Change is Uncomfortable

On Aug. 6th Dr. Leary held a Work Session with the BOE titled "Creating the Realities of Our Own Future". I expected it to be very similar to the Board Governance presentation that was done in May but it was quite different. But I want to re-state my openness to doing things differently than have been done in the past in the hopes that we get new and better results for the district.

Right off the bat there was PROGRESS in that copies of the material were available to those of us attending from the community.

Some of the main points of the presentation were:

The Importance of Perceptions in that they are different based on our own point of view and that our Perceptions lead to Behaviors which in turn lead to Results (Perceiving, Behaving and Becoming) the implication being that if we (the BOE) perceive our goals to be achieving results then we can direct our behavior as well.

Implications of decision-making are to recognize that decisions have 3 components: Informational, Political and Emotional and the best decisions need to have all 3 components in balance. The decision about Little Red was used as an example of a decision that changed ("close it" to "keep it open") but there was little understanding by the public or what was reported in the newspaper about what caused the change; new information? the political climate of the community? or the new board members? or just a change of heart emotionally by Kneer, Wogahn and O'Brien who changed their votes?

Other topics included discussion about the fact that Conflict is not always negative, good/accurate information is key, and Fear tends to cause misinformation. Additional discussion about the value of Lateralized Thinking (pattern shifting within a pattern) and paradigm shifts that up-end everything. Leary encouraged BOE members to use Futuristic Planning (What do we want to have in 5 years and work the implementation backwards to achieve that) rather than traditional planning that looks at one year increments. He encouraged BOE members to recognize what the various components of the community are looking for from the district (listening to WIIFM radio station: "What is in it For Me?") and then try to reflect those points of view in decisions.

BOE members also did a "Social Styles Inventory" to help all of them recognize the kind of decision-makers they all are and begin to understand the differences. Pretty interesting. On the grid of Analytic, Driver, Expressive and Amiable Leary himself was the only Amiable (less assertive but more emotional), Ken Faanes was the only Analytical (less emotion and less assertive) and most others were at different levels of assertiveness and with emotional responses.

The end of the session was really different, but understandable after the personality exercise above. Leary played a couple of children's songs (after all, this IS about children) that encouraged listeners to allow enough transparency so that others can see us as we see ourselves.

After the encouraging Work Session the Regular Meeting seemed to have the same uncomfortable and dysfunctional feeling as before. I am sure that all of this change takes time but it didn't seem to carry over after just half an hour.

Again, with Public Comment required before information is given a community member not aware of the change in the policy really struggled to give input with no information. Pres. O'Brien simply told her she could give input without the information and then could return in 2 weeks to comment on what she heard later in the meeting. Not exactly the kind of thing that wins the hearts and minds of voters.

I thanked the BOE for providing adequate copies of the Briefing Statement and for moving ahead on the formation of the Little Red Study Committee and looking at the Board Docs technology. I asked, again, that all BOE Committees be in compliance with the WI Statues about Open Meeting Laws and notice their meeting times and locations as well as Committee members, their contact information, Agendas and Minutes. Nothing but uphill on a muddy slope but a few footholds are being made.

Bev Christianson repeated her request that Pres. O'Brien not serve on the negotiating committee because of his conflict of interest situation with his employment with Weld Riley. Mr. O'Brien grimaced.

A lengthy discussion began about the formation of the Little Red Study Committee. Pres. O'Brien announced that membership would be: Comm. Craig, O'Brien and Bollinger plus Butler (groans from audience members) as well as the lead teacher at LR and a LR stff member, a Putnam Heights staff member, 2 parents from LR, 2 parents from PH and 2 at-large community members. Discussion about the scope of the committee concerned including other "resources" such as Charlie Kramer, County planners, real estate agents, EC Transit, etc...

Comm. Cummins was concerned that the committee membership would be divisive and pit LR against PH families. (NOTE: this is a classic G. Butler maneuver that has been used successfully in closing Cleghorn, Lincoln, etc...) Comm. Craig was concerned that decisions made by the cttee. would naturally "spill over" to other schools and the "big picture" needed to be considered. Butler agreed that there are implications for several schools. Comm. Craig suggested asking parents already on the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) to be involved. Comm. Cummins indicated that according to policy the committee needed to have a very specific "charge" before being formed. Much word smithing ensued and a motion was made and passed unanimously about the final charge. I will have to look at the Minutes of the meeting to get the final motion as it was lengthy.

