##VIDEO ID:3vSy0K3aOzI## action the New Jersey Public's meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the beler board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted With The Star Ledger and The Express Times and submitted to the town clerk of the town of badier on October 4th 2024 the meeting will be live streamed at www.bad sd.org flag salute please I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all flag salute please just did that just did that or I'm sorry Mission wasn't good enough I am a mess tonight I'm sorry we'll do it again Mr Aran here Mr Blum Dr zith here Mrs Duckworth here Mrs glean Mr Scott here Mrs Stefan Mr bone wner here Mr Chelli here Mrs Gardella here mram here the mission of the beler school district is to celebrate our past and Empower our future while focusing on the four cornerstones of our district tradition Excellence academics and Community we strive to build confidence and promote collaboration we encourage an equal op an equal partnership with our students and staff as well as its community members we Empower everyone to develop the best versions of themselves the beler school district is committed to shaping students into Global Citizens who take Initiative for their success and contribute to the continued Excellence of the district our students are leaders in the decision-mak process of their education and will be prepared to excel in 21st century Society okay we are on to the board of education and CSA goals hi everybody I'm Kelly Mitchell I don't think I've I've met some of you but I haven't met all of you so I was just recently given uh parts of Warren County so super excited to be here and uh we're going to do a couple of things tonight so we're going to go over the board self- evaluation that will give us an idea of possible board goals because I I looked on your website and unless I was remiss I didn't really see board goals um I did see uh you know that the district goals and we do have some proposed goals from your superintendent that we're going to go over tonight but I think we should start with the board self- evaluation and make it really discussion based so that we can understand where we want to be as a board and those board goals and keep in mind the board goals are something that is professional development for the board it's something that helps uh you know support the district goals as well so it's those exercises that we put into the board goals that um we can accomplish during that year and we get that from going over this board self- evaluation so I understand it was a heavy lift to do this it's you know it's it's a big task but I think it's really important that we have the conversations about the nine different buckets that subject matter that we go through and there was some really uh good comments that will show some growth on our part as a board and I I think it'll be quite helpful so um in your packet you're going to see the uh overview it's a the board self- evaluation overview that's the document that I'm going to go over with you underneath that is the actual evaluation itself and that's about 18 pages but this is only uh three pages that we're going to go and it'll just give a summary and um and we'll talk about that so when I go over this I'll be talking about the glows which is the things that um the board is doing fantastic and and really showcases in this board self- evaluation and then there's the grow those are the things that you made comments on that you feel that maybe you need a little growth on some more attention to so we'll talk about what that looks like too but in the in the top part um there you'll see the scores so uh in planning you had a 1.8 and keep in mind that the scores themselves when we see a three or under we think that it should have some growth yes just pay attention you're paying oh that is so great thank you for paying attention you're very lucky yeah I I guess I am I should talk to my husband say hey he somebody's paying attention you know that was good not 1.8 was underneath and we needed to work on that so boom that got that that got you going okay so um anything under a three so planning is a 1.8 policy was 2.5 student achievement 2.6 Finance 2.4 board operation 2.9 board performance 3.3 um so that's great that that you're doing quite well with that uh board and superintendent relationships a three which is fantastic uh then board and staff relationships 2.7 and board and Community 2.4 so let's start with planning so uh obviously the board feels that that's an important aspect because that's why we're here today to go over some planning with the board goals and the district goals um so the glowing remarks with the board is that the board recognizes the importance of that planning in the goal setting but some of the grow uh you did comment on that said that you know you needed maybe a a monitoring process on how you look at those goals and how you monitor those goals maybe schedule them along the way with your um meetings and then set a plan to gain feedback from the community um those were the two glaring comments that you feel like you need a little gross so what I'd like to do is open up the floor to talk about that and talk about how we can get to the next level so when you're doing I noticed when you do your board um your evaluation of the CSA that is something that you did comment that you felt that to reflect on those District goals it was hard for you because you haven't along the way planned on going over the action plan so is that something that you feel that you could do some scheduling in for your meetings what would what would an action plan look like like how would we could you right so today we're uh we're going to make those District goals and we're going to set those and say this is what um we want to focus on for 2024 2025 so then we say okay we all agree on that we hand them over to the superintendent the superintendent takes those and says okay here are the goals now I'm going to make action plans and that's going to be the how piece so the the board is the what with the goals and the superintendent is the how the the action plans are that how so how are we going to get to that goal and when you do the CSA evaluation that's a component that you're you're um actually you know rating whether the goal was achieved or not based on that evidence of did we do those action plans did we accomplish that goal and is it achieved okay yeah so um it's easier for boards if they schedule those updates along