Board Vision exercise from 2012

I came across this today, it was a plan I made for a School District 57 Board Vision discussion that we had in March 2012. We ended up having this meeting but did not get all the way through the questions. I would like to pick some of these up again, maybe as part of the Strategic Planning process.

Here is how the plan went:

Check In:

Lessons learned: Learn personalities, have confidence, ask questions that get into areas that are difficult to talk about, recognize red-hearings in a debate, how to properly prepare for meetings, how to turn an idea that makes sense in my head into words, questions, and actions that others can understand

Questions:

1. When are detailed questions and discussion by email acceptable when getting together as a group may be difficult or may not happen in time for an issue to be addressed? 
2. Board decision vs. individual opinion, both are important - what kind of trust is needed for board members to know that individual responses to issues are professional and help resolve problems? 
3. What interest is there in having the board meet a few times as a group of seven to build our own relationship with each other and the issues facing the district and public education? (board discussion can take place like this, but of course any formal decisions need to be attended by a member of senior admin... School Act) 
4. What is our strategy for receiving frank partner group input in addition to public board meetings, and what duty do we have to respond? For example, when can we sit down for a rational discussion with PGDTA on their Bill 22 concerns? 
5. Can we write a bio and personal vision next to our SD trustee picture? In general, can we improve the way trustees use digital tools to communicate with the public? 
6. What interest is there in a board-hosted district and partners round table to help us share, focus and adapt our achievement goals and also our plans for sustainability?

Brainstorming: Focus for next 3 yrs. (can add my questions to these)

1. Safe Schools - action on drug users, dealers, bullies - are we giving too many second chances 
2. Parent concerns - how will we involve them on mandatory programs or aspects of 21st learning that might be pushed on students, loss of elective programs, where special needs funding goes 
3. Improving communication with trustees - more interaction, less passive listening, Q&A sessions, role we can play in building bridges between management and teachers more blunt honesty in documents 
4. Support for rural schools - why it’s important (community stability, equality or at least fairness in education, importance of rural regions for food security and resource stability, and what we can do, what’s the strategy for delivering education 
5. Board office communication - more open talk and blunt honesty in documents, better proof-reading of publications (e.g. internal VP application), less politics and message-management, consistent message on technology - the district is saying and doing two different things when it comes to technology 
6. Long-term planning - school plans and district plans are not taken seriously, need more editing or review from partner groups, no tech plan exists, no on-going sustainability plan, not enough input on plans (Sunshine Coast example) 
7. Sustainability - green schools, plant new trees, reduce/recover carbon taxes

Talking Points

Here were the notes I had in front of me at the PG all-candidates meeting... I don't think I got around to many of them...

• mother, 41, married to a teacher, my kids are here, I’m locked in for 13 years or more
• I’ve got a lot of hope for what will happen to them, for what we can do as trustees, and a lot of frustration over what has happened over the last few years
• participated in the 2010 process, saw trustees forced into a corner where it seemed like they had to follow the path of least resistance
• more with less report - we wrote this because the District Sustainability Committee’s big plan was to close schools first and look for other savings later
• just when we thought french immersion was stable the board pulls out an end to sibling priority that caused parents another 5 months of pain
• other parent groups has similar frustration - rural schools, the traditional school, crowding at Heather Park and Glenview, Malaspina, courtesy bussing issues, the list is almost endless and goes back to the brutal process used in 2010
• teachers have ongoing frustrations over technology and classroom composition, and uncertainty about how our board will interpret the gov’t agenda once the job action is over
• I’ll ask tough questions, I’ve been involved in past debates, I love to debate and pursue fairness
• tired of double-speak, message management
• I’m not doing this to add to my resume or because I want to be a politician
• some of my big issues include safer schools, rural school support like getting MAC1 open again, protecting elective programs, stopping the diversion of special ed funding, getting the board office to wake up on technology issues, improving the plans in our district for learning, facilities, and greening up our schools
• I really look forward to working with you and the new trustees and thank you for this opportunity.
• I don’t want to sit and grumble in the playground, I want to pursue fairness for everyone in the district, bring more fairness to board policy
• Jack Layton talked about the need to build a new community on higher ground, I think we need a new more open approach to solving problems in the school district