October 18, 2021 at 5:45 PM - Board Work Session

Discussion:  Roll call was taken at 5:45pm.
Board President conducted the meeting.

Staff present:
Larianne Polk, Administrator
Linda Shefcyk, Business Manager
Mindy Reed, Secretary to the Board of Directors
Marci Ostmeyer, Professional Development Director
Tami Clay, Special Education Director

Discussion:  Administrator Polk reviewed the attached slide show. Administrator Polk asked the Board for their feedback on the below goal categories. 

• Staff (Board) retention through mentoring relationships:
  • Mentoring each other or being mentored by someone else (another ESU). 
  • Mentoring relationships creates a sense of belonging/worth. Having those in place will lead to a stronger satisfaction rate as a Board Member. 
  • Would be more comfortable knowing the other board members, would be less intimidating.
  • If there was one person you could talk to non-judgementally and just share, it would be helpful.
  • Having someone in a similar role to ask questions would be helpful.
  • Having more social interaction as a member of the Board may help with retention.
  • Create structured groups to get more information between members.
  • Recruiting/On-Boarding.
  • It does not feel like people are excited to be here as much as before. How do we generate participation?
  • Recruit and engage are words to be used instead of retention.
  • Board involvement/participation.

***By July 2024, the ESU 7 Board will create, roll out, and operationalize a formalized process for board recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, and boardmanship.
**Pre-Post engagement survey
**Pre-Post process survey
 

• Continued emphasis on personal and professional development of the Board to ensure high performance for districts.
  • Would like to know the why and if it is important to attend conferences.
  • Each Board Member will commit to doing so many trainings/PD per year.
  • Understanding what people do, likes the Spotlight during the Board Meeting.
  • Board members used to go with a representative of ESU 7 to school districts.
  • Personal or Professional Growth - to do that, what is each Board Member going to do to improve themselves?
  • Would like to have more opportunities directly related to being an ESU board member because there are not very many of them.

***By July 2024, the ESU 7 Board members will attend at least two professional/personal learning events annually.
**Pre-post data
 

• Sustaining personalized relationships and tailored services to all districts
  • Sustaining is the status quo, as an ESU we should always be pushing our districts to the next level.
  • Could we host a dinner here at ESU 7 and invite Board Members here and have each program spotlight the service to build rapport?
  • Had an interaction with the Board and had an 8 minute video created by someone at the ESU.

***By July 2024, the ESU 7 Board will attend the corresponding school district board meetings at least once every two years to report the tailored services provided by ESU 7 and the outcomes measured. 
**Pre-Post data 
 

• Additional levels of measurement and visualization of key data points
  • Joyce provided a handout at a Schuyler community event and the participants liked the handout.
  • Does it just have to be school boards?
  • Service boards.
  • Having anecdotal and qualitative data.

***By July 2024, the ESU 7 Board will create, roll out, and operationalize communication materials detailing tailored services and outcomes. 
**Pre-Post data

Discussion:  Meeting adjourned at 6:52pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Mindy Reed, Recording Secretary to the ESU 7 Board.