[0:13] All right. So I will call this meeting of the board to order. It's I know it's a special meeting. Um, And we are not allowed to amend the agenda. It is 930 on the clock is when we are starting. Um, I will read our mission statement. Glass Mary Public Schools empowers all students to be active learners and compassionate individuals who thrive in our global community. Our core values are. Be kind. Be curious. Be well. Um. More details about our strategic plan for 2023 2028 are available through the Glass Mary Public Schools website. I will note six board members, our president, Allison Kocher and Matt Sonic are not present. I am board chair Doug Boyle. Welcome to the meeting. As you please stand and join me with the Pledge of Allegiance.
[0:55] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[1:07] All right. We are on for the board. Self-evaluation. Um, I will note that this is the self-evaluation of the board is not an evaluation of any individual member of the board, but it's about the board as a collective and our operations. I shared with board members a grid for their own thinking about this. It has by counted correctly, five topic areas, and as we always do, we'll just go through each topic and talk about each topic and move on from there. So um, the first one is vision board vision. Usually this is uh, in our strategic plan, which we refer to all the time and see that in everything. Anybody got anything on vision?
[1:54] Jen a lot of time I'm going to try and be brief. Um, I wish the vision would adapt a little bit to the changing landscape of education. Um, so going forward, as we look at the next vision, I'm really not even certain where we're at in terms of how frequently this is revised. But seeing something that aligns more to the world we're sending our kids out into. And if you look at at the state level and what we're talking about with pathway education, I just think it's time that we get a little bit more innovative. And I we are certainly a school district of excellence, but that doesn't mean that we we sit back. We need to be the leader.
[2:31] Yeah. Um, so the strategic plan runs out in 2028. So usually we develop that in 2027 would be the the next time we develop that. But but not that we can't move forward on pathways and sort of, you know, those sorts of things.
[3:17] Anybody else. I will note that, um, uh, there are two things in our vision that that express our vision. The first one is the vision plan. The strategic plan. The other one is superintendent. Um, and we just hired a superintendent. Um, and Scott, I think, has a vision for the schools which the community will be seeing. Um, as we move forward. But I think that's the the most important. Hire our only hire. Yeah. Um, with that. Um. All right, next up, community leadership.
[3:49] That speaks to what you just talked about. Julie. Yeah.
[3:54] Well, it certainly applies to vision.
[4:19] Yeah, we did add the, um, I subscribed. There's a community thing that gets pushed out. Um, like, it's not the newsletter, but it's like an online thing.
[4:29] The link.
[4:31] It's the it's from the community. Like a community. It's a it's a text that gets.
[4:35] Put.
[4:35] The parents where.
[4:36] Like.
[4:36] The I think it's in that but it's for the community. So if you don't have kids, you periodically get something about what's going on in schools. Um, unless people know if you're just sort of interested, I'm interested in it just to kind of see what we're pushing. It's stuff that we've all seen. Um. Anybody else?
[4:55] All right.
[4:57] Again, the leadership piece, the superintendent is, in a lot of ways our voice in the community on all, all kinds of things. Um, board operations. So that's kind of how we function as a group.
[5:11] We're doing our annual self-evaluation right now. We haven't. We fixed the. We fixed. We fixed the policy. Right. I mean we've got two members missing. Have we been on the old policy? We wouldn't be able to even meet because everybody had to be there. So we set it to meet in June and and here we are.
[5:26] I think our.
[5:27] Committees, for the most part, are doing pretty well. Um, I think we have a good system of what we refer to, committees and identifying what should be referred to committees for ongoing discussion. Um, and I feel like in my term on the board, I, I think I've seen more utilization of that over time. So I think that's, that's a good area of growth.
[5:52] And we really try to use the committees to chew on the issues. Um, and not you kind of want to have everything fully formed by the time it gets to the board. Not that we all agree on it, but that the that if we have disagreements, it's over like real things rather than wordsmithing a policy or. But it's like kind of the big picture stuff.
[6:17] Um, I mean, we're certainly not perfect, but I think we do a good job of pushing things to policy more often, not policy. I'm sorry, committees than we used to, and at least trying to do it at a more micro level and then bring it back.
[7:49] I don't think we're trying to be swift and efficient. Okay, I mean, not I agree. I mean, substantively, I agree with you. I agree with you subsequently that, um, you know, government.
[8:02] Is not swift or efficient.
