Study Session: October 14, 2014

Brian Halliday was absent, JoDee Sundberg left early on and did not return, and Scott Carlson arrived about 15 minutes before the study session ended.  In attendance were Wendy Hart, Debbie Taylor, John Burton, and Paula Hill as well as 3-4 members of the public.

Officer Brooks from the Lone Peak Police Department made a presentation about their Standard Response and Reunification Protocol for students, parents, and teachers.  His presentation was impressive as he talked about creating a specific protocol for all schools in the Lone Peak Cluster (schools can all have different procedures and Lone Peak PD has worked to create a plan that is uniform to all the schools in the area).

Sam Jarman talked about the Professional Development of Administrators and talked about the Leadership Model (thoughts from Superintendent Henshaw)

1.        Be Yourself

2.       Listen, Learn, Build Trust

3.       Renewal Process-change is a process of improving

4.       Decision-making

5.       Engage the public and parents

Rob Smith talked about how there are currently 25 administrators who could retire today and 36 could retire if they bought years from the retirement system.  In 5 years, those numbers go up to 41 and 57, meaning that there is a need to bring in new leadership and continue to train current leadership, including assistant principals.

Then a group activity was set up that was similar to a PLC.  People were split up into pre-determined groups and handed a list of word strips and asked to identify items that they wanted to understand more about.  Some of those included Pyramid of Interventions, Nutrition Services Manager Training, and Leadership Forum.   

So, here are my thoughts.  I enjoyed the LPPD presentation, but the frustrating thing about the study session is that members of the public can sit there, but they are not allowed to speak.  I had a bunch of questions for the officer-how does the plan work when there are substitute teachers?  Does the school have keys to a safe location site off scene?  How do you deal with the dynamic of joint classrooms?

As far as the group activity, the members of the public were not included in the activity, but we were able to overhear some of the individual discussions.  One of the things that frustrated me was board members who did not understand basics such as CTLs.  I get that there is a learning curve.  But all of the board members have been serving for years.  As I see it, you get 3 months-3 months to get your feet wet, ask questions, and understand all the inner workings of the district.  After that, you better know your stuff!

Do you have thoughts about what was discussed at the study session?