Board President Interview and Reflection

 Post to your blog a reflection on the extent to which you find evidence in the interview of best practice within the given standard. How would you (as the superintendent) suggest them to improve?

I had the opportunity to sit down and have a very good conversation with our the president of the Viroqua school board. It was a great opportunity for the both of us to sit down and have a conversation with one another. It provided me the opportunity to learn more about our school board and school boards in general. The school board in Viroqua has been a great board to work for over the past two years, and this interview allowed a behind the scenes view of how our board thinks and operates.  

During the time I spent with Mr. Scott Mills, it was encouraging to hear that there is and has been a focus on a governance model. The Viroqua School Board allows for policies governs what they do. They have been operating under a policy governance for as long as the board president can remember, at least back to 2008 when he became the president.  He has been a board member for the past seventeen years, and when he came on the board did not run very smooth.  As a community member, he felt that the board’s focus was not on educating students and had priorities misplaced.  He stated that the board has come a long way in his time, and part of this was to keep focus on students and empower the superintendent to do what is needed for this to happen.

The board president feels that the board needs to stick to governing and assisting in making decision. The board president recognizes that the board does not have the expertise on education, so they leave those decisions to be made by the superintended who then delegates the responsibilities as needed.  The board president also stated that they control what they can control, but in the end the board does not have as much control as people may think. He stated that boards are tied to what they can and can not do based upon rules set upon them by the state.

The process and means of involving the community seems that this can be an area of improvement in Viroqua. I specifically asked the process of how the district came upon their vision statement, which is “...because children are our future.”  This vision statement came about and was initiated by our current superintendent.  In order to get community input, there was an announcement put out to the community asking for a meeting and input. After this meeting, the superintendent brought the statement to the board, where it was voted upon, it does not sound like the processes that we have been discussing in class.

Reflecting on the interview of our board president and on the topics that we discussed in class, it seems to me that Viroqua is on the road to having a system in place where they empower the superintendent, have a governance structure, has a focus on students, student learning, and educating staff so they are the best that they can be for students. An area of improvement that I would work on as a superintendent would be finding a way to involve the community more and gather their thoughts. If the Viroqua Area Schools are going to represent the diversity of lifestyles in the community, I think that we could do a better job of gathering the communities thoughts and finding out what they value and how to work this into a vision and mission for our school district. In observation over the past two years, I asked our board president how he felt about the lack of community involvement and presence during our monthly board meetings. He stated that he sees the lack of community attendance and involvement as a positive. With members of the community not attending or participating in the board meetings, he stated that those responsible for the events in school are doing their jobs and the community is happy. I understand where he is coming from with this statement and there is a lot of truth to that, however when there is not any community attendance at the board meetings, it leads one to wonder how much the community cares about or values the schools as well.

Class Reflection

In reflection on the course that was just completed, it was a good way to start the journey in obtaining the licensure for superintendent. As a building administrator, I tend to get focused on what my key responsibilities are for my building and students. When times get busy in my life, I tend to focus on what is important to me and may lose some perspective of the big picture. This class allowed for me to take that step back to look at and understand how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together to support everyone within the school community.

As a superintendent working with the school board, it is wise to link to the community and encourage their engagement. Beginning with community engagement and then wrap other areas on the outside of this allows for the community to support and get behind the efforts of the school district. If the community knows that they have input or ownership, they will be more likely to support with votes and be happy with where their tax dollars are going.  Start by tapping into what the community wants and align what the community wants within the strategic plan.

One concept that kept being repeated in class is that "Excellence in the classroom begins with excellence in the board room." What this quote means to me is that if a school district is going to be successful, provide and nurture it's staff and students, along with excelling academically it will take a strong, cohesive unit of leaders that are in support of the schools and want what is best for kids and their employees. An idea that rang throughout the class was in order for this to happen, a governance structure or set order of business needs to be in place with defined roles and responsibilities. Having such a structure in place with defined roles will help the district run more smoothly along with a focus on the community’s values.

The structure allows for accountability toward those that have the most impact on student learning. It was said in class that, "You can’t have accountability without having authority."  A governance structure allows for the delegation of responsibility within fences. The executive limitations within such a structure provides clearly spelled out responsibilities for who is responsible for what.

In my opinion, in order for a school district to be effective, the framework of board governance should have a district vision/purpose that is supported and created by the community with will help lead to student and teacher performance.  To me, these should dovetail each other and work toward a the ultimate goal with is helping students to be career and college ready.  Each area is like the leg to a three-legged stool, each one is needed for support, if one is broken, then the system will not work. 