the way in their meeting schedule so that way when you sit down to do that CSA evaluation it makes it so much easier because you're not rifling through files trying to figure out you know is it achieved or is it not you've had those conversations all along the way so you should be able to easily um grade those does that make sense and was would that be a committee or you're saying like as a group we would as a group you should have group discussion on that um certainly at a public meeting so that way the community um can be engaged in the goals because sometimes when you think about when you set goals you don't want it to just be checking the box right where okay we did the district goals and now we just kind of push them aside you really want to work towards those so you want to make them of of value and then you also want to bring the community in on the knowledge of where you are with them so it's it's super important to schedule that for a public meeting and have that really good discussion so the superintendent would report out and the board could ask questions on some of those activities so that should be about three times a year so uh you're going to adopt the uh the goals next meeting we're going to work on them tonight you'll adopt them next meeting the superintendent will talk about the action plans for those goals and a timeline what what it looks like um to achieve those goals um like an indicator of success and then uh you would probably have your first update right in the beginning of the year probably sometime in January and then in the spring like March and then right before that CSA evaluation you start doing that in May um so that's how I would schedule it for your meeting schedule and then that way you'll have that knowledge when you go to sit down to do um that task because that task is is a lot right you know and you just want to be able to easily understand what you're doing with that so that was that was one of the um feedbacks from the board saying that they would like to see that and would like to understand how um those action plans come into play and and the goals themselves now the board can do that as well so when we make uh the board goals tonight and we talk about those you adopt them at the next meeting and then we'll work towards those and then the board can uh designate possibly the president to report out on where you are uh with those goals sometimes the board president will hand it over to a committee if you have like a governance committee they will report out on how you're doing with those goals one of the things if if I could it say possible communication committee and then you also talked about feedback from the community yeah I think it's important that we as a board establish some form of communic communication committee so that when we do have public comment or questions or concerns that we have a forum or a time set within the board meeting to address the prior what's that oh sorry so what I was saying is that we would have a committee that we can address concerns or questions from a previous meeting from the community so that we have a Time slotted where maybe you know the president or or committee chairperson would talk about you know what those those those action items were or questions or concerns that the that the community had expressed in the next meeting that we can address that like also set a little time aside that might be separate from this planning but it just kind kind of got got me thinking about also that commun communication committee and how I think that would be a value add so that we can incorporate the community and let them know that they're being heard and you know we are working on those actionable items that they would like to see something on yeah because as I read your uh board self- evaluation there was it was constantly mentioned that you feel like you're not in touch with that Community piece like the community input there's like a a disconnect there right so bridging that Gap was really important to all of you you all consistently wrote about that so in order to do that that's a great idea to you know write down the notes of somebody coming up to the mic and and making a comment and then doing a follow-up session so that way they they know that their voice is heard because if you think about it if somebody comes out or um emails or what have you as a public comment it's not a public discussion time right it's just a public comment so we don't do a dialogue back and forth but how frustra training that must be when you get the courage to come up and say something and then feel like it kind of fell short right right so I think it's really important to have that followup whether um you follow up the next day or you follow up at the next meeting but a lot of times if a Community member comes to the mic and says something it's of interest to the entire community so I think it's important to be able to answer back uh and say we had a public comment last meeting and we just want to update the community on on this situation you know I think we do I've seen you do that a bunch of sometimes depends I've seen you do it in the same meeting yeah so um that that bridges that Gap you know so and then there was a lot of comments on a mechanism for community members to give their input is there anything that you're doing to do that to to gain more of uh the community's aspiration um for student achievement this really super important to understand and some um some boards will have the district send out a climate survey some boards will have um an event where uh the community gets together and does mission and vision together with the board um and that's always a really great way to to get that um some boards do strategic planning and that's a really great way to have um Community input so there's all different ways but when you have that community um committee sometimes that's that is really helpful too because they could come up with really good ideas of what they could do so I don't know if you have um any type of committee like that sometimes the boards will have stakeholders on that committee as well so that they can gain input um from them so I think that um that was type that's why you had the 1.8 on planning I I think it was more about understanding where you are really working on those goals and um and those action plans understanding that and then just having a mechanism for understanding where you are that monitoring system it seems like that's where the um the score