke did too, but >> mom, we're, you know, we're top five district in the state of Kentucky. I mean, they're they're proud of that and they remember that even even though it was a long time ago, >> and I think the opportunities that just having that history and tradition of um excellence really um allowed and afforded our students um is just really kind of amazing to think about. >> I think the other thing too along with that along with academic rigor and history and standards, we also have a strong sports history as well. You know, we were >> um especially wrestling. I remember when I was in school, wrestling was like you got out of
019school to go to state wrestling. It was guaranteed and but now it's expanded so much further beyond that. Um which provides great opportunities for our kids as well and partnerships within the community around um sports and positive child experiences for sure. >> Great. So we're going to do this multiple times tomorrow. I told you it's one of my favorite days because we get to brag on our uh school system and on our people and on our students and on our community and we're just going to hear so many positive things and and it's just going to be kind of uplifting and rewarding. Having said that, we recognize that we're not perfect. >> There's so many great things going on, but we recognize we are not perfect. And so we're transitioning now um to opportunities for
020improvement recognizing that there are so many good things and we could have kept going for 10 15 20 more minutes. But what we're going to do is we're going to look at the the quadruple aim the four different areas. And so we'll go through them one at a time and and this is opportunities for improvement in the following areas. So we're going to start with successful and engaged students. How can we get better? >> I have thoughts on this, but I want others to be able to speak to. I don't want to just be me. >> Um, I don't, that's a good question. I mean, I know that we talk about like, you know, when we get curriculum and instruction updates, we talk about those kids that maybe we're not reaching as well as we
021would like to. So maybe our GAP students or free and reduced lunch students. So I think that's an area that we know we can improve upon and that we can focus on and really help all those kids to be successful. Um so that's one thing that I think of. >> So it's a really good example of how a strategic plan will be able to be done in a one-page document. And so we'll probably surely we'll have one little bullet that says all students will be successful. Well, the strategic plan doesn't identify what that success looks like. It just says all students will be successful. The work of the strategic plan that will come in February will be who makes up the all. Where are we being successful? Where are we falling short? and what would
022a numeric measurable item of success be? And so that's the work that goes ahead. So, so saying statements like that really help us in the work. >> I think additional resources when we have students that are falling behind in some way, whether that's academic, whether that's behavioral, whether that's mental health, I think making sure that we have the resources to support that or if home life maybe could use some encouragement or help from the students or from the schools in any way that we could. There's only so much we can do in in every situation, but just looking at where we could find opportunities to help those family dynamics so that the child is getting enough rest, getting enough to eat, getting enough attention at school when they need it. Um, I think those are
023ways that we can look at increasing success and engagement. >> Thank you. >> I 100% second that. I think when you look at Mazo's hierarchy of needs, a student can't be an engaged and active learner in the classroom unless their basic needs are being met, including their mental health needs. Um I think that is so incredibly crucial to where we need to continue to lean in and offer support. Um one of the areas that I would like to see in that is um specific positions like we have great friskies across our comm our um schools. We have great social workers in our schools and we have a lot of support around that. But continuing to lean into when we look at our hiring practices. I know one thing that I did specifically when I was
024on hiring committees at um for sitebased at Huntertown when we looked at hiring a new guidance counselor that position can be held by an educator which brings a lot of wealth of information from the educational standpoint but also a social worker and when you have multiple needs in those those spaces I think it's really important to maybe even and I know we're in a situation with our budget so this might be a pipe dream but being able to afford both I think is really vitally important because there's such a need for that in our school spaces. Um, so if we could have kind of like a two-tiered here's our strengths in one area, here's our strengths in the other to be able to really combat that, then I think we will see our test scores
025rise. It'll be a ripple effect. We'll have happier teachers in the classrooms because behavioral concerns or presenting concerns um and being able to meet the basic needs of their kid, our kids will be um just all boats will rise, right? One of the things I think about with successfully engaged students, I think that when we look at neighboring counties and how they engage their students around gifted and talented, um, beyond, and I'm, you know, I'm a sports parent, so I'm huge into our sports. I think we have a, we're meeting the mark there. Um, but meeting those kids that may not necessarily be involved in sports. I think we do a really good job at our high school offering clubs and assistance in that way, but our elementary schools need to continue to expand in
026their clubs and their presentation of really just providing opportunities for students to engage in multiple capacities, but also and I'm going to actually talk about this in a good news report today, but leaning into our community programs that can maybe help make those connections, but we have barriers like walkability, transportation, um teachers and other people to have the bandwidth to be able to have club sponsorships, but also making sure that we're open to opening the either being in the class during the class day or um beyond that really being able to facilitate that. Like Miss Young at Huntertown, she opened the kindness club. It was she's got two clubs growing because it gets filled up every single time. So that just shows just in a small example the need for us to expand and reach.
