Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning - January 26, 2010

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Proceedings of the Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning

District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

January 26, 2010

 

 

The committee meeting was held on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 in the Lincoln Center at 9:00 a.m. Trustees Barbara Bryan and Peter Gesuale; Nancy Hines, Carrie Miller, Bruce Schlicting, Deana Elder and Jeff Greenfield were in attendance. Lance Melton was available via telephone.

 

Trustee Bryan opened the meeting stating that the Board had approved the members of the Steering Committee as presented at the January 25th meeting.

 

Ms. Bryan asked for public comment. Deana Elder, representative of BCEA, would like to consider having a district employee from the BCEA on the Steering Committee. Bruce Schlicting of the custodial staff also indicated that employees know what is going on and some are fearing for their jobs. Ms. Bryan stated that since we have teachers from the BEA on the committee, it would only be fair to include MPEA and BCEA representatives also. Peter Gesuale explained that 1) the process is intended to be community-driven , 2) that planning overall will be a lengthy and ongoing process, and 3) that employees will be more deeply involved as planning gets down to more detailed levels.

 

Bruce Schlicting is willing to serve from MPEA, and Deanne Elder stated that she has a BCEA member in mind that lives on the southside. There was consensus that these staff would be included on the Steering Committee. Deanna Elder will give Nancy Hines the contact information for the BCEA member she recommends.

 

After failing to get VisionNet to work, Lance Melton at MTSBA was contacted on the speaker phone. He has started to input the community survey. He has included a section in the survey for respondents to indicate the primary role that is motivating them to fill out the survey. The choices are : teacher, administrator, other staff, senior citizen, business owner/representative, parent, high school student enrolled in BPS, and taxpayer/voter. We will be able to disaggregate results for each of these groups. At Nancy Hines’ suggestion, “senior citizen” will be changed to “retired person.”

 

Mr. Melton stated that respondents can indicate their age group as well. It was decided that ages should be split as: 19 and under, 20-25, 26-35, 36-55, 56-65, and over 65. On the survey, respondents will also be encouraged to send a link of the survey to families, friends, etc.

 

Mr. Melton stated he will send us a test of the survey as soon as it is inputted. The subcommittee can check it if they wish before a draft goes to the Steering Committee. Mr. Melton will try to have it done today.

 

There was a discussion of an alignment meeting with the Board of Trustees. Mr. Melton stated that he could be available by VisionNet. Leo Hudetz, Clerk of the Board, will set up the meeting.

 

Nancy Hines reminded Mr. Melton that they MTSBA was going to send us a suggested reading or viewing list for inclusion in the Steering Committee packet. He will send that today. He asked that the subcommittee send him the work packet for the Steering Committee so MTSBA can review it and make any suggestions. Ms. Bryan is working on the packet and agreed to get it to MTSBA as soon as possible.

 

The next meeting set with MTSBA is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4th at 9 a.m. Mr. Melton signed off at 9:40.

 

Barb Bryan and Carrie Miller will work to pare down the Daggett video to 45 minutes to have available on a link for viewing by the committee.

 

 

Peter Gesuale brought up the question of how to get the word out about the survey. Nancy Hines stated that she and Barb Bryan have discussed this and that she has various plans in place, including:

 

- Media articles

- Community 7 program

- Having sites available for people to use public computers if they don’t have access to a home computer (sites might include the public library, Friendship House, Boys & Girls Clubs, and district schools)

- Posting on the district website and on partner links such as the Chamber of Commerce, City, County, high schools, BEA, BCEA

- Emails sent to all subscribers to the district’s RSS feed system

- Information in the elementary school newsletters and union newsletters

- Notes with the survey link sent home with students in backpacks

 

These additional ideas were mentioned by those present:

 

- Have the Superintendent could write a guest editorial for the Gazette, asking people to return the survey and talking about its importance to the planning process

- Have the employee unions send emails to their members and building reps re the survey, post links to the survey on their website, and mention the survey in their newsletters

- Let parents from Title schools know that a computer is available in each Title school for parent use (if they don’t have a home computer to use)

- Use district reader boards to publicize the survey, and/or signs at school events

- Ask local businesses to put signs on their reader boards encouraging citizens to complete the survey

- Having Steering Committee members help get the word out.

 

Nancy Hines will contact Mike Foster from St. Vincent Hospital to see if he will serve on the Steering Committee. The consensus was that we should have representatives from both hospitals. Jim Duncan from Billings Clinic has already confirmed.

 

Discussion was had about the timing of the survey launch, and how long it would be available online for completion. Nancy Hines stated that she would follow up with Lance Melton on this. Peter Gesuale stated that it would be good to have the survey results in before the new superintendent is hired, allowing the board to consider community priorities in the hiring decision.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 a.m.

 

 

 

 

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Nancy Coe, Recorder