September 24, 2014 at 4:41 p.m.
School district close to finalizing new strategic plan
School district close to finalizing new strategic plan
The district is in the last year of an interim strategic plan that has carried it since its last five-year plan expired during the 2011-'12 school year. The board has worked with Bruce Miles, a consultant with Big River Group, LLC., based in St. Cloud, Minn., to formulate the plan and has held multiple community, staff and board meetings to gain input from stakeholders.
Overall, the board was happy with the draft produced by Superintendent Kelli Jacobi, who authored the document based on the work done by Miles, the board and the administration team, however there were changes made and, in the end, it was decided that more work is needed before a final version of the new plan can be approved.
The document is divided into five goals - student success, high quality learning environment, recruit/retain high quality employees, financial stability of the district and communicate and connect. Board members made changes to each section.
There were also discussions regarding the overall meaning of the document and how progress toward accomplishing each goal would be measured. Those discussions principally involved how often the board will discuss the district's progress toward reaching the goals and how it will measure progress.
First, board members debated how often the plan's goals would appear on board agendas.
All board members agreed progress updates should be a regular agenda item, though how often that will happen wasn't made clear.
Some board members said the topic should be on the agenda every month or every other month while others argued that the plan should only be discussed when a goal is not on schedule to be achieved.
Board president Ron Counter ended the discussion by saying he would work with Jacobi to create a schedule to ensure the plan stays in the forefront. He said the board would use the half hour it has previously set aside for book study - a block of time at the beginning of every meeting - to discuss updates on the district's progress.
"What we're going to do to start out is once the plan is approved, (Jacobi) and I are going to sit down and develop a schedule for when portions of the plan will come before the board," he said.
"We're going to use the 6 p.m. time to do that, so it gives us a half an hour for if we have to delve a little deeper into (issues) rather than just having a quick report from the superintendent. We'll have plenty of time to discuss what we need to discuss."
Board member David Holperin asked for specific benchmarks for every goal, priority and action step.
"We, as a board, have to have specific measurements on a lot of these data points so that we can measure the progress," he said. "Each month, we need to have the ability to check off whether we're making progress - what is our goal, what's the measurement, how do we determine what is being done. ... I'd like to see that come into play before we approve the strategic plan."
"That is a concern I have as I look through the plan. How do we measure that we're meeting these goals?" board member Judy Conlin agreed. "I think we need more specificity in terms of how will we know at the end of five years that we've met these goals? What data are we going to have or what are we going to know to say, 'yes, we've met that goal?' That's a concern I have all the way through."
Since they began work on the plan, board members have said benchmarks need to be included in the plan, though they have never been satisfied with what is presented to them in terms of progress monitoring. Instead of sending the plan back to the administration, Holperin suggested board members come up with what they want to see as a progress gauge.
"My reverse engineering suggestion is, how about we all try to come up with metrics ourselves?" he said. "We can determine which of these things can be measured and which can't, and then turn it over to (Jacobi) to finalize the report."
Board members liked that idea and agreed to meet again on Oct. 27, before the annual meeting scheduled for the same evening.
The length of time between Monday's meeting and the late October meeting is necessary so that Jacobi can update the draft based on revisions made Monday. The board then reviewed each of the five goals, along with the priorities and action steps found within each goal, making changes along the way.
Goal 1: Student success
The plan's first goal, student success, has three priorities - deliver quality instruction, opportunities and service for the success and achievement of all students; develop and encourage good student citizenship and character; and provide online programming options for students.
The first priority's action steps were the subject of considerable debate.
One of the action steps listed under the first priority is to increase the graduation rate by 2 percent each year for the next five years. With recent data showing that the district's graduation rate is 90 percent, that means the district will have to increase the graduation rate 10 percent by the end of the five-year plan.
Holperin wondered if that was a realistic goal and suggested the 2 percent per year goal be lowered to 1 percent to make it more achievable.
Jacobi said the district should aim high.
"Increasing the graduation rate has always been our goal," she said. "I have 100 percent here, but I'll say 100 percent is not really a reasonable goal, but that's OK. We can still shoot for that. If we get to 99 percent, that's fabulous."
Conlin said the district should not just settle for good enough.
"I think we should be aiming high," she said. "I would rather aim for 2 percent (increases per year) ... than aim low just so we can check it off."
"There's a quote that says 'the enemy of great schools and great achievement is good enough,'" she added. "If we settle for good enough, how do we justify that to the community? The community is going to want 100 percent of their kids graduating."
The other board members concurred.
Another action step is to align the curriculum to the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts and mathematics.
Given that Common Core is very controversial, Holperin wondered if that step should be adjusted.
"I know Common Core is controversial politically. Is this a good thing? Is this where we want to be or do we want to be above this or even take a different route than Common Core?" he asked.
"Do we need to say that Common Core is our standard? Do we have a higher standard than Common Core?"
Jacobi told him the district has already heavily implemented many Common Core standards.
"We've already moved so far forward in this that this is the completion of that work," she said.
"We've been working on this for years. To do a change now means that we're starting over."
Conlin said the political arguments should be pushed aside so the focus stays on the students who she says will benefit from Common Core.
"You can't buy into the political piece that says Wisconsin's going to develop their own standards. I know there have been legislators who have challenged that, saying the Common Core has been worked on by numerous professional groups. The governor's associations were active in getting the original plan. It's well thought out," she said.
"This is much better than the former model for academics. It's much more rigorous, which is a good thing."
