Facilitator leads trustees through governance workshop to align priorities, monitoring, and routines

Trustees and district staff spent much of the Jan. 8 work session on a facilitated governance workshop led by Simmons Advantage and facilitator Marshall (Mister Simmons). The session combined hands-on activities with a document-based review of the district’s 2023 compliance/strategic document and the board self-assessment to surface recurring patterns and practical governance routines.

Workshop activities included timed, nonverbal problem-solving exercises that illustrated the value of shared protocols, followed by table work asking participants to identify repeating patterns, visibility gaps, and opportunities to strengthen strategic alignment. Committees (Safety & Operations, Academics, Policy & Strategic Plan, Finance) produced near-term deliverables: maintain a quarterly safety report for board monitoring; develop a facilities study and maintenance schedule; propose academic indicators tied to tiers (Tier 1 instructional coherence, special education metrics such as co-teaching classroom counts and SPED FTE ratios); and create finance decision rules that evaluate whether proposed expenditures advance strategic goals and equity.

Facilitator recommendations emphasized short, evidence-based board communications (cite sources, avoid surprises), a board survey to set annual reporting priorities, clear committee responsibilities, and a governance guardrail that centralizes superintendent–board communications to reduce ad hoc requests. Trustees and staff agreed to iterate on monitoring metrics and to implement routines intended to keep the board at a governance level while preserving the superintendent’s operational authority.