School board notes strengths, improvement areas during evaluation

The Jefferson City Public School Board identified its core strengths and was given some suggested improvements Monday during its self-evaluation.

Representatives from the Missouri School Boards Association boiled down some key data that came up during the board survey, which found school board members value each other's opinions and they have a "strong partnership" with Superintendent Larry Linthacum, who has been with the district a little over a year. The survey also noted some board members think the district can be more open about its challenges with the public and should engage more with the community.

On the survey, two of the seven board members said they did not feel their opinions were valued, but all the board members said they valued the views and opinions of their board colleagues.

Janet Tilley with MSBA highlighted that as an important piece of information. Even though some board members don't feel their voices are heard, their opinions are valued, she said.

"This doesn't mean you have to like each other," Tilley said. "You're seven very different people with seven different backgrounds. But look, even though you feel like your opinions aren't valued, they are. That respect is there."

The board nearly unanimously agreed it doesn't micromanage district affairs and that it leaves the operation of the district to the superintendent.

"You are united as a board and you know what your mission is of the district, district goals and how you're doing academically," she said. "You're the first board I've come across in a long time that answered those in a positive way. Even though district performance is not where you want it to be, you have knowledge, understanding, a pulse of where it is. You have a strong partnership with your superintendent. And you're not just in your honeymoon period. I think you've hit some things that bumped you out of your honeymoon period."

It was also identified the board has a high standard of ethics with maintaining confidentiality, which can be an issue for some boards, Tilley said.

In terms of communication with stakeholders, three board members said they agree the board is reluctant to openly discuss district issues, while four thought the district is open about its challenges. The board was split about whether or not stakeholders have the opportunity to give input on the district's vision, mission and priorities and whether the superintendent routinely gathers input from stakeholders.

The board was also torn regarding transparency. Three board members noted the board and the individual members demonstrate transparency in their actions, decision making and communication. 

Three did not feel the board is transparent in those areas and one board member marked "don't know," according to the survey.

Five board members noted on their surveys the board views community engagement as a valuable opportunity and not a burden, while two disagreed and thought community engagement is viewed as a burden by the board. Five board members said they do not think the board makes specific efforts to engage other local, county and state officials, and two board members thought efforts are being made to engage those officials, according to the survey.

Patty Polster with MSBA said it's important to discuss areas where the board has dissenting responses because those are areas the board can have more communication. Sometimes the dissension stems from lack of knowledge or it can be an area the board improves upon.

Tilley and Polster left the board with a suggested goal: continuously monitor progress toward district goals, focus areas and 2016-17 priorities.

Fulfilling that goal means providing updates regarding progress in academic achievement, workplace culture, student behavior, graduation rates and other items on the strategic plan during the monthly board members and by communicating those updates to the public.

Tilley said the board doesn't have to give updates on each category every month but suggested they discuss the strategic plan regularly and give progress updates.

"Please know this is a suggestion; this needs to be about you," Tilley said. "You can take parts of it; you can throw it away and come back with a new one."

"You have core strengths in your kids; you know there are areas you need to grow and you've got to be honest with stakeholders," she said. "You've got to be honest and upfront about it."

Board member Ken Theroff suggested the work sessions could be tied to the goals the district has set for itself and those goals could be discussed at regular board meetings.

Vice President Steven Bruce said the word that comes to his mind is "intentional."

"What gets measured get done," he said. "We have to build more intentionality around performance measurement and make sure that gets done. If we do that, I think a lot of these things will fall into place."

The district is in the midst of creating benchmark assessments for grades kindergarten through eight to better identify which grades are struggling with which subjects. 

The assessments will help the district redirect instruction, which should result in higher student achievement - the district's main objective.