School Board Committee Meeting Agenda June 28th at 5:30pm

Click on the title to see the agenda for the committee meeting of the whole scheduled for June 28th at 5:30 pm. Note the location is in the new "District Board and Training Center." This is a newly created Board Meeting location, probably for the meetings of the whole which are a tight squeeze in the district office conference room when ex-officio members and other administrators are included. It was Mrs. Feeney's classroom until now and the entrance is just north of the District Office, in the recess leading to the fifth grade hallway.

Topics include the Board Development committee draft of a vision statement, finance and policy. Finance must close the books by June 30, so that will be an instructive part of the meeting. The Board Development Vision Statement process is stalled where it was when I last attended one of the meetings in April. They have prioritized it first on the agenda to complete the process. The plan in April was to come up with a "straw man" vision to run by the administrators, then the staff in a roll out which gradually adds more voices of the community, and presumably more ideas, to insure a vision that is concise and useful.

Some people may find this an exercise in futility. To these people, I must emphasize that it is very difficult to prioritize district needs when the board is struggling with to grasp of the long term vision of the district. Any assistance in prioritizing needs is welcome in this day of shrinking school funding. Without a guiding vision, the squeaky wheel often gets the grease and the prevalent board persona is reactive, not proactive. This is no way to run a business with a 20 million dollar plus budget. A formal vision would enable board members to use it as a litmus test for ideas and projects brought before them for approval. I commend them for continuously refocusing on this topic, despite the roadblocks they have encountered in achieving their goal. I think the time and effort they have expended on this process will benefit them in the long run.