Secondary Summit Jan. 18 Meeting Minutes

Absent:  Doug Baber, Connie Zuiss, Beth Betthauser, John Calabro, Doug Snyder, Bob Reed, Mike Calvert, Craig Gray, Emily Calabro

Meeting Notes:

Supt. Mark A. Evans welcomed attendees, noted the lengthy commitment and said that it's a commitment that's well worth it.  He introduced Associate Superintendent Dr. Andy Koenigs, who noted that he and Mr. Evans were there as facilitators -- to assist the group, not to make any decisions.  He then asked attendees to introduce themselves.

Mr. Evans reviewed "purpose of committee" slides from the PowerPoint.  He noted:  Are we doing a good job?  Yes.  Can we do a better job?  Yes.  He also spoke about the high achievement in our district but wants to review if other things should be looked at -- persistence rate, for instance.

Mr. Evans noted the difficult but important decision in 1998 to split the schools.  Smaller schools allow staff to know students more personally.  He reviewed "areas to consider" slide from the PowerPoint.  School staff will put a packet together for attendees that will include the info we do know about secondary students -- how many go to two year colleges, how many to four year colleges, etc.

Dr. Koenigs talked about the makeup of the committee and reviewed the "committee member's role" slide.  He asked members to fill out the "best meeting time" sheet in their binders.  He said the committee will likely meet once a month, and he's optimistic that eight meetings will be sufficient, though additional meetings may need to be added.  District staff will send meeting minutes to members to approve and will post minutes on the district web site so anyone can review the committee's process.  Dr. Koenigs noted that group norms are very helpful before committees get started and then reviewed the "effective groups" slides with attendees.  He pointed out that the index cards located at each person's chair will be available at every meeting for their questions.  District staff will find the answers and have them for attendees before the next meeting.  Attendees can share comments on the cards as well.  This is not to discourage any pertinent question or comment from being shared at any time during the meeting.

Dr. Koenigs asked at 5:04 p.m. for attendees to break into groups of about four to list in priority order what norms are most important to them (using the norm sheets in their binder as a guide).  They'll come back at 5:20 p.m. and find what consistent themes they've come up with -- Dr. Koenigs will list them on the easels for all to see.

Committee Norms from group 1

1. Decisions in best interest of students.
2. Needs of entire district
3. Agree to disagree
4. Decisions will be reached by consensus
5. We will start and stop on time

Committee Norms from group 2

1. Decisions in best interest of students.
2. Needs of entire district
3. We will start and stop on time
4. actively listen to one another
5. Agree to disagree

Committee Norms from group 3

1. Decisions in best interest of students.
2. Needs of entire district
3. Criticism is frequent, frank and relatively comfortable
4. actively listen to one another
5. Agree to disagree

Committee Norms from group 4

1. Decisions in best interest of students.
2. Needs of entire district
3. actively listen
4. criticism frequent and frank
5. Decisions will be reached by consensus

Good committees, Dr. Koenigs said, regulate themselves using norms.  District staff will type the norms committee members came up with and give the list to them.  Dr. Koenigs reviewed "History and Information" slide.  If there's other information members want to know, other things members want district staff to do, please write that on the index cards.

Mr. Evans noted the difference in college prepared versus college bound.  Mr. Templin asked if activity rates and board of regents information would be good to have as well, and there are several other pieces of information the high school principals can begin gathering regarding secondary students.

Dr. Koenigs pointed out the article about the book "The World is Flat" that talks about what globalization is doing and how it effects us and our students.  He encouraged attendees to read it.

Mrs. Wilkins asked if they should sign the index cards.  Dr. Koenigs asked that they do sign them in case he needs to clarify their questions.

Mr. Evans noted that this doesn't mean our secondary schools are broken, only that we'd like to look at ways of making them even better, and to make sure that we're heading in the right directions.

Dr. Koenigs noted that 10 standards of excellence at the high schools shows that the secondary schools aren't broken.

Mr. Harrison said Boards of Education in districts that have consistently high scores often look and say "if we're in the 98^th percentile, what are the schools in the 99^th percentile doing?"  They always strive to do better.

Mrs. Wilkins noted that we need to know the hard facts -- we shouldn't have a rosy picture painted, but should be able to see what's really happening.

Mr. Graham noted that this will help us plan for the future -- what will a high school look like in the next five to ten years, for instance?

Dr. Engelhardt suggested one thing to look at is if could scores be going up and education going down.  It's certainly possible -- he also suggested we look at student engagement, problem solving, creativity, etc.  It may help us to have a more balanced conversation about secondary school achievement.

Dr. Koenigs noted that the next date will be in February after staff reviews the "best meeting dates" sheets that were turned in tonight.  Members passed in their sheets and comment/question index cards.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:39 p.m.

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