Superintendent Interview and Reflection

Interview of Dr. Robert Knadle ~ Viroqua Area Schools Superintendent

This past week I was able to spend some time to sit down and talk to Dr. Robert Knadle, Superintendent of Viroqua Area School District.  It was a good opportunity to discuss and understand his position within the district and allowed for myself some insight not only on what his daily/monthly duties , but also to provide some insight on the superintendency. 

            While interviewing Dr. Knadle, I categorized his monthly checklist of items.  Items that focuses his work on a monthly basis falls into work with the school board, work with district level administrators and other district managers, work/obligations within the community, district staff members, communications with outside agencies, and seasonal items.  Each area has its own importance, and each area feeling like their time is more valuable than others.

            Dr. Knadle stated that he pays particular and special attention to the school board and making sure that they are constantly and consistently being communicated with.  Dr. Knadle has weekly meetings with the board president.  For the most part, these are brief meetings that keeps the president aware of what has happened or is happening within the district, and as the board meeting approaches, these meetings extend to a couple of hours and focuses on agenda items and background going into the meeting.  Throughout the month, he also meets with other board members, mainly committee chairs leading into their monthly meetings.  Bob also works to prepare for board meetings with documentation and data to back up items that are on the agenda, let alone the committee meetings that regularly take place prior to the monthly board meetings.

            Every month, and on  a weekly basis, Dr. Knadle addresses building administration and district managers.  In Viroqua, we have weekly administrative meetings to go through agenda items and focusing on staff development.  These meetings usually take a couple of hours on Wednesday mornings.  In a district the size of Viroqua, these meetings assist to ensure that all staff are receiving as consistent of a message as possible.  Meeting with other managers of the district such as transportation, technology, custodial, business, pupil services, and food services. Bob stated that out of these managers, the business, transportation, and pupil services receive the majority of attention because of the importance of these positions. 

            Working with and communication with the community is also an important portion of Dr. Knadle’s monthly duties.  He makes it a point to speak with members of the community on a daily basis and answer community needs.  He does this through visibility.  He regularly meets and greets parents when they come to drop their child off at school while I am assisting and greeting students as they get off of the school bus.   Bob states how important this community/parent communication is for him.  As part of his duties, Bob has commitments within the community by serving on the Rotary Club, the library board, the Chamber of Commerce, and he is also a board member for Vernon Memorial Hospital.  Bob stated how important it is for him to communicate and work with agencies within the community.  He stated that someday, he will be needing something, and having the support of the community and its agencies is priceless. 

            The three above areas consume a majority of the time that Dr. Knadle plans for throughout a month, but there are also many other items that “pop” up and require time and attention.  Some of these items include, but are not limited to meeting with new hires, teacher concerns, and seasonal items.  When I inquired about seasonal items, this began a discussion on the many sleepless nights and early mornings when looking into weather related decisions and safety of students and staff.  The other seasonal work that consumes his time is working with the business department to work with auditors and being able to answer any questions that they may have.  Another season item that is important to the district and the school board is revising policy using the Neola services.   The school board along with Dr. Knadle review policy yearly and use the services of Neola to assist with this.

            Reflecting on Dr. Knadle’s leadership style in accordance with the Situational Leadership Model, I see Dr. Knadles leadership varying depending on the groups that he works with.  In relation to the administrative team, Dr. Knadle is a delegating leader.  He knows that his administrative team is committed to their work with the students and staff along with a high level of competence.  He is aware that his leaders are committed and work hard to achieve excellence.  As a team, we all compliment each other nicely, which also makes Dr. Knadle’s job easier. 

            Using the Blake and Mouton Model, I see Dr. Knadle as Middle Management (7,7), falling between Middle of the Road and Team Management.  He is a very fair man, however very firm on many of his decisions or beliefs.   Even though he may be firm, he still allows time for discussion around topics and he is always willing to listen to learn more about an issue.  The items that leaders need to be firm upon in his position, he adheres to policy and does not waiver from that.  In my three years working with him, he is fair but wants explanation and supporting data prior to giving any approval.

Blog Post #3 ~ School Board Meeting Analysis

In the month of June, our school board meeting occurred on Monday, June 16^th.  The night of meetings began with a Buildings and Grounds meeting where we are working on a partnership with a local soccer club.  The soccer club is looking at giving a sizable donation to transform a large empty tract of land on school property into a soccer field.  There was quite a bit of interesting dialogue that went along with this.

This then moved into our normal school board meeting proceedings.   There are a number of items that are voted on to begin the meetings.  These range from voucher summaries, donations, resignations, appointments, retirements, and curriculum to name a few.  From these basic, monthly proceedings, there is not too much focus on continuous improvement unless it is curriculum.  Each area of curriculum is on a five-year rotation, and a curriculum committee reviews any curriculum that is written.  Our school board takes a very hands-on approach when it comes to reading and review of curriculum. 

