Diane Blevins Posted May 29, 2012 Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana May 7, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana, was duly held at The Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, May 7, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. Members present included Trustees Kathy Aragon, Greta Besch Moen, Pam Ellis, Lindy Graves, Travis Kemp, Teresa Stroebe, Allen Halter, Connie Wardell, Travis Smith, District Clerk Leo Hudetz, and Technology Director Karen Palmer. Registered guests included Mary Westwood, Dennis Johnson, Mary Jo Fox, COMMUNICATION FROM THE PUBLIC The Board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of listening to members of the public in its meetings. The Board also recognizes the statutory and constitutional right of the public to participate in governmental operations. The Board encourages members of the public to participate in and express opinions about issues important to the District. This part of the Board’s meeting is dedicated to public comment on any public matter that is not on the agenda of this meeting and is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Trustees. Members of the public may also address particular items on this agenda either now or at the time the Board considers the particular item. Bruce Swanson asked the candidate to address strands and spiral curriculum during his interview. INTERVIEW OF TERRY BOUCK FOR SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS The following are the list of questions asked of the candidate by Human Resources Director Jeana Lervick, and his responses: Tell us about your background and why you want to be the Billings Public Schools Superintendent. Dr. Gray reported his wife is also an educator and they have two sons. He loves to travel, read, golf, hunt and fish. He has been a supervisor for a portion of the state of Colorado and has assisted in team building. Student achievement has improved in his district and he has experience with bond projects, including the construction of two new schools and the renovations on existing facilities. Dr. Gray reported he believes in transparency in all levels, building trust, integrity, and implementing a decision making process prior to make decisions for students as they are the most important priority. He has worked in both large and small districts and feels the superintendent can make a difference working with state offices. He has experience in passing bond levies and building schools. He wanted to relocate to Billings as it is similar to the area where he grew up. Share specific ways you effectively communicate with the board; other administrators; teaching staff; classified staff; community; students. Please give us a recent example where you used humor in a professional interaction. Dr. Gray believes that humor lightens up the work environment. He feels having a system in place for large group communication is important as key communicators are at work in his current district. He is active in community clubs and disseminates newsletters for the community. There should be opportunities for the community to engage through the website also. How would you accomplish creating an open/comprehensive communications process? Dr. Gray felt Montana has an open communication process or environment. He would continue to support that and be transparent about the happenings in the district. It is important to engage the media with on-going communication. How would you go about gaining a better understanding of this school district and its finances and the community’s priorities and goals for education? There needs to be a specific entry plan when coming into a new district by visiting each classroom and meeting each employee. Data must be collected on the schools and meetings held with community leaders in the community. He has looked at the budget of the district and its finances but it takes time to learn the new system. Can you give us an example of what “compass” you use in your personal and professional life? What guides you as a leader? Honesty, demonstrating integrity, family first values, passion about student achievement, involvement in the community, team builder, and believes in surrogate leadership to achieve personal goals. Describe the process you would use to establish a vision for the school district. What strategies would you implement to create an atmosphere of stability and continuity, while, at the same time, initiating change for improved student achievement? Dr. Gray reported he began a strategic planning process three years ago by engaging the community and staff in public meetings to develop a plan. All of the priorities for bond levies were driven by the strategic planning process. All of the plans are integrated with student achievement. How do you create high expectations for students and staff and create a method of holding all accountable to these standards? First and foremost are high expectations. In order to hold people accountable, all planning and discussions are based on goals. State assessments are the manner in which districts are measured which is part of the accountability process. Give some examples of your leadership in curriculum, best instructional practices, assessment, and staff development, which have led to improved student achievement. Teaching and learning is a part of who Dr. Gray is and what he does. The single most important thing to do is to train the teachers. Teaching is scientific and involves participation from the district. Assessment tools are important to measure achievement. A district has to have systems of intervention and must follow up with a strong evaluation process. Please share with us experiences you have had related to facility improvement or remodeling and/or new facility construction that you have overseen in districts you have served. What were critical considerations associated with either of the above? A superintendent must have a very good understanding of what the needs are in the facilities master plan. What this district will do with the $12,500,000 bonds and contracting for the master facilities plan is very important. As you have approached facility issues, how have instructional priorities of students been factored into the decision-making. Please provide an example. Dr. Gray wanted to make sure the learning environment is conducive to student achievement and all classrooms have sound systems so all students have an opportunity to be heard as well as install projectors in each classroom. Esthetics is important. There needs to be a communication which can drive the learning. Talk about your past experience in facilities improvement and development. How have student needs been incorporated into those experiences? Dr. Gray felt he had previously answered this question. What approach do you use to ensure that all internal and external communities keep their focus on what is best for students? Communication strategies are the main approach to assure the board can make sure that student learning is the center of discussions. Student achievement should be the focus of what educators do. Schools