027And I think that our surrounding schools, especially in Faget County, do a really good job of really meeting those specific niches for our students um around STEM and other areas. And um that's one of the things as a parent of Whitford County students. I wish there was more opportunities to have streamlined like immersion programs. And I think we do a good job of that at the high school, but even starting that at the elementary and middle schools for a strategic plan. I would love to see that continue to grow so we can meet the strengths of every one of our students wherever they lie. No, I'm done. I'm long-winded. >> No, that's great. >> Please help me out. >> No, no, no. That was great. And what I appreciate about what you said about opportunities
028for students and also making strategic hiring decisions. The beauty of a strategic plan is that it helps you all and your superintendent make priority decisions because we have what whatever we put on this plan. >> Now that kind of establishes our why. So when we are allocating resources, our why is because after getting all this information from all these people, we determine that strategically this matter to us. And so now we have to invest appropriately and that may mean something gets pulled back, >> right? >> So that we can do that. But that establishes your why. So I'm glad you shared that. >> What else? >> This is the big we are school. This is the big one. Okay, I'm going to move this on. Skilled and committed teams. This would be our workforce. >>
029When I look at this one, I kind of take a step back and I I ask, what are the skills that we need and what do our teams want that would make them committed? So skills, what what do we need, right? What are kind of what we just talked about? What do we need in our schools? What skills are we looking for? >> Because if you train people on skills that we may not need as much as other things, then we're creating a bigger gap. So um I would say identifying what we need and focusing on the skills that are necessary there and then for committed teams what do the teams want right what do our staff members want what do they need to be committed to a program to a group of students to
030whatever that might be I think you have to start with instead of you know just us thinking well this should be important to them let's find out what is important to them and and build from there >> that's What else? >> I think too like when I'm thinking about a strategic plan, the these are much the bullet points that you have here are much nicer, friendlier, pretty ways of saying what maybe some of the things I would say like I would have a line that said human resources, >> finance, >> academics, you know. So, it's good that I can see where some of these things fit. I think human resources would be probably under the skilled and committed teams bullet point. Um, >> and I think, you know, just making sure that we have whatever
031the requirements are for our teachers, for our certified, for our classified staff, making sure we've got a good pool of people um to select from. And I I mean, I don't know, in terms of commitment, I think Adam's right. It's important to kind of check the pulse >> of people because I think one of the really good things about this district has been historically >> you you're you know you're not going to get paid the same as a teacher in Faget County, but it was this culture and the climate >> um and people having a real commitment to the leaders that they reported to that made people want to stay. Like it wasn't a shiny new building. It wasn't money. it was for a very long time that culture. So I think kind of getting
032back to that and seeing, you know, how we can help because for a long time, you know, just being Woodford County and how things were kept people here. So yes, >> that's really good. Really good and important. I think when we hire in skilled individuals, I think that that is incredibly important, but also keeping them skilled because as we ongoing training, offering them what they need and being specific about that, making sure it's evidence-based, making sure it's um >> which I think we do a really good job of that, but just again, we're not educators in that sense. So being sure that we're leaning on the people that know what they're doing in those areas and they know what they need to continue to have professional growth I think is really important for our students
033too. >> And honestly um I mean just to be fully transparent um this is a process that is long overdue. We have needed to talk about strategic planning about our why about our high level how we are going to set priorities and where we are going to focus our time energy our money um for a number of years um you know this is probably about four years overdue to be quite honest so I'm very pleased that we're doing it and I think that that does send the message to our teams to our families to our community that we do want to be focused we do want to focus on the why we do want to have all roads leading to that why all resources going to that why um all of our energy. Um and