The board ultimately decided not to change that section.
One addition was made to the first goal, however. Counter said he'd like to see an addition to the plan that outlines the district's desire to increase participation in cocurricular activities.
Goal 2: High quality learning environment
Goal two also has three priorities - maintain current facilities and prepare to meet future facility needs to provide high quality instruction; celebrate successes and keep the public well informed regarding facilities and district needs; and remain a leader in the use of technology as it pertains to advanced learning.
That last priority was originally listed as "remain a leader in technology," though Holperin suggested amending it to make it more specific.
Jacobi said she would make the change, while reiterating the importance of that priority.
"Remaining a leader in technology is huge. I think that's one of the things that we sometimes forget that we need to be getting out there because we are a leader in that area," she said.
One of the action steps under that priority was also altered. The original step said the district needs to provide professional development opportunities in and out of the district throughout the year. Conlin said that should be changed to ensure participation in those opportunities.
"I think we need to make sure all staff are participating in these. If we just provide, it becomes up to people to choose whether to participate or not, and that's how we get back to pockets of excellence where some people participate and grow and others don't," she said.
"To me, we need to make sure that all staff are participating."
Jacobi agreed to amend that action step.
Goal 3: Recruit and retain high quality employees
When the board first began identifying its goals and priorities, this goal was outlined as a need to recruit and retain high quality teachers, though Jacobi informed the board that she changed it to include all employees and not just teachers.
"Instead of just focusing on teachers, we expanded it a little bit to include all employees," she said.
This goal also includes three priorities - offer competitive wages, benefits and working conditions to attract and retain quality staff at all levels; increase support for all employees; and frequent communication and support for all employees.
The wording of the first priority worried Holperin, he said.
"I put my citizen cap on and the first thing I looked at was offer competitive wages, benefits and working conditions - uh-oh, this is going to start costing the district more," he said. "Rather than saying offer competitive wages, benefits and working conditions, substitute in, 'make our school district a highly desirable choice (which) the best educators will be drawn to.'"
"I fear that there will be a backlash if the public says, 'oh gosh, they want to offer the highest wages,' They're going to think what they're going to think, that we're going to raise our wages, we're going to raise our benefits and that's all going to cost (them) more so (they won't) like this strategic plan," he added.
"To give you an example, I belong to a Thursday social and when I walked in last week, they all kind of smiled and said, 'oh, you gave the administrator a raise, huh?' ... This is how the public perceives what we're doing ... and I think this is one of the things the public will be drawn to and immediately draw the wrong conclusion."
Board member Mike Roberts said the step that says the district will "offer an excellent benefit package" should be changed to "offer a competitive benefit package," but beyond that, he said he wasn't sure the priority itself should be amended.
"Competitive means competitive. It doesn't mean the highest," he said.
Mary Peterson agreed the priority should stay as it is written.
"I don't think saying we'll offer competitive wages, I don't think that's a red flag phrase," she said.
"It's competition. Every business has competition ... and I don't think that's threatening."
In the end, the priority will stay as originally written, though Roberts's suggestion was approved.
Goal 4: Financial stability of the district
The fourth goal of the plan has four priorities - ensure effective and efficient operations; ensure the community is well informed about school funding; increase student enrollment; and strong continued presence in Madison regarding state funding.
The last priority was the subject of heated discussion.
Holperin said he doesn't believe state funding should be a part of the plan as the district has no control over what happens in the state legislature.
"I personally would like to see this out. I wouldn't like to see this as part of our strategic plan," he said.
"I believe we should continue to have a presence there (in Madison), but I don't think it should be part of our strategic plan because we can't affect what happens down there. We can only provide a voice. It's not something that we have the ability to control and I think our strategic plan should be on things that we can control."
Roberts disagreed.
"I think it should stay on there because ... that's the same thing that (State Senator Tom) Tiffany and (State Representative Rob) Swearingen say - we can't control it anyway so don't worry about it," he said. "That's what frustrates me as a school board member because what they're basically saying is, you can pass a referendum anytime you want and they're discounting the whole fact that the only time taxpayers ever get to say no is to a school referendum."
"It's the constituents in this district that can band together and vote and get the right person in there, whether it's Democrat or Republican, to get the formula changed," he added.
Board member Dennis O'Brien agreed with Roberts' final point about banding together.
"As a single district going down there to tell them we don't think things are right, you're not going to change much," he said.
"My suggestion would be that we get together with a group of school districts up here - a compelling regional group - that would then go back to these people who are our elected representatives and explain to them that our interests are not being served."
In the end, Counter said a presence in Madison should be part of the plan because the public is demanding the district continue to push for changes to the formula to improve its financial situation.
"I think our community is demanding that we have a presence," he said.
The board ultimately agreed to keep that priority.
One change was made to the action steps for the first priority.
Under that priority, steps such as investing in energy efficient measures to decrease energy costs are listed. Holperin said transportation should be added to the list and Jacobi agreed.
Goal 5: Communicate and connect
The fifth and final goal contains three priorities - increase communication in and out of the district; survey parents, staff and community for input; and strengthen and grow community partnerships.
Overall, the board was happy with the fifth goal, however more specifics are needed, it said, especially to the third priority.
"We list these (partnerships), but what do we want them to do?" Conlin asked.
"Do we want to grow their financial support? The opportunities for our students? How are we going to measure what they do? We need some verbs there to tell us what we want to have happening."
The board will review the revised draft Oct. 27 and may vote to approve it.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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