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Ad Hoc Committee for Strategic Planning - May 11, 2011


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Proceedings of the Ad Hoc Committee for Strategic Planning

School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

May 11, 2011

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Chair Barbara Bryan called the meeting to order at 1:00 p,m., Tuesday, May11, 2011, in Room 216 of the Lincoln Center. Ad Hoc Committee members in attendance were Trustees Barbara Bryan, Kathy Aragon, Greta Besh Moen, and Connie Wardell. Also in attendance were Superintendent, R. Keith Beeman, Ph. D., and Jeff Greenfield, BEA President.

 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE PUBLIC

 

No communication from the public.

 

APPROACH TO FACILITES PLANNING

 

Chair Barbara Bryan stated that there are specific steps the District needs to take to follow through on facilities planning process. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee has completed the District’s Core Values and Core Purpose. The next critical step is the 21st century visioning process.

 

Chair Bryan provided a handout listing basic steps in facilities planning. The steps include:

 

• Student Population Projections (Davis Demographics is currently working on these for BPS

• 21st Century Visioning – What do we want K-12 education to look like

in Billings for the 21st century; involves community/staff/student education and conversation

• Community Conversations – Conversations to determine community preferences about grade configuration, school size, commitment to neighborhood schools, etc.

• Reboundaring– Comprehensive Redrawing of School Attendance Boundaries

• Facility Effectiveness Evaluation – evaluation of schools in context of their ability to support the 21st century vision (involves much more than mechanical, electrical, structural evaluation)

• Prioritization of capital projects based on the facility effectiveness evaluations

• Selection/design/construction of pilot projects-design to support developed 21st

Century vision

• Commissioning/Professional Development – Evaluation of pilot project performance; instruction of staff on maximizing use of 21st century facilities

• Development of a Preventive Maintenance Plan

 

Chair Bryan recommended that the 21st century visioning process begin in the fall of the 2011-12 school year. The consensus of the Committee was to hire a professional consultant firm to facilitate the process.

 

Chair Bryan presented information from the firm Fielding Nair International, one of the world’s leading change agents in school design. The information included the resume for Prakash Nair, and handouts about the company’s work and philosophy. Bryan also provided information on other facility consultants identified during research.

 

Chair Bryan explained that Fielding Nair International has a different approach than other consultants; the company has developed a method for deciding how effective school buildings are or will be at supporting learning in the 21st century. Specifically, Fielding Nair has developed an effectiveness instrument that compares schools based on criteria other than mechanical, electrical and structural condition. The criteria used by Fielding Nair are educationally relevant criteria such as whether a building allows for multiple modes of learning, whether a building provides appropriate day lighting and fresh air, etc. Also, the criteria are district-specific and are set by the individual community during visioning.

 

Chair Bryan shared that Fielding Nair International is willing to contract to do all the facilities planning work we need or to help with the visioning process then stay on as an advisor to consultants hired for subsequent steps to ensure that all work is true to the established vision.

 

Chair Bryan explained that if the Committee goes through the Request for Proposal process to choose a consultant for the visioning process, time will not allow for the process to begin this fall (and for process planning to occur this summer). The Committee agreed that it is preferable to begin the visioning work this fall. Superintendent Beeman explained that to forgo the Request for Proposal process the dollar amount of a contract has to be under $50,000 and the consultant must be a licensed architect or engineer.

 

Trustee Greta Besch Moen suggested that the importance of doing facility planning in phases, rather than jumping in with all activities at once. Trustee Moen noted that if the planning is done in phases, the District and community can complete a phase, know it is completed, and have a sense of accomplishment before going on to the next phase.

 

Chair Bryan suggested that the Committee recommend that the full board hire Fielding Nair International as the visioning consultant for Billings Public Schools. She also suggested putting an action item on the upcoming Board agenda to direct the Committee to work with Fielding Nair to put together a contract for the visioning phase.

 

Chair Bryan will contact Fielding Nair International to set up another Committee meeting to talk with them about the specifics of a visioning process and a contract with the firm.

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

There being no further business Trustee Bryan adjourned the meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara Bryan; Chair, Ad Hoc Committee for 2011 Strategic Planning

 

 

 

 

Brenda Cross, Recorder

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