After this portion of the meeting, it then goes to administrative reports and an update of our new Montessori charter school.  When giving our administrative reports, our reports are to focus on the four board goals that our school board has put on administration.  When writing up our board reports on a monthly basis, and then speaking during the meetings, our focus is to be what we have done or are doing during that month to address the board goals. 

We also have one board meeting a year, usually during the summer months, where administrators will pull data together for the board, have a data retreat, and present our building assessment, attendance, and discipline data with the board.  The board identifies areas of strengths and improvements, address any curricular questions, questions or provides suggestions for improvement, and also look at new programs that are being run and assess their effectiveness.  These are productive meetings and allows for the good things that are going on in the buildings to be more public.  It is also productive for the school board to see numbers and data to provide information to them on the items that they have supported.  With the effort to write new school board goals on a yearly basis, reporting on these goals monthly within our Administrative reports, and holding data retreats, it would be very difficult to say that our board’s focus is a negative, however there is still improvements that could be made. 

In looking to assess and delineate the three steps I would take as a superintendent to improve the board’s focus on continuous improvement, my first area of focus would be to make sure that our board and staff have gone through training needed in the development of a continuous improvement model.  Being in my third year as a principal, I know that there are staff and board members that may have never heard of a continuous improvement models or know how this works.  If we are going to be a district that continuously improves, then everyone needs to be aware of what is going on and constantly seek to improve upon what we are currently doing.  

The second area that I would focus on is making sure that we are focusing on our customers/clients in designing and delivering our services.  Having the help and support from the community and people that are active within the school and community is very important in building positive relationships.  The school district should be an image of the community in which it resides, and this is very difficult to accomplish if the community is not  a part of the school system.  Soliciting support, feedback, and advice from the community and having board members that are approachable will help mold the school in the image of the community.  Involving the community will make it much easier when the community is needed for their support.  

The final area of focus should be to practice problem solving, prevention, and intervention rather than reaction to promote student success.   The mission of our school district is “because children are our future.”  In my time with the district, I have seen and felt improvement in this area, however I am aware that there is more work to be done.  If we are going to have a mission statement as stated above, then as administration and staff it is imperative that we are proactive with our assistance with students rather than being reactive. 

Blog Post #2 : Community

From reading this book, I have taken away many items that are noteworthy to catalog and store. One of the first things that stuck out in the reading is the concept of accountability by everyone. If the community is going to be involved within the school system, then this system will do better if it models the mission/vision of the community. A school and district needs to ensure that staff, students, parents, and community members have a sense of belonging.  

Weaving and strengthening the fabric of community is a collective effort and starts from a shift in our mindset about our connectedness. Anyone in a community can make it happen, no matter their background or affiliation. Citizens who take action can be anyone within the community, they do not have to be a leader or an elected official, change can start with anyone. Communities are built from assets and gifts of the citizens, not from needs or deficiencies. Using and utilize the gifts of citizens within the school district help the people of the community feel ownership. This has recently taken place within our school district with the opening of a Montessori charter. There were many members within the community that wanted to have a Montessori option with our public school system. These citizen leaders gathered a group, made a presentation to our administrative team and school board. Once they got approval, this group of citizens authored a DPI planning grant, received the award, and we will now be opening a Montessori Charter school within our elementary building.

Communities that schools reside are essential team players for a successful school system. When the citizens feel that they are players and have a voice within the system, communities can come together to do amazing things for the schools. As a leader of a district, finding a way to listen and give people voice will assist in making the district a successful one.

Ryan Rieber's EDUL 700 Blog

Assignment 1 Blogpost:
How would you, if superintendent, develop or update a school district vision and mission?

Through reading Community, discussion in class,  and listening to Dr. Joe Sanfelippo it is important to get the ideas, thoughts, and feelings from the community.  In our classroom discussion of Community, discussion was had on how community engagement needs to coincide with board goals.  The themes of the community along with the expectations in an ideal district align with board goals.  Involving the values of the community within board expectations and goals will help with community support of the school system.  Doing this assists with finding a way to listen and give others a voice.  When those who are not use to or accustom to being heard it provides all with the change to lead.

Listening to stakeholders along with weaving and strengthening the fabric of community is a collective effort and starts from a shift in  our mindset about our connectedness. Connection with the community is essential. Communities are built from assets and gifts of the citizens, not from needs or deficiencies. Focusing on the assets and gifts, and working to have the district mirror these will bring community members and community support into the school district. It is necessary as a superintendent to find a way as the leader to listen and give people voice.