[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Wrapping Up the 281 Vision

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Wrapping Up the 281 Vision
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1209271300.shtml


   The Robbinsdale Area Schools, District 281, has been doing a
   fast-paced visioning process the past month. This was deemed necessary
   before the referendum last year, and especially after it was defeated.
   I have posted my support for this process and participated in six of
   the many community visioning sessions: two general, one each high
   school, middle school, elementary, and ECFE.
   Today, Saturday, was the big wrap up meeting where all that raw input
   and preliminary scoring was presented to a group of 32 "community
   leaders" drawn from the School Board, District Staff (principals and
   below), city government, business, parents, and taxpayers. I was
   honored to be invited by the Board as one of those 32 evaluators.
   This went from about 8:30 am to nearly 3 pm, with only a quick lunch
   for a break. A number of initiatives for change were developed,
   including action plans. Much as I would like to share those outcomes,
   the Board and Staff will now work this up into a formal document to be
   presented at the Monday, May 5 School Board meeting. I'm going to be
   respectful and let the Board present it at the Monday, May 5 regular
   session at 7 pm. I will be out of town that day, but will have the DVR
   record it via Comcast channel 22.
   I will share this: Superintendent Stan Mack made an interesting
   observation at the end, expressing some surprise that class sizes
   didn't make the final cut. It appeared throughout the raw data, but
   apparently the other issues around it always seemed more important to
   us. I agree with Mack, this is surprising indeed, having heard this
   over and over at the community visioning sessions I attended.
   But now that I think about it, this could be evidence of a successful
   process today. For while both staff and parents cite class size as a
   concern, when listed with other issues it took its rightful status as
   a symptom. Address the other issues like funding, scheduling, and
   testing, and class sizes will take care of themselves.
   I found this whole process very helpful to me, gaining considerable
   understanding of how the district works and what the parents expect.
   But now it's time to resume my quest for understandable financials,
   possibly as part of one or more initiatives developed today.