[8:03] Right, by design because you you don't want to make a mistake, right? That you're not you, you, you want to make sure you've thought about everything, walked around every issue and, um, know what you're doing when you do it. And so sort of, um, swift and efficient isn't necessarily the, um, the goal. And I think, you know, to your you're on curriculum now, right? I am I think you are. I think you're going to have a conversation about I mean, curriculum tends to do this, this work. I mean, I was chair for a while. It tends to do its work in the fall leading up to the program of studies. That's the kind of like cadence of it. So that would be when that conversation.
[8:46] That runs swiftly, uh, in terms of how quickly our program of studies and everything kind of runs through our, our annual calendar, everything kind of stays on track again for planning purposes in its but we just move one to the next. We're going to be up again in my, I don't know, fifth, sixth, whatever this is term of going over curriculum. Um, and there really isn't much opportunity to discuss change. And I think we're a very layered district. We've got all of our curriculum directors, and then we've got our superintendent, assistant superintendent, curriculum and superintendent. But we also have the curriculum committee and the opportunity for conversation and discussion at that level to really hear from more of the teachers of of innovation and what they're kind of thinking. And, um, you know, how can we give them some autonomy in the classroom? And what does that do for our curriculum? I mean, that's really how how things evolve and grow. And we do a lot of things in this district and a lot of amazing classes. But at the same time, the landscape has changed. And I don't know if we're really the frontrunners of the table for a lot of it anymore.
[9:46] Do you like, um.
[9:48] Trying to think how to say this? Um, with regard to the curriculum committee, I admire the passion and the persistence with some of the stuff, and I know that pathways is coming from the state, and we need to make sure that we are doing what the state says we need to do. But I also sometimes feel that, um, some things we discuss and we kind of get an answer or then brought up again. Um, and that can be difficult. But I guess that's not a fault or a problem. It's just everybody's got their particular focus. Um, and you can't fault somebody for persisting in trying to make certain things happen.
[10:33] Yeah. I mean, I, I think we, we have pathways now. They rolled that out last year. I think it was last fall when we got the pamphlet. Was the last year or the year before it was.
[10:45] We got that booklet.
[10:45] The booklet booklet came out.
[10:47] Last year.
[10:48] Based off of our recommendation.
[11:11] Right? I mean, we have pathways, right? And it might not be the pathways you want, but I mean, that would be their kind of conversation.
[11:19] Right there in a single board member.
[11:21] No, no, no. That's okay. It's totally okay.
[11:23] There's there's talking about the.
[11:24] Yeah.
[11:25] Absolutely.
[12:59] And I would actually suggest that, um, you know, give them where you want. Give them what you want to move on. Um, you're you're better off. Um. My observation over time. You're better off taking an existing structure and incrementally moving it in the direction you want to go. So if you're thinking about pathways, we have a pathway booklet. Think about the pathways you would want to append to that and then say, hey, can we figure out a way to get this pathway, that pathway into this structure. You're not reinventing the structure, you're adding to this structure. Um, you also mentioned the ride along. I've actually been thinking about this kind of as you've been talking about things. I've been thinking about things. You know, we've got the ALM program for students who want to do academic research, wondering if there would be a way to have something for our seniors to do something like what you're talking about the right along, some kind of like experiential learning in the community. Mentor. Yes. Mentor or something that isn't. That isn't academic, but that is sort of. Pre-Professional, for lack of a better word. Um, I know from, I think last time we were talking about that there are limitations because you've got a 17 year old you can't, like, stick a 17 year old in dangerous situations. So there's things you can do and you can't do right? Stuff. Right. You stuff you can't use. But, you know, that would be another, you know, again, a structure that exists, the ARM program, essentially independent tutorials for seniors that are academic. Well, you could maybe do it experientially something. Right. So that's that's kind of what I'm suggesting is that like just in terms of, you know, operate within the structure to move the ball forward, it's kind of like a football game, right? You don't necessarily throw the 100 yard bomb all the time, but sometimes you move the ball five yards, three yards, ten yards, you know, and and incrementally move it forward.
[15:01] I think that's where and again in volunteering our time, we're all volunteers to have the. Have a little bit of latitude to go and say, you know, hey Dave, call about the choice program and call these different districts and learn about them like you did. Right? And you brought back all the feedback. Hey, Jen, let's talk about trade, education. Will Jeannie Tech, who has buses, will they do an after school club with us run their buses over here to pick the kids up? Is that a club? But these kids can then get enrolled. I mean, we have students who really want to come to Glastonbury. We really want to play sports for Glastonbury, be a Glastonbury High School student and graduate, but also really want that credentialed certificate when they graduate trade related instruction. And we have a great opportunity to have a partnership provide that. And it's no different than an AP or an EC class for giving kids access to to credentials, to say, hey, go into a very lucrative career, you can go into the trades.