034I think that says a lot to our um employees. Um when you have a plan that says this is what we would like to do, this is how we would like to get there. This is how we want to provide that support. This is what we're um you know asking for your input and seeing what we can do. I think that goes a long way to really um addressing the the culture and the climate issues. So, I'm very very pleased to see it and I think it's um you know I think it's going to be well received. So, thank you. >> Uh parent and community partnerships. Uh this would be the the families of the children that we serve and also at the same time the you mentioned the community partnerships that we have in
035this region. >> Communication for parents is really important. Um, I know as another parent of kids in school right now, um, having a a clear way to, you know, know what's going on to, you know, communicate with the teachers or the staff members. Getting the information when it happens is really important. So, clear communication is probably top of my list as a as a parent. Um, along with obviously like we're going to talk about safety, so I kind of tabled that, but okay. Um, yeah, I would definitely say and I already talked about community partnerships earlier, so I'll let everybody else talk. >> I I agree. I think a streamline communication and I think we're doing better about being transparent and pushing things out in different places, but we get as a parent, we get
036a lot of communication and the more that can it is a very positive thing. I'd much rather have communication than none at all. But just as just to make sure that every parent understands or caregiver, guardian understands the communication that's going out um you know as we continue to expand the languages that are spoken in our community. Thinking about the understanding of what's available um as well as fill in the gaps with like maybe questions of um you know when we think about grandparents as parents or caregivers, right? Or relatives as parents. um we need to make sure that they understand the different apps and the technology that and the gap that may be created generationally between those things. Um so I think that that as we think about communication, we just need to consider
037not just our traditional family structure, but how that structure may be different for each child and adapt that so they can continue to have the opportunities and feel belonged and included um in the communication that we do share. I'd also like to put communication back up uh for skilled and committed teams >> because I think I think we're doing a much much much better job now. But I mean I've >> Yeah. >> It's never intentional. But some but when you fail to communicate especially with staff with, you know, with our own people, it's not good. >> You don't want to mess up, but occasionally we do. And so yeah, that's I think that's important. >> Communication. Oh, sorry. >> No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. Communication is a measure of trust,
038>> right? Absolutely. >> And so that that is a big value >> and I I think that that's so important for not only our I think schools are incredibly important for them to have that communication with central office and back and forth um amongst each other too. Um but also with our community as well so there's no gaps for filling in the blanks and filling in the information with assumptions and that sort of thing. So I think is that is improving drastically but I think that we are still on that path and it's also new for our our community to see so much communication from our schools. So helping them build that level of trust I think is really important. I >> do think overarching that that transparency and honest truthful communication is is absolutely
039100% fundamental to building and keeping relationships. Yeah. and saying saying something and following through with it, right? Like I think that that followthrough is really important. >> That's good. Safe and sustainable operations. >> I think this is where my financial bucket might go. >> I think you're right. >> So we call that sustainable operations and I mean that's just got to be it has to be one of our pillars. So, >> um, you know, we've got some work ahead of us and it just we have to be able to I think with these pillars or whatever we want to call them, bullet points, every decision that we make at each board meeting, we have to we will once we have this document created say where does this fall? >> Yes. >> And then that will
040help inform what are we doing, why are we doing this kind of thing. So, >> I think our financial piece goes under there. Um, and that'll be good to keep an eye on. >> And I think that all of us, be if you have a child in in Wer County schools or you're a community member, I think that we are um in a space where school shootings are and and things of that nature are they they occur far more frequently than one that they should they should never occur, but two than our community like many people even hear about now. You know, it's happening more and more frequently. Um, and I think that we have to I feel like our as a parent I feel like our schools are relatively safe, but that still has