went down so I think that if we put all of that into play then we'll be able to uh raise that score for next year definitely anybody else on planning so then we'll move on to policy so the the board reviews and updates policy manual regularly and um policy is referred to when issues arise so that's great um some of the growth is uh to continue use of uh board policy as a basis for decision making um gain more knowledge in adjusting um and customizing policy more board discussion on policy and then understanding board operates as a policymaking body so um we just did in Sussex County we just did a really good uh County meeting and we had our director of policy um Kim Gotti speak and she talked about when is a good time to change a policy and when a board is having an issue with something is it best to do it in that moment or is it better to just wait until after uh that situation calms itself down and then changing the policy and that was one of the questions that was asked and she said that she felt that you're best off waiting until that situation kind of clears its way out and then changing the policy so that's just something to be mindful of another tip that she said was when you do go through the policy manual a lot of times you feel really super comfortable with a certain policy but that it might be 20 15 years old for those you should have them updated even if you use the same language just to update them and make them current she said is a good practice um to do do you have a policy committee we do you okay okay and we too oh great okay yeah so um you know there's uh sometimes when you're the policy isn't matching the procedure it's really important to make sure that it does that so every once in a while to do that the other thing that I wanted to let you know is um New Jersey school boards does a free policy uh wellness check so just be mindful of that that you can uh just the board president send an email to me and we can uh get that going for you um and that's part of your du so it's it's something that is I think really helpful that's good any questions on policy no so then student achievement that's the majority of what we're here for correct so uh the board agrees that student achievement is top priority and the board agrees that continuous updates and focus on growth should be a priority um some of the grows was continue to identify and understand the community's expectations and educational aspirations so we talked about that so we'll will work on gaining more of that input and then create a monitoring process with input and data from Administration on instructional programming and um more uh group discussions on that and then also understanding District goals as they pertain to student achievement that was one of um the comments that I saw over and over again that uh they you just didn't feel connected to your District goals as it pertains to student achievement so um why don't we we chat about that a little bit anybody have any comments on that so as a board what do you think like how do you support student achievement we do have a we do have a um a student board member that comes to the meetings and um reports out on the Student Activities and and uh recognitions overall for the school and um we also do have uh some of the sports teams come to the board meetings just to Showcase or highlight some of the good um successes that they're having those are things that I can think off off the top of my head from a student achievement but academically there may be a little bit more opportunity as well H yeah yeah we they come in and they'll perform or talk about their experience we had kids go to Europe over the summer and about a half a dozen of them showed up I think Chris went on that trip and they they talked about their experiences so we do we actually chat with the students that's great so you gain that that input from them that's fantastic yeah good okay then we'll move on to finance everybody's favorite topic so uh the board exercises Financial oversight the board balances the educational needs of students with the impact of budgetary increases and you um operate with a timely budget process so we're you're starting that uh soon in November the budget process starts even though are not voting on the budget for quite some time that's what's happening with the ba and and uh the administration so they're starting all of that now um some of the growth was uh you felt that you needed more in-depth understanding of the financial reports and a little bit more training on board members role in the budget process so um so when you do get those financial reports is it do you have a discussion about that are you struggling to understand them in any way um do you need more time with them do you feel I need more money you need more money absolutely yeah so um and then as a uh a board with understanding the budget process does everybody feel that they are equipped enough to that's a big learning curve right when you come on the board to understand that process so sometimes um I'll recommend to boards to have like a little cheap sheet with all the you know names and of things like uh you know that you would just maybe not understand so that way when you're having those discussions you have that as like a little glossery sometimes that's helpful um and uh and certainly when you get new board members I don't know if you're having any new board members come on soon with the election you know that onboarding process um to have maybe them sit with the ba the superintendent and understand that Financial aspect because that's a big learning curve and if you could get ahead of that be super helpful our big problem is retaining board members for longer than a year or two oh really oh wow we're just recently I think we oh sorry just recently we filled up our final seats and so they have some catching up to do you know and understanding what's going on but for a while we were operating with eight or nine people on a 12 member board oh gosh so that was it was more difficult because the we did it but that's part of the problems that we have yeah yeah might be unique to hear but nobody's interested in doing it wow okay well it's a big commitment right you know and it's a lot of work and uh and thank you all for your service because it is a big commitment um but maybe uh that on boarding will help uh so that the the newer board members feel like they're getting what they need so that they can do the work and don't feel um so stressed about