[15:53] Sure.
[15:54] Um, so with regard to just general board communications, I think that we Could figure out a better way to be better prepared, not prepared, informed before our meetings. And we've got a lot of. We can't have a legal meetings. We can't be having pre board meetings. You know, we can't do things that violate FOIA or something else. But I think the more when you get an email that says here's the agenda, that's not a lot of information. And we all do an amazing job of informing ourselves of what's going on and going to these committee meetings. But I would like to see somehow, if there's a way to communicate to each other before the meetings, a little bit more background about, hey, this is coming up. And again, I don't have a solution here. I'm, I'm suggesting that I think as a group that would make us more cohesive. Um, and I go back to thinking about, you know, the superintendent. We were all under under an NDA. We spend a lot of time together at that superintendent search. And those discussions were were different because we were hiring, going through candidates. But I think those conversations, if they can be held legally, um, would just do a good job of helping us come together. Not always agreeing, not doing, you know, eight nothing votes, but just coming to the meeting feeling like, okay, I got a handle on what's going on and not, you know, and I think we're we're trying. But I think there's other ways to sort of get that message out to everybody. So they feel like they're ready to go.
[17:31] Um, the, the I mean, you mentioned the FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, and that's the kind of challenge, um, because you have to be legal. So a couple my observation. So my observation over the long period of time that I've been on the board is that we have pushed things out to committee more, um, but in an earlier time.
[18:01] Five, six board members would attend a committee meeting. Like budget, everybody would attend. Budget like that was the one meeting that literally everybody. You would have eight people in the room, even though they weren't necessarily able to participate, but they would be in the room to hear that information. So that's one way you can do it is with the committees. But then people have to attend. The other thing is you could schedule more board meetings, not on TV, but you know, we can write this. I mean, this is the problem, right? So the the the problem of getting people informed is really kind of FOIA implies that it needs to be in a meeting context. So you could have a board meeting, you know, public board meeting at Central Office. You could do that. Um, I do, I do know, um, based on what Doctor Hurwitz has said about how he's, uh, wants to function as superintendent, he's talked about, um, providing a lot more information to us kind of operationally about what's going kind of the cadence of school and the way things are going. And so, um, I think that's something. Well, um, we got superintendent, I guess board, superintendent team. Just more to that. Um, what I'm hoping to schedule soon when, uh, Doctor Hurwitz become superintendent. Is a board meeting with him where we can talk about, you know, kind of how he wants to operate in terms of providing information to us, how how we need to operate as a board with that information. Um, and so kind of come to a shared understanding about kind of to your point about getting that information, if he's, you know, maybe as a structure of information he wants to provide, um, how he would provide that information to us. I mean, none of it's secret. Um, but, you know, it's not necessarily. You want to stick it on the the bulletin board, you know, kind of things coming down the pike because, hey, this is going to happen. And so then it's going to show up in committee or something like that. I mean, I want to have that. I want to have that meeting with him to talk, be.
[20:20] Behind closed doors.
[20:21] It would not be behind closed doors. It would be but a noticed meeting that the public could certainly come in and talk would want, but more. I mean, when we're here, it's hard to have a conversation because it's, you know, you got a microphone and it's like this person, that person, if you're kind of in a room in a noticed meeting, you can talk.
[20:39] About things.
[20:40] You can chat about things, and he can talk about what he wants to do and how he wants to operate. And we can talk about what we want to operate and, and have that conversation with him collectively and come with that understanding. So that's, you know, kind of to all the things you're talking about, that's kind of in my idea. Yeah. Um, in the early days. Yeah.
[22:55] And I would hope that my hope for this meeting is that, you know, we can all be there, um, and have that kind of conversation and come to a shared understanding about, you know, expectations both ways. Right. Um, and.
[23:10] I'd like to hear.
[23:11] That. Your mic.
[23:13] Yeah. Because I'd like to hear from him. And it's not where he where he has to feel like he's taking jabs at Alan. But just like, what does he see that can be improved in terms of communication? And, you know, his suggestions of like you said, where where does he want to be in terms of being a new superintendent. And since he's been here in the past two years, he's had a chance to see pluses and minuses. And it's not being critical, but it's it's just basically to be the, the, the best we can be. And so I'd love to hear from him like what type of suggestions he has to improve communication so that, uh, you know, like you said, transparency.