are the center of communities and the superintendent must make sure it is a positive message. How do you work with staff to make sure that the decisions that are med in the educational setting are made based on student’s needs and not the adults in the setting? Dr. Gray stated he builds consensus, visits classrooms, and seeks staff input. When a staff development plan is created, staff works together collaboratively. How do you believe raising student achievement is best accomplished? How do you determine specifically what needs to occur for student achievement to be a major priority? Priority comes from the superintendent and the board. When a priority is made, it filters down through the district. The single most important thing is to train staff for student achievement. Describe your overall leadership style and address how you build and maintain trust and the concept of “team” within the various constituent groups with which you interact. Trust is the easiest thing to have but hard to get back. He believes in building relationships, trust, and team building with the staff. What method do you use to determine what the greatest needs of students are in the schools you serve? It is important to have informative assessments. A superintendent has to figure out where students are being assesses, take that data back to the professional learning community, analyze it, and determine how to improve instruction. Instruction must then be reassessed and re-teaching might have to take place. Based on your research and observations, what excites you about becoming our next superintendent? The Billings Public Schools 2009-10 assessment exceeds the state average. Dr. Gray stated he believed Billings has quality educators. What suggestions would you have that might help us reach a higher level of effectiveness? You are looking for strong leadership skills and it is important for the board to have consistency. What personal strengths can you bring to our schools and community to help us improve? He has the ability to relate with the people, is a people person, and goes out to do the hard work in the community. What do you see as our biggest challenge going forward? This district has many of the same challenges as other school districts. Dr. Gray resolved to overcome the deferred maintenance issues. It is important to have resources to train teachers and give them opportunities. He would work to build a team with a diverse board. What qualities and skills will you bring to this position? What areas do you feel are your strongest, and what areas do you need to improve? Being able to engage people and his knowledge in education. Dr. Gray stated he has experience that he would bring from past positions is a value added for any school district. He reported he has been burned by people before and needs to work on trust issues. What have you done in previous positions and what will you do as our superintendent to ensure that you receive diverse perspectives on issues facing the district? Solutions come from diverse perspectives. In his present district, budget cuts were made in the middle of the year using interest based negotiations. In the last two years, there has been pay cuts made as collaborative teams worked on the decisions. He has a philosophy to come up with solutions by working together. How would you go about gaining an understanding of this school district and the community’s priorities and goals for education? Dr. Gray stated he would have a specific entry plan by collecting data, visiting classrooms, schools and community leaders. He would also hold public forums in order to gain input and would survey the community. He would develop the next step plans and goals for the district. What is your leadership style? Give us a primary example which illustrates your leadership style in action. He believes in working collaboratively with staff and every voice is heard. Discuss the latest trends in curriculum and instruction initiatives that you believe would be important within our district. A solid framework is needed in determining how instruction is delivered in the classroom. Staff must be properly trained and resources provided. What process do you utilize to determine the effectiveness of a district’s curriculum? Actually, the effectiveness of any program that is being used by a district. There is data and assessment data that will tell us if the district is failing or excelling and how curriculum is working. Do you have any questions for us? Dr. Gray stated one of his beliefs is early childhood intervention programs and engaging children from age three to eight. National statistics show that 20% of kindergarten students are below level and can be tracked to high school dropout rates. He believed the next superintendent should come with skills that he previously mentioned. That person should listen to each employee on strengths and weaknesses. Trust must be built with the public through engaging the community. Dr. Gray asked the board how they envision their next superintendent. Trustee Wardell wanted that person to lead the board in a goal setting exercise in order to measure each decision against goals that have been set. Trustee Halter felt the most important part of being a board member is visiting the schools. He does not want to hold students back and asked for vision. Trustee Graves believed most of the decisions need to be made on how it would affect students. Dr. Gray asked the board what does becoming a team look like and what role does the new superintendent play. Trustee Graves stated to provide leadership and skill sets to guide us to the 40,000 ft. level and taking us in the right direction. Trustee Smith reported to be the quarterback. Trustee Halter stated a team works together to help a struggling team member and the team sets goals. Dr. Gray stated several schools have made AYP but four schools have been identified for corrective action. Have you discussed NCLB or accountability? Trustee Ellis reported a presentation on data has been given but no discussion on the specifics has taken place. She felt the board needed to get back to a more collaborative way. Dr. Gray stated the board and superintendent needed to train together in order to move forward. Trustee Stroebe stated MCLB and AYP are underfunded and it should be the state’s responsibility to fund it. The district cannot afford more counselors or for the resources of what we want to do. Trustee Kemp asked Dr. Gray if he has ever dealt with a split board. He replied that he had and it sometimes goes through a period of time where you are not working together. Each single district he has worked in has had issues at different times but team building is needed. Trustee Moen made the following motion with a second by Trustee Halter: Motion to adjourn. Those voting in favor were Kathy Aragon, Greta Besch Moen, Pam Ellis, Lindy Graves, Travis Smith, Travis Kemp, Allen Halter, Teresa Stroebe, and Connie Wardell. The motion passed unanimously. Teresa Stroebe, Chair Diane Blevins, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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