it you know that type of thing that would be something get together put together like an onboarding checklist for board members because I I'm neish maybe a little over a year now and I it was kind of like you know learn as you go there was no real like here's here's a process here's who you go to for this and things like that here's the rules things of that nature so maybe like an onboarding package of some sort or something like I would have never thought to sit down with Shelly and and you know look at financials as a board member yeah CU so we're doing um candidates briefing now for people that are running um we we just did one last week we're doing another one next week and that was one of the tips that I said to you know when you get elected ask for an appointment to sit with the ba or the superintendant and just ask those questions and have a little bit of onboarding because it's really helpful the other thing that we're doing now as New Jersey school boards is right before your county meeting in December we're going to have the three Rs and that'll explain rules responsibilities uh things like that your role as a board member and I think that's really helpful too it's really made a big difference um but I think when I was board president I think that the best thing for my board members my newer board members was my mentor program where I would assign a mentor based on the personality of the new person coming in and then that way they didn't feel uncomfortable asking questions at the board table they could at least you know ask those questions like what am I supposed to be doing with this what does banked cap mean things like that because you feel uncomfortable asking those questions right so maybe come up with a mentor program where some board members feel comfortable with being a mentor to that that new board member maybe that'll help um you know have a retention type of situation with that I think that's a good idea I agree yeah yeah yeah because it's a sometimes if you just feel like you're just not connected then those board members just drop off you know um so so you said that meeting's in December then does any newly elected board member get to go to that meeting then yes they're not actually they're not yet yeah so what we do is we send them an email and um from New Jersey school boards we send them an email congratulating them on being elected and then inviting them to the county meeting where they can go ahead and start right away okay is that new that it was done last year so say It's relatively first I'm hearing of it I went and it was really helpful I had actually been in my board seat for a year at that point um so like anybody can go and participate um and just kind of go through those motions but I found that it was very very informative it also introduced you to your njsba field reps you got to see some familiar or newer faces from a governance St standpoint for njsba and they kind of go went over like the Crux of just being a new board member and the must have need to know so I mean I think anybody could really go into de summer if they're interested yeah and if uh if you're a standing board member and you go you get that Statewide Regional Credit towards uh your individual certification so if any of you are working towards an individual certification you'll get that credit if you attend so um and it's only about 45 minutes it's right before the county meeting but it's a great way to meet those new board members and those new board members meet you and then um we let it be very discussion based as well so they can ask a lot of questions um so it's I I think it's a really good program and it's worthwhile Kelly do we all get credit for this session today yes I get credit for yeah so anytime anytime I come into your board meetings whether it be a retreat or a meeting itself you all get credit as as a full board so it's really important I know that um Harmony has uh said you know committed to becoming a certified board so maybe you all want to join the uh the party and and do that um but it's 16 credits and so I just come in and do trainings on whatever subject matter that you feel comfortable with and uh and you get credits and you're here at the meeting anyway so yeah Kelly to to Morris's point um I actually sat down over the summer and so you know I work in two districts but I work with over 60 board members in 12 years wow so it's and I'm just looking at the board right now uh I think doc was here when I was hired or he came on right after and then I think Morris was next and everybody else is under three years for sure well you're probably a little more than that but five well I mean like sitting at this table right now I know yeah keep the board members right after I started was when none of the meetings were in person everything was online like as far as okay like training like so there wasn't like the opportunity to go to do your board training shortly after I started okay yeah that went away yeah I think you get the most out of it when you have you know the the conversation back and forth and you're in it right when you're when you're just going online I I don't think that you get the most out of it you know so I think it's really important I'm I'm grateful to be a representative for Warren County because I heard that Warren County really hasn't had that um for a long time and I think that's super important so that might be part of the retention piece is when sometimes when members feel like they're kind of out and left field they don't feel a part of something they don't feel like they're working towards something so then they're just like you know what I'm spending all this time and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere so I think it's important I was going to say many times first political or elected office is school board so it's yeah their first experience working with a budget first experience besides a household budget working with a big budget so it becomes overwhelming to them when they first start yeah so I mean especially educational budget right like it doesn't even make sense so so it's so difficult you know we that's why we love Shelley right because we have no idea how she does what she does right so um it just it's a lot so I think that the quicker we can get get to our board members and educate them and and help them along I think that retention piece is going to be there so um you know I I I you know we'll come up with some topics I put them in your uh your programs