[23:57] And I think you're exactly right to with, um, obvious like, the goal here is not to take jabs at exactly, Alan. But I do think one of the big things that we do need to kind of acknowledge a little bit as a board is that, you know, with longevity kind of comes at times some blurred lines of comfort and, um, you know, like, I don't think I'm going to go ahead and say, like, I don't I don't think anybody's intentions were wrong with anything, but I think this is a really good time to kind of take a step back and just like, exactly like you said, what did we learn from the leadership that we are currently exiting and where do we want to go moving forward? And I think you're also spot on with we need to hear that from Scott. What does he need us to be? As much as we need to be communicating what we need him to be as well?
[24:48] Yeah.
[24:49] And he's got a different model too, because he was in Farmington, a pier district, and saw how how that district operated and operated with our other town bodies and, um, see how that see how they operated. Um, and, you know, he's a different person. So he's going to have his inclinations for what's comfortable for him. I'm sure he's, you know, got has lots of thoughts about how he wants to operate and, and.
[25:18] Bring all of those.
[25:19] Well, right. And along with that. So just in kind of thinking about this, I mean, I want to have that early meeting conversation. And then I was thinking in this first year, probably every three months have a kind of same kind of meeting. Yeah. Just kind of a, you know, how are things going? What's working, what's not working, what do we want to change? And kind of just, you know, collectively have that that meeting not in a, you know, usually what we do is we have the superintendent evaluation once a year. Not not that not an evaluation, but more of a conversation about how things are going. Um, so that, you know, we don't go a year and say, oh, geez, you know, that thing you've been doing all the time? We hate that you have that conversation. You know, three months in, you know, this isn't working. So let's do something else. So have that kind of more of a collegial conversation.
[26:20] We've kind of we we'll come back to ethics, but we're kind of doing the board superintendent team kind of which we slid into, which is fine. Um, anything else on that board? Superintendent team? I think it's going to be lots of new things.
[26:34] I mean, I think a lot of kind of the themes we discussed in the board superintendent relationship also kind of bleeds into ethics to an extent with just, um, you know, like boundaries communicating with each other, just making sure that as much as possible, we're staying, um, objective. You know, like, I very much respect Scott as a person, but I need to also be in a place where I, you know, if he's doing something I don't agree with, that we can get the real the real feedback. Um, so I guess that element of being candid, not that it's unethical, but. Yeah, directly, like.
[27:14] Yeah, I mean, other than something confidential, we don't feel like things are being held back or, um, that we can trust. What what's happening? And again, it's not nothing about Alan. It's just going forward. I think that's a good way to set a clear playing field.
[27:31] Yeah. And I would expect him to tell us when he thinks we're doing something wrong. Yeah. And dumb. I mean, that's part that's part of the superintendent's job too, right? I mean, you know, we're we're all sort of highly skilled in our own particular areas, but but none of us are professional educator. And so, there are some things that might. I guess I'm a professional educator, but not in the same way. Um, not like this. Um, you know, there's things that might seem like a reasonable thing to do for the common person, but just might be illegal. You know, I mean, it's possible. Um, yeah. Ethics. Um, you know, that's, uh, you know, confidentiality and communications. Um, kind of a big thing. Um, keeping the politics, I think we keep the politics, the partisan politics out of things. I think so, um. Um, I think, you know, when when we've had divisions, it hasn't been partisan for the most part. I know, Jen, you kind of can sometimes be on your own. You feel like it's partisan. Um, but I think when when we've had real like, I think it's more, I think it's more of a difference of opinion than it is partisan, I agree. Um, but but when we've had real divisions, it hasn't been. It hasn't broken on party lines. Actually. it's been, um, nonpartisan, um, or whatever you want to call it. Um, just differences of views, um, on things. Um, okay. Uh, I think there's anything else.
[29:03] General anything? Anything. I we've gone through the list, so anything.
[29:24] However, I'm not.
[29:26] No, no, no, I'm saying he's not. Don't he personally.
[31:23] Okay. All right. So we're done. Motion to adjourn.
[31:27] Motion to adjourn.
[31:28] Second.
[31:29] All those in favor, please raise your hand. That passes unanimously. We are done at 10:00.
[31:34] Beautiful.