Planning committee reviews closed survey, sets June retreat options and May closed-session check-in

Rose, chair of the Planning Committee of the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education, opened the May planning meeting and moved the committee directly into a review of the board survey results after confirming a three‑member quorum.

A presenter (identified in the transcript as S2) told the committee the survey had just closed and that responses had been compiled into charts. The presenter said the committee would use a standard data‑protocol exercise—working individually or in pairs for about 10–15 minutes—to identify trends, gaps and possible actions to inform a June board retreat.

The most frequently raised priorities in the survey, committee members said, were improvements in literacy and math and a districtwide effort to verify and clean up curriculum. "The biggest recurring themes that I saw in the data were about having goals in literacy and math improvement," a committee member (S4) said, adding that several respondents emphasized verifying curriculum and instruction for relevance and completeness and voiced concern about "indoctrination." Other respondents praised improved onboarding for newer board members and urged more in‑building visits to strengthen rapport with school administrators.

Committee members discussed professional development tied to those priorities. The presenter and several members said the right trainer depends on topic: internal staff could provide short tutorials on district systems and data tools, while outside experts would be preferable for detailed sessions on state statutes or parliamentary procedure. The committee identified possible retreat content including technology tutorials, deeper dives into specific data sets (AIMSweb was cited as an example), roles and responsibilities exercises, and legal boundaries for board members.

The committee reviewed logistics and proposed three dates for a June retreat: Tuesday, June 9; Wednesday, June 17; or Thursday, June 25. The presenter said Lynn had checked the district calendar and flagged those dates as available; the board will receive an email to select the best option.

Members also approved two near‑term items. They scheduled a districtwide data‑dig and goal‑setting event for June 8 that will bring leadership teams from every school together to draft student and professional practice goals. Separately, the committee agreed to hold a closed session immediately after the May 4 full board meeting to provide feedback to the interim co‑superintendents and to plan July agenda items related to co‑superintendent check‑ins.

The meeting closed with recorded action items: Dan, Tammy, Jason and Sarah will collaborate to draft a retreat agenda; Tammy will circulate the retreat dates and collect suggested topics with Lynn and others; Jason will arrange the closed session after the May board meeting; and Sam will prepare the brief post‑meeting video summary assigned to follow the full board meeting. The committee set its next meeting for July 8, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. and adjourned at approximately 6:35 p.m.