there and uh we can just talk about that later on what topics you want to do and I'll come on out and we'll we'll do it good yeah good then we're going to move on uh let's see to uh board operation uh which you that that scored quite well so um the board recognizes the importance of teamwork and effective decisionmaking the board holds meetings in compliance with all statutes policies and bylaws so that's great um some of the grows was that you know you were asking for more training and and having um New Jersey school boards come on in uh to your meeting so so we just talked about that and that's great and then the other thing was improved communication um you you it was said that you felt like maybe you weren't all connected you felt like that some voices were not being heard I I it was in a couple of different comments it was in board operation and board performance both collectively uh that to improve communication with board members and um a lot of times maybe it's just one or two voices speaking and then the others feel like they're not jumping in why don't we talk about why that is like do you feel that there's an opportunity for discussion or maybe it's the meeting's not set up that way is this more like an executive session communication overall in a me in a public it just I mean it just the the comments when you read through it it just it just said that uh it felt like there was certain lead voices and then other voices weren't being heard and that communication from board member to board member so um so I just want to see like if maybe um you want to build in Opportunity so sometimes when uh let's say there's a committee report you know sometimes to build in the opportunity so those other board members do feel comfortable in speaking so you do the committee report and then you ask is there any comments or questions so that gives the opportunity for somebody to jump in and and ask them you know sometimes uh when boards say that they don't have I always do that oh do you do that good yeah I always that's great because a lot of times when boards say that type of comment where they feel like they're they're not able to have all voices heard it's because there's like no pause for that in the meeting as the meeting's going on you know so that's great that you do that all the time I I think we have a lot of trust and our our committees are are set up pretty well even when we have new members you know the questions always what committee would you be strongest in and I think we put a lot of trust like we have a lot of trust we don't have to put it in we have trust for our committee members in in finance and curriculum and that they're doing what they need to be doing in those committees and when the reports are done you you know usually I have nothing to say because I'm not on that committee and and I I just trust what they're doing in there yeah you feel like they covered it right yeah yeah I I do have to say um sometimes though I think we could probably more regularly send out the minutes for all committees or understand the committee schedule so we know that committees aren't happening and then our expectation is that things aren't being communicated without us being aware do you know what I mean so like maybe a more clear committee schedule like that's out there that we can access I think that would probably be helpful so we're not wondering if people are meeting but it's just not getting back to the entire board yeah I usually send out a monthly schedule ahead of time oh good okay but like a calendar schedule I think would be helpful just to kind of project and then that makes sure that we can get our feedback to you not you know the day before or week before we kind of have some time to um plan that a little bit better I don't know do you have like a a a Google Calendar where you put in all of those or you just kind of send out a report saying here's here's the schedule for for the month yeah I'll send out a report you here's the meetings for the month and the dates okay yeah cuz a lot of the Committees are meet as needed basis not like a regular like oh they're not scheduled like once a month okay we usually do personnel and curriculum every month um obviously during budgeting season we'll do Finance multiple times usually multiple times a month um I try to get all that out okay best I can but it's hard to find that Cadence I think and following like items throughout the agenda you know because some things are always continuing business and not always new business so how do you find that Cadence yeah yeah and then how do you feel about the reporting out do you feel that you're educated enough on that okay I think everybody does a really good job at reporting out updates um I think we had a curriculum update reported out last meeting I think it's more just probably planning and instead of bringing your questions to the meeting trying to get them ahead of time so it can be discussed in the committee and then that loop back to those who don't participate in those committees kind of what is that one-on-one loop back um Melissa does a pretty good job though when she's P like she's able to make those and she gets back to me all the time yeah I try to answer anything that people send to me or yeah send it his way if I can't yeah good okay moving on uh board superintendent uh and um board superintendent relationship so uh the glows are the board uh keeps the superintendent informed on community and school issues and aspirations and the board respects chain of command which is great to hear um some of the growth would be a continued discussion on student achievement and progress towards the goals so we went over that before and and talked about the mechanism for that and then understand the CSA evaluation process there were some questions on that and then set a schedule to monitor uh the progress of the goal so we already discussed that that we're going to do that um three times throughout the year so um understanding the CSA evaluation process so do you use New Jersey school boards correct um for the evaluation process we did not this year oh you didn't okay we did not this year we have in the past though okay um is that something that you want to uh to do the um use that or do or do you are you comfortable with using your own uh it's up to the board I find to be quite honest with I find the New Jersey school board is one very cumbersome it is um you can upload PDFs to it so right there it makes it very difficult to get the right