Superintendent's Report
Dr. Ray Lechner mentioned that he and Dr. Yonke have had one-on-one meetings with district leaders and board members since they started on July 24. He shared that they have attended numerous leadership meetings and have toured each campus. He also said that both of them are excited to welcome all of the staff back on Aug. 17 and all of the students back on Aug. 21.
Dr. Linda Yonke shared the following changes to how the administration will present information during board meetings.
- Good news reports from the schools will be presented once a month (instead of every meeting) and will continue to feature student participation.
- For formal board presentations, the administration will provide the board with cover memos and reports that are posted in BoardDocs at least two days before the meeting. The cover memos will include an executive summary, background information, research/information, and any recommendations from the administration.
- Presentations that are delivered at board meetings will be shortened and will contain a minimum number of easy-to-read slides. While there will be some agenda items (such as financial reports) that may not lend themselves as well to this format, the main objective will be to provide clear, concise, coherent information in advance with a short, focused presentation at the board meeting.
Lastly, Dr. Yonke shared that the district has run into issues trying to record the board’s special and committee meetings via Google Meets. As a result, she said that a tape recorder or similar device will be used to record the audio from these meetings going forward. The audio recordings will then be posted on the district's Vimeo account. The agendas and public documents for special and committee meetings will continue to be available in BoardDocs 48 hours prior to the start of the meetings.
Board Business
During the portion of the meeting dedicated to board business, the board discussed proposed revisions to the language about academic dishonesty that appears in the district's student handbook. These revisions include the addition of language about the use of artificial intelligence, as well as changes to the language about the legal requirements and best practices for student discipline. The revisions will be presented to the board for approval as part of the consent agenda for the regular action meeting on Aug. 24.
The board also discussed the
final year of the district's strategic plan. Dr. Yonke started the discussion by giving a brief overview and history of the district's current strategic plan (86 Forward). After that, she shared that the five goal area teams, led by the administrative goal champions, will continue working on the strategies and priorities that make up the plan. In addition, she said that the administration is recommending that each goal team reflect upon and assess the overall impact that initiatives and strategies have had on the success/progress of the goals during the life of the plan. These assessments will also address factors that were not anticipated during the creation of the strategic plan (e.g., enrollment changes, COVID-19 pandemic, etc.).
Dr. Yonke shared that each goal champion will produce a written report of their findings that will be presented to the appropriate board or administrative committees for review and feedback. The final versions of these reports will be presented to the board over the course of several meetings in the late winter and spring.
During the discussion about the strategic plan, board members asked questions and recommended that the evaluation process include the solicitation of feedback from stakeholders. They also asked that the meaning of impact be clearly defined for the goal teams.
Committee Report
Members of the Finance Committee and Academic Committee provided the board with reports from their recent meetings. You can access those reports via the links below.
The board also approved the release of the draft minutes from these meetings as part of the consent agenda.
Consent Agenda
The board approved the consent agenda as amended. Please visit
https://bit.ly/453m8im to access the consent agenda items beginning under number six.
Award Bid 24-001
The board awarded bid 24-001 (Copier Paper) to Veritiv Operating Company for an amount totaling $55,121.30. Additional information about this agenda item is available at this link:
https://bit.ly/3qiTivn.
Board President's Report
Board President Catherine Greenspon said that she appreciated the co-interim superintendents sharing the plan for year five of the strategic plan, as well as the process that will be used for assessing the strategies in each goal area. She shared that she is looking forward to the upcoming year and the work that will be done to help promote a better understanding of board business and how it gets done.
President Greenspon also thanked the individuals in attendance for coming to the meeting, and wished everyone a wonderful weekend.
Future Agenda Items
There were no future agenda items proposed by the members of the board. You can access the current list of future agenda items by visiting
https://bit.ly/3YBl03a.
Audience Communication
Members of the public spoke about the following topics during the two opportunities they had to give audience communication:
- The board's role in curriculum decisions.
- Community response to changes in the district's curriculum.
- Curriculum alignment.
- Public comments at board meetings.
- The selection of the district's co-interim superintendents.
- The board's Academic Committee.
- Academic interventions.