041to continue to be on the forefront of everything that we do is to making sure our child our children come into an environment where it's safe to learn. But it's not only with like physical safety but also mental health, mental safety as well. Um, and we also don't know where our children are leaving their homes, you know, what's leaving what they what morning they experience or what they're going back to in the evening. So thinking about safety in broader terms, I think it needs to continue to be a focus as well. So while you're in the building and how can we maintain um kind of offset some of those things that may because a lot of times schools are that safe haven for children who may not and kids love school, you know, and the
042different dynamics in Werford County. I think overall we if you pulled our kids it would say this feels good to me to be here but for some that's not true for all students and we need to make sure it's 100% across the board. >> That's well said. >> I think for sustainable operations too we need to think be forward thinking about it like what are our needs coming up in in the years you know like how many buses are we going to need? How many Chromebooks are we going to need? What you know we things wear out and so we have to know what are we looking at next year, two years from now, three years from now. Um, and how are we going to make sure that we have the budget? How are we
043going to make sure we have the things that we need in order to sustain that long term? Um, we always have to be knowing, you know, what's about to fall off, you know, and how how are we going to address that. So, I think having, you know, schedules of certain needs far out is going to be very helpful with that. And, you know, what what do we need to cut, what do we need to add on in certain areas? I think that's going to be, you know, a big need because, you know, there could be a year where we don't need certain things and we can focus other places and then, hey, in three years we have x amount of buses we need to replace, you know, just using that as an example. So, okay,
044we need to build for the next three years in a certain area so that we can do that and not uh, you know, be a big drain at that time. >> And I think too also listening to the people that are having those lived experiences every single day because they're going to pick up on things that may be missing or broken or not working correctly. And so having ongoing dialogue and communication about that I think is going to be something that we should have as part of our strategic vision. Like >> making sure we're listening to the students, the the teachers, all other staff members that are in the building, all of our buildings to make sure that things are working and are sustainable. >> Let's go to safety and security. We mentioned that some.
045>> Yes. Yeah. Sorry, I jumped around a little bit. >> That's perfect. I think that also kind of goes to forward thinking and what needs, you know, what are we looking at for making sure that we're compliant with all safety and security laws, right? You know, just that's kind of the bare minimum, right? Like we have to be compliant with >> legal standards. Um so making sure that we're on top of that. >> Um seeing any additional technological advances that are available. Um, and obviously that has to fit in the budget, but just seeing what we could look at for additional features in the schools. Um, I think that's always really important to to focus on >> and I do think that's one of the things that we really need to have just a culture
046of safety, a culture of compliance, um, just at the foundation that it's everyone's responsibility and that everyone >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. and policies and procedures in place like a review of what that looks like maybe might be more >> um helpful to be able to see where some of the pitfalls of safety and security may lie. But also engaging our school resource officers and walking around those schools and >> as we develop and build new things or you know just seeing using their knowledge and expertise of the building as well as part of that process I think is really beneficial. And also our kids, like I know that Millie mentioned the numbers not being on the outside of the building or you know just things of that nature. Again, I think those people that experience
047those things every day may notice it. But also um I think we as we continue to evolve as a society around technology, we have to look into the safety and security around um the different programs that we use, the accessibility that our kids have um to different platforms and how that may increase risks of bullying or um unsafe engagement in different technological spaces as well. I was going to bring up bullying too because obviously that's something that every school is plagued with and so just having a clear and Miss Spring said it having a clear culture that you know those things aren't okay. >> Um but also I think it's important with bullying specifically that we know that there's a lot more ways to bully than there used to be and we need to wrap