information I have to put only Google Docs in there um not everybody's a master uh opening Google Docs so it's um it's hard to go through I put and I'm not complaining by any means I put a lot of time and effort if the MERS see it or they get frustrated trying to see it it's it kind of makes the process you know sort of fruitless so this year we we used um the one that actually hope Township developed there's a lot more narrative to it okay um that seemed to work but you know it's also a discussion for all of us not just for me yeah um so there was some question with understanding uh the Cs evaluation so um is did you struggle with that task I think what some of it is is that because some of it's not observable by us like to to see how the superintendent um treats his staff or what he does in the building that sort of thing a lot of what we have to review is it's not necessarily observable by us right so do we assume you know no news is good news assume because no one's here fussing or emailing us that all is well you know so it's like the unobservable part yes so um you know Chris can go ahead and build that into those updates um that you're going to have three times a year so that way you you could talk about that type of thing where maybe there was a staff PD day that um went really well and and he could talk about something like that so that you can you know kind of feel that culture and and climate um through his feedback with that um and then you know like like Chris said those uh those Google Docs would have that evidence about those type of Standards the uh CSA um has on the evaluation so but if you're doing more of a A Narrative Approach like you said that hope has um maybe that's structured a little bit different I I haven't seen that so it might be structured a little bit different that it's a lot more user friendly is it yeah yeah um I believe it leaves like in my opinion when we did it it left room for change throughout the year so where we might have had a plan for him to do three main things okay so maybe we didn't get through all those three things but the other five things had happened you know in there like it left a little bit more open discussion to be like yes we didn't get this achievement we're still working on it but in the meantime these four other things got thrown at us as a board and him to work on that were good things so I think it left left open more open discussion for upcoming or new newly added things that could have been good or bad in either way right and a lot of times we have to be mindful too with our goals that sometimes they're very fluid right sometimes you have to adjust your sales for them so um board members have to you know not be super rigid on that and understand that sometimes you have to fluctuate a little bit with some of those goals sometimes time and attention need to be sent somewhere else and just like that you had said that that was a helpful mechanism for you to um be able to make that change so that's good to hear they are working on the CSA uh evaluation we did that in conjunction uh with other superintendent but they are uh going to work on that they just changed the board self- evaluation so next time you do this it won't be as long um and uh it'll be a little bit more um easy of a process so uh that was the feedback that it was too long and it you know it just was frustrating so do you know when that'll be live those change yeah so in December they'll they'll be doing the new board self- evaluation the CSA evaluation they're working on that I don't know when that um would be okay yeah as far as the um CSA evaluations and the goals I find it hard that if we're like what is your recommendation as to when you set CSA goals because I find it hard that if you're setting them at the beginning of a school year sometime September and there's so much going on and it might not get done right away in September and now it's you know getting pushed back to October and then we're doing the superintendent evaluation in May what about happen whatever what happened from June to August kind of gets lost in that so I've struggled with that and then I think that became more of an open thing when we were having the bigger discussions with the other model is what happens to that 4 months where you start you start the process in May but it's just like a budget process where um the superintendent starts that process then the board once the superintendent's done the board gets it in like June and then you have to be done for July one for qack so so you are encompassing that time but I see that that you're right the focus isn't there on a couple of months so you lose a couple of key months out of that um so what you could do with that is in instead of having uh District goals and board goals at this time you could do it more towards the summer months where we start in July toward to the end of the year and then um and then that way if you do it in July you can adopt in August and that you really hit the ground running so then you gain those months back you because I believe like in the past couple years in my opinion there's been a lot of work that our Administration has done over the summer yeah to try and get us you know changes or whatever we need for September and I just feel like by the time we're doing that evaluation in May if we haven't accounted for that like necessarily like as a goal that three months of work isn't even being looked at you know kind of thing so but when you're building it into your uh meetings those three those three times that we talked about you're really having that discussion so you'll learn that what they did in those in those months you know so like this the first update will talk all about about you know July all the way through and and talk about where they are and the action PL so do do an update September then January then then then you can get on that cycle but for right now I think you know we ABS we have no choice but to do this cycle but it's a start right because you haven't done it before and so now this is a really great start okay perfect thank you my pleasure then we're moving on to board staff relationships and um and that was very glowing so the board values staff and and has a respectful positive relationship as well as provides uh public recognition of Staff achievements the board recognizes the importance of Staff PD and the board treats the staff with courtesy and respect so um I just want to point out that that importance about uh the staff