KASB Leadership Services

It will be another busy week for KASB Leadership Services.  We will be working with Twin Valley, Troy, Erie, and Andover on superintendent searches.  We have McREL training in Clearwater at SCKESC.  We also have evaluation training in Newton and at KASB in Topeka as well as community meetings in Coffeyville and Renwick.  Late last week we attempted to send an update out to all superintendents about planning for the upcoming school board elections this spring.  I thought it would be good to add it to the blog for quick access start planning for the future.

Preparation for Spring Board Elections

At the Educational Summits this fall, there were many discussions about the future of public education and implications for local districts.  A common theme was a concern that there could be a large turnover in local school district board seats.

Several board members and educational leaders expressed an interest in assistance at the local level in addressing the issue of educating persons that have filed for board seats.  KASB has developed a checklist that should assist in this regard.

After the filing deadline, any person that filed would receive communication from the Board President and the Superintendent inviting them to a meeting (suggested length of no more than 2 hours) where school district issues and data would be presented.  The following list includes items that could be used in this meeting.

District Vision and Goals:

• Assume that persons running for school board seats don’t know the existing district vision, or goals.  Take the time to explain both to the new candidates.

Student Achievement

• Current focus on College and Career Readiness
• MTSS discussion with focus on the “whole child”
• Evaluation processes utilized to insure high quality instruction throughout the system

Student Demographics Profile:

• Achievement Data
• Attendance Rate
• Graduation Rate
•  ACT scores
• Vocational/Technical participation
• At-Risk numbers
• Co/Extra curricular participants in district activities

Budget

• A brief presentation on how schools are funded, specifically, base budget per pupil, weightings and the state 20 mill levy.
•  A brief review of easy to read documents specific to your district from KSDE’s web site.  Distribution of the Budget Profile and the Budget-at-a-Glance would be good for persons who have filed.  Both of these documents for all districts can be found at http://svapp15586.ksde.org/k12/k12.aspx

Personnel Profile:

• Number of Administrators and the duties assigned
• Number of Teachers and alignment to curriculum expectations
• Number of Classified Staff

District Facilities Profile:

• Configuration and building alignment

• Explain the number of buildings within the district, the age and utilization of each.
• Discuss briefly, any additional building needed in the future or potential restructuring in the use of buildings.

• Transportation structure including total miles covered, buses/vehicles utilized, and average daily ridership.

After the election and the new members are in place KASB will be there to help you with the transition.  We will work with your new board members to build an effective “District Leadership Team”

Please inform your new board members about the opportunity to attend the New Board Member Workshops and provide the dates.

We hope to see you and your new board members in attendance at these workshops.  These are a great way to build a relationship with your board members, and give them insight into the key work of school boards.  We also encourage you to assign new board members mentors from your board to help build the bonds that create a positive board culture.  You will find our mission aligns closely with the many challenges you face in your role as the district's executive.

Pay close attention to the upcoming dates for a workshop near you.