Brand New Look

Having said that, I thought this would be a nice place to for an interlude in how I prepare for each board meeting, and give my readers an inside look as to how I go about the public’s business. Each week will be a little bit different depending on my family and day-job obligations, but this should give you an idea of the broad contours of what the work looks like.

It begins with the agenda being posted and shared with the Board. This generally occurs on Fridays, so I can take time during each weekend evevning to review the items coming forward. This involves reading through each of the items in the Consent Agenda and in the Discussion and Action sections.

As I’m doing this, I take notes for myself on anything I have questions about or where I need clarification. Sometimes those questions are answered by the time I’m finished, and sometimes they are not. I also spend this time thinking through what important direction staff needs from the Board where we can best fulfill our oversight and policy-setting roles. This will often reflect a combination of my prior experience, my judgment in fulfilling the mission of the school district, and concerns and feedback I have heard from the community. The latter is why I hold office hours, as it’s a dedicated time for me to have a dialogue with community members and helps me form my understanding of what’s important.

On Mondays, I will have my assembled list of unanswered questions which I send to staff. They work ahead of the meeting to answer these questions, which the public sees in the block of Questions from Trustees attached to the meeting. Before the meeting, I review the responses to gain more insight. Fielding these questions ahead allows us to use the precious time during the board meeting on discussions and deliberation.

A separate byproduct of this process is this very newsletter! Having internalized the agenda for the week, I assemble this along with other topics that can inform the community. I strive to send this out early on Tuesdays ahead of the meeting.

Throughout this time, I receive emails from the public at [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. I read through each of these as they arrive, and they continue to inform my understanding in preparation for the meeting.

Putting all of this together, we finally have our Thursday meeting, where my fellow Board members will have put in similar work, and we will act and provide our direction to district staff.

Landels Pilot Child Nutrition Dishware

Prior to the summer break, the Board received a community presentation about the potential to improve sustainability and realize long-term cost-savings by transitioning to reusable dishware in our food service program.

After receiving the presentation, the Board directed staff to explore piloting this at Landels Elementary. This will allow us to understand the tradeoffs and make a decision about whether and how best to proceed. Staff worked diligently over the summer to explore the options, and we will receive an update.

The two implementation models that staff reviewed are in-house and outsourced dishwashing. There are different tradeoffs for each implementation, from the up-front capital costs of installing the required equipment for in-housing, to the ongoing expenses of staffing at different levels.

i-Ready Diagnostic 1 Report

Complementary to the Diagnostic 3 report at the end of the school year, we have our first i-Ready diagnostic for the new school year. This is just one of the ways we assess student performance and progress. As I have said before, while all measurements are imperfect, it’s important that we continue to focus on student achievement with the data points we have available.

Contracts, Purchasing, and Checklist Review

During the June 12 meeting, the Board reviewed an update to our checklist and purchasing processes. I am a big proponent of continuous improvement, so I was happy to see that we were iterating on this process. As part of that, I had requested that staff come back in the new school year with an overview of what’s been working well and what needs refinement with the measures that have been put in place. This presentation fulfills that request.

Assessed Value Growth and Budget Information

With a lot of uncertainty in the economy, along with changes in the development patterns in the district, staff is presenting an update on how our assessed value has changed. We have a healthy reserve built up over prior years, so there is no need for drastic action, but now is a great time to understand our forecasts so the Board can take prudent, deliberate guidance on how the district should navigate before the situation becomes urgent.

MVW Residences Appointments

The MVW Residences Corporation is the nonprofit housing corporation that the district has established to oversee our Staff Housing at the Sevens. This has been part of the Board journey over recent months to maintain responsible stewardship of this project, while allowing the Board and district to focus on the core mission. This keeps us dedicating our time to things like the previous items, while making sure that the staff housing delivers on its purpose to attract and retain talented employees.

Over the past few board meetings, we have been interviewing candidates for the MVW Residences Corporation’s Board of Directors. We were able to hear from qualified candidates willing to volunteer their service to our district and the housing corporation, and it was great seeing people with different backgrounds eager to help with our mission.

After discussion and deliberation, we will be tasked with appointing directors to the board of the MVWSD Residences Corporation, both from the candidates we have interviewed and one MVWSD Board member.