048our heads around how to not only address the students that might be bullying but how do we support the ones that have been bullied and make sure that their mental health doesn't go too far down a certain path. Um so you know looking at every opportunity how do we support all the students that bullying affects um and parent you know parents grandparents again any caregivers that need support or need somebody talk to about their child or grandchild um in that situation too. I think we need to focus on that >> and I think that goes back to when we talked about hiring and making sure that we have um the proper supports in school in our schools to make sure we wrap around that process. >> That's good. We're in good shape. We're gonna we
049were gonna get through these questions. >> Sorry. >> We're in good we are in good shape. So in five years when we have been successful with this plan, what are some things that we will have accomplished? Just kind of throw out some what will we have done? >> I would say maybe 100% um graduation rate. >> Ah it's good. >> I'd like to see that. >> Great. I would think every student feels engaged in some way within the school system, whether that's a team, a program, a a group, you know, whatever it might be, that that every student feels that they have some type of, >> you know, connection with the school system um more than they do, you know, all of them today. >> I would like to see every child feel safe, supported,
050and seen and as well as connected and belonged in our schools. >> Good. I would like to see our finances in a in a much healthier place where we can, you know, make plans for refreshes of equipment and fleet and things like that and um where it doesn't feel like we're >> maxing out >> our lines of credit. It's not a good feeling. >> It's great. >> Okay. You are at Walmart in Nicholasville or you are at Kroger in Georgetown >> or in for sales >> and and you're pushing your car and you hear somebody talking about the Woodford County Schools and and they don't know that you're a board member and so just throw out what are some of the words that you hope they are saying? >> Excellent. >> Excellence. >> A place
051where they want their kids to be. >> I want my kids there. >> Supported. Appreciated. >> Appreciated. What are some of the words? >> Loved. >> My My kids are loved. >> Mhm. >> High achieving. >> High achievers. >> Happy. >> Yeah, that's good. >> Set up for future success. >> Great. >> Engaged. >> Great. >> Anything else? >> Safe. Okay, that's our list. We're going to do that six times tomorrow and we're going to have some really good conversations. So, my question to you as a board, um, one, is there anything we missed? And so, this would be an opportunity you have a post-it note, you could jot something down and make sure we get it on the list or do you feel like we need to tweak any of the questions or you
052think the questions seem to be about right to get the information that we would want to have? I think that they they are about right. I think that different groups may need different questions though to start thinking about this process because everybody's going to have their own lens in which they engage in this. So you may need some follow-up prompts or something like that depending on >> we'll do the So the last thing we got three of the four tasks completed. So we will send out a community survey. Typically the survey that we send out to the the the whole community will have just a few questions. One question is very likely to be a listing of six or seven student opportunities, um, classroom rigor, safety, food, overall experience, transportation, a list of things. And
053we ask you to rank those what's most important to you most to least important. And so we just get a ranking of big kind of ideas. And then the second thing would be more value related words like our last question >> and and maybe 15 value words that we pick. You pick the top five that really matter to you. So essentially though that would be the information we would be asking from the community. Does that seem to be a reasonable approach there? >> Absolutely. Yes, >> I think so. >> Okay. Um, we did it. >> So, uh, tomorrow we'll go through this um, work and then we will move forward. So, anything that you need from me in the process that I could, uh, be of help. >> Look forward to seeing what you come
054back with. >> Yeah, this is exciting. >> It really is. This is this is the fun part of the work. the steering committee um is kind of the grueling part of the work sifting through all of the data and then we'll come up with a plan that we really like which again will be oh this is great now we have to roll our sleeves up and do it and and that's the the neat part of the challenge. So thank you all again for the opportunity to be with you. >> Thank you so much for being here. >> Thank you. >> All right. Can I have a motion to adjourn our special meeting? >> So moved. >> Motion by Miss Macauen. I'll second. All those in favor? I >> I All right. That mean