About a year ago our school district created a new strategic plan. One of the 6 key change strategies (‘the 6 pack’) to get us to higher than ever levels of success was shared leadership.
The shared leadership strategy included the creation of Building Leadership Teams (or BLTs) at each school who were trained in the Continuous Improvement approach to School Improvement Plans. (You can find those plans on each school’s webpage).
It also included the creation of a historic (for this school district) “District-Wide Leadership Team” (DLT) whose role it is to review district action plans that are aligned to key goals and strategies of the strategic plan, develop and review the District Balanced Scorecard to monitor progress of the strategic plan, provide feedback and input on strategic planning initiatives, and ensure transparency and accountability of the strategic plan through teamwork and collaboration.
Over 40 stakeholders - students, community leaders, teachers, principals, support staff, and parents convened for the first time on November 21 and the second time on February 20 and will meet again on June 19. Here, for your information, is the agenda of this broad stakeholder group so you can see what we have been working on for all the community's children!
We are working towards some longer term goals, like a balanced scorecard (measuring what matters most) but some immediate feedback we have responded to is an FAQ of questions “everyone was wondering about” ( e.g. What are “high credentials”? Which are the ones we are focusing on? / All the information on “high credentials” is extremely powerful. Will that information be shared with 8th grade - HS students and parents?). Our team also asked for a Glossary of terms we in the education profession use which sometimes confuses our customers! (e.g What does Personalized Learning mean? ) Every resident of our community who cares about the future of our schools and how we serve children might benefit by looking over these questions asked by your stakeholder representatives.
This is a lot to take in, and you are always welcome to attend DLT meetings...they are publicly noticed just like any other meeting of the school board. Plus you could sign up for our district newsletter or School Board updates! I’ll close for now by thanking you all for your support and interest in your schools ….and a few pictures of our DLT!
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| During my recent day-long visit to OCHS, Board member Sheryl Cerniglia and I had lunch with our student DLT representatives (we are short one who was absent) and the principal. |
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| Salvation Army’s Ken Tregellas and State Representative Jessie Rodriguez share their views as part of our District Leadership Team. |
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| A school principal, a student, and the vice president of MATC reflect the wide variety of stakeholder viewpoints on the District Leadership Team. |
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Collaboratively working in small groups on the first draft of the “Balanced Scorecard" (the most important things to measure).
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