Dr, Leary indicated that his best efforts to gather information about other district's Conflict of Interest policiies is being frustrated by many "no policy" replies as well as the vacation season. This discussion was postponed to get a quality information.

Dr. Leary passed out his 1st Draft of the BOE Philosophy Policy that will be the foundation for setting goals for the ECASD. This will be the first step in the year long planning process with the next step being the setting of GOALS. My favorite part about the briefing document from Dr. Leary is the paragraph about District Philosophy and Goals which reads: "While reviewing the Board of Education Policy manual, I did not find a statement of a District Philosophy or of Goals that form the basis for comprehensive annual and long range school improvement planning."

Yes, folks, it took bringing in somebody from outside the crazy Black Box of the ECASD to notice what many of us have been saying for years: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES ON! Our Board and Administration has been rudderless and without a map for years. So we are moving in the right direction. More Progress!

Pres. O'Brien suggested BOE members e-mail suggestions to Dr. Leary. I will try to get an e-copy of the 1st draft and post it here. I think the community should have a voice in this process as well. Silly me.

Next topic: BoardDocs technology to go to paperless (or at least less paper) Agendas and information for BOE members as well as for the community. It is currently used in LaCrosse and you can look at the result at their website: Members agreed a demo would be good. http://www.boarddocs.com/wi/sdlcwi/Board.nsf/Public?OpenFrameSet

A welcome moment of humor for the board and audience members was provided by Comm. Kneer who stated: "I don't want it. I am busier than all of you people who sit in front of computers all day."

Announcements were that the Charter School Committee has been meeting all summer and they hope to present their results to the BOE in October or November. The legislative update was slightly more understandable with comments from O'Brien that the difference between state student aid to districts is being debated (VanDeWater pointed out that the lower # would result in $650,000 less for ECASD). Also something about the QEO can avoid consideration of the financial status of the district (?), and they are fighting over health insurance in Madison now. I sure hope that we get some information that would tell us what the potential savings to the ECASD might be with the Healthy WI proposal.

Patti Iverson gave an update on the Initiating activities of the Community Visioning effort that is being done at the County and city level. She indicated that she is just part of the Initiating rather than the ECASD representative who will be a BOE member. That is a big clarification that alarmed a lot of us initially.

Comm. Craig made a point of saying that the Community Visioning is totally different from the ECASD Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) process and that they need to re-visit that pledge that was made to the community in March about any adjustment in timeframes. In the process somebody recognized that nobody from the district even bothered to get back to the 3 planning consultants that gave presentations on June 26th (6 weeks ago!) Again, much confusion about whether or not the CCP process will be pursued or with Dr. Leary they will just focus on internal Needs Assessment and School Improvement Planning. Comm. Cummins indicated that she is comfortable with not setting a 5 year plan before a new Superintendent is in place.

Leary commented on the importance of getting "getting our own act together internally" before seeking community input. He commented that in his discussions with community members he does not feel pressure to include them. I do not know exactly who in the community Leary has already met with, but it can't be any of the folks I know. I guess that I think it would be a wrong start if only BOE members and Administrators and principals and staff and teachers responded to prioritize the Needs Assessment list to set priorities for goals for the ECASD. I think that the BOE should establish some mechanism to have community members respond to the same information as it will be the FOUNDATION for setting goals in the district. As always, your comments to the BOE and Sup. Leary would be helpful here.

I agree with Comm. Craig when she said that in Feb. when the motion was made and passed unanimously to begin the CCP process that they took on a specific charge and told the community that they would do certain things in certain timeframes. If that has changed then the BOE should make changes to either the task or the timeframe.

How else can we measure accountability? In Feb. they said they would do something and defined the scope and timeframe and unanimously approved it. Now in August they are missing the deadlines, or things have changed with the new Superintendent, or they have another approach with new timeframes, or whatever. Fine. Tell us what you are going to do and when you will do it and how the community will be part of the process. We will give you input about that plan and then you/we can proceed to accomplish the new objective and we have benchmarks to measure progress and now when we have completed the goal.

Final discussion was about the timeframe proposed by WASB in the schedule to hire the new Superintendent. Leary made a few modifications. Pretty straightforward. Still no definition on how the greater community will be involved in this extremely important endeavor. Man, even I am getting sick of hearing myself ask the same darn questions at every discussion! Can somebody else pick up the baton and then maybe even the BOE will have that as part of every process without our having to beg like a bunch of 4 year olds.