PD so when I do superintendent uh searches we do these input sessions with the staff and so we really get a lot of knowledge backed from the staff a lot of input and the one thing they say is the most important thing to them is their professional development that it's really something that they want and that they can value so when the board supports that it really means a lot so good for you guys that you do do that because it really does mean a lot to our staff um that they you know have uh their voices heard in that and that they have subject matter that they're not just checking a box that it's bringing value to them so um that is constantly the one thing that they bring up all the time so good for you that you support that and then uh the grows um continue to focus on uh more public recognition of Staff achievement so um that you are doing that but you you felt that you needed to do a little bit more of that so um you know sometimes uh you'll build in two recognition um days like really big recognition for maybe retirement in December retirements and then the end of the year retirements things like that um years of service those type of uh you know achievements you know and make it a little bit of a party at a board meeting is is really nice and I think it's it's something that builds that relationship and then we're going to move on to uh board and Community which we've pretty much talked about it already uh the board promotes a positive image of um every child every child they represent and um The Grow was being formed maybe an effective community relations uh program Gathering Community input having voices heard that we talked about about that um public comment piece and then bridging that gap between between community and school so um and we did decide that maybe the best course of action with that would be that committee piece of of that so that's that's good so uh we we went through all that you did a great job on that I'm sorry it was so long but next year it won't be so that was good and um I I think that there was like a lot of buy and and valuable knowledge that we gained from that so thanks for that exercise so we're going to move on uh to goal setting okay so we talk about goals sorry there's a lot of bikes going on here too so when we talk about goals like so why do we make goals we why uh you know what's the foundation for goals and and we talked about this it's effective communication accountability that CSA evaluation piece understanding programming It All Leads to that so it's super important to set goals and then really like take them on and and work towards them so here we are in the cycle like when we talk talked about before uh once the CSA evaluation is done so June July and August you would be working on those goals so next year we're going to build that right in but for now here we are in the fall and we're going to talk about those goals today we'll form them and then we're going to hand them over to the superintendent and the administration and they're going to come up with those action plans and what an action plan is is it's a strategy on how to get to where we need to be to achieve that goal so once you do that you'll come back to the next meeting the superintendent will go over those action plans and it'll say what's that indicator of success what is the timeline who's responsible what team is going to work on what you'll know all that through uh that reporting out of the action plans and then along the way you're measuring those results you're having those three meetings that we talked about and then going into that evaluation process you'll really be mindful of where you are with those goals so does this all make sense the schedule on this yeah so this is it just flows right into the next uh task so this is going to be really helpful in understanding where you are as a district with those goals and then when you think about a goal you want it to be you know a smart goal you want it to be measurable achievable you just don't want to have a big word salad that sounds really good but you're never going to be able to achieve it so when you do that you have to make sure that they're realistic uh the things that you're putting in there and you're asking the superintendent to do is that achievable is it measurable what is the indicator of success so you know what is that timeline look at to achieve that so just be mindful when we go and talk through these that we are adding those components into those goals so when you talk about District goals a lot of times boards get confused they think that District goals and board goals are one and the same and they're not so District goals are owned by the board and the administration and you come together and you say okay what direction do we want for our district to go what are we going to work on this year that is going to be putting our district to the next level so the the um when we have these conversations the board is the what so it's like what we're looking for what's that guidance that we're giving to the superintendent and to the administration that we really want to see an achievement and then the superintendent also brings in certain subject matter to say hey this is where I think we should go and you work on that together so you both own that but the board is the what and the superintendent and his administration is the how so we don't sit there and say okay here's the what and then this is how you're going to do it that's not for the board to do so just be mindful of that and then when you talk about board goals board goals are owned completely by the board the board is making like professional development uh goals for themselves or a goal that is going to support the district goals and something that the board could do to do that that's what a board goal is so it's usually um some training pieces and then that support piece as well so there's definitely differences between District goals and board goals any questions on that and then when we're developing that goal we're thinking about our vision you you read your mission statement at the meeting so you're thinking about that if you had a strategic plan that comes into play because that's a multi-year type of plan so that you're building upon itself and then and then the data that your superintendent brings you a lot of times you're building that into your goal setting and then also the previous goals too just be mindful like we talked about sometimes goals are a two-year goal or a three-year goal