Board Work Session Agenda/Minutes 11-10-16

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

November 10, 2016 Work Session on Strategic Planning
Meeting Room A - 6:00 p.m.
Panorama Village Administrative Center
240 Villa Crest Drive
State College, PA 16801

I.            CALLED to ORDER and PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE
Ms. Concepcion called the Board Work Session for the State College Area School District Board of Directors at 6:15 p.m. Dr. O’Donnell noted they were on the front end of the Strategic Planning process and would like to engage with board members this evening. Today with the Instructional Team matched very close to yesterday with the Steering Committee. Work will be done between now and the spring and ideas on how to take things out to the community, faculty and students.

Board members present: Gretchen Brandt, Amber Concepcion, Dan Duffy, Penni Fishbaine, Scott Fozard, David Hutchinson, Jim Leous, Laurel Zydney
Board members absent: Amy Bader
Board Secretary: Mary Jenn Dorman
Student Representative: Lars DeLorenzi
Solicitor:
Superintendent: Robert O’Donnell
District Personnel: Vernon Bock, Jason Perrin
Guests:

II.            THE COMPELLING CASE for STRATEGIC PLANNING
Mutiu shared that he thought it would be good for board members to come back and talk about the path forward and align. Board members commented:
      ●It is an interesting process, people engaged and connected at the tables, great process to get to a consensus point and student voice really came out. Like the direction and tact taken on this, you get a better feel of what our Strategic Plan really meant and means, the 4 Pillars frame out the house for this, community engagement was great, and interested to take the next two to three steps to make tangible goals for Board day-to-day tasks and get alignment done.
      ●Impressed with the diversity of participants, a person at the table was so pleased to be here, impressed with community and what they bring to the table and how do we prepare students for life? Technology and that type of information for a larger technical environment.
      ●The community involvement was impressive, is also grateful to Ed Fuller and the information he brings, writing letters to students was a great exercise and we as a Board need to work together moving forward.
      ●Second time member was through this process, easier to understand, a good chance for them to understand and learn, student voice there was crucial, developing goals and bridge from goals to action. Need to determine how to measure, map how to go through steps, how Board makes decisions with agendas having Strategic Planning in mind and how it filters down to students.
      ●This was the 4th Strategic Planning for this person and exciting how we have evolved SCASD community - 21st Century Skills, student voice, and how important it is, school environment and being welcoming. Students at his table at the end of the session yesterday said they had no idea a group of adults cared about this stuff, he was very happy how the day turned out and more embracing citizenship skills in our students.
      ●Was concerned about the attention level the day after election, it was a challenging day. Mutiu kept things moving with a good mix of work and break. Getting data ahead of time would have been helpful. More students could be a part of it but it was a good mix and suggested sending thank you notes to people that attended. More people could be invited, the ending was excellent and lost piece on elementary school and how District is structured. Would like to fit more into the nitty gritty of today. The form fits the plan, have a function in place then form fits the plan. Have the function in place then form fits that function. The Pillars, goals, strategies that tie together.
      ●The whole process went well, three students and all adults, does not think about things this way and has ideas of what needs to change. Goes to individual level and what does this mean.

III.            THE PROCESS OVERVIEW
Mutiu reviewed various pages in document 1-A in the binder noting five goals that define some specific metrics and defines where we are going. There is a way to organize the work, take each of the five goals and ask what can we do around teaching and learning. He showed a book noting that the final product would be like this and there would be only one book. This book would replace what we currently have.

IV.            A REALITY CHECK
There was a lengthy discussion regarding the charge, the Board having a report two or three times/year, improvement with a lot of student feedback, it being critical to have a baseline, should have one-year growth for every child, thought there was more trust in Board and Administration, where are we going next, and in Phase take goals to stakeholders. Look at step 5 and how it connects to steps 1 - 4, Steps 6 and 7 shift back to the Board and they discussed: do not want surprises at the end, student input will help, first stage is to introduce to process and spoke on the goals noting #1 could be a measure for #18, #1 and
#5 with #5 being necessary to #1 - Health base, #8 is about accountability, and #5 is #8 - does not even think about safety.

Board members took a break from 7:49 to 7:55 p.m.

Mutiu noted change is made to change work, programs or tools. This is linked to budget directions, spoke on annual priorities, the goal setting piece, and Dr. O’Donnell added being at the point of not sure how impactful it was. We want to impact in the classroom, have a common language, and first to do is to use the same template.

Mutiu spoke on different schools, thoughts for the year, and closing the achievement gap. One goal could be consistency but not identical. Dr. O'Donnell added there would be goals at each school and set individual building goals that they do internally. Mutiu directed board members to go to practices on page 5. Board member noted it was a long list and is there anyway to be certain of the outcome and are they doing what they say they are doing?

Scott Fozard left the meeting at 8:17 p.m.

VI.            PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

VII.           ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Concepcion adjourned the State College Area School District Board of School Directors Work Session on Strategic Planning at 8:25 p.m.

Submitted by,

Mary Jenn Dorman
Board Secretary