School board retreats to look at new academic year

Reflection and projection.

Those two apparent opposites intersected seamlessly during a five-hour La Conner School Board retreat session on the district campus July 19.

Board members and new Superintendent Will Nelson reflected upon the past school year and how it was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while discussing at length strategies for moving forward in terms of curriculum, budget and capital project goals.

The retreat opened with a working lunch outdoors at the elementary school, then shifted inside to the board’s meeting room in the district administration building. Both were livestreamed for public access.

Key points focused on the district’s commitment to set aside $200,000 for capital improvements, maintain an ending fund balance of no less than 10 per cent of projected expenditures for the upcoming academic year, update curriculum to improve math and science test scores and address both short-term and long-range technology and facility needs.

“We did a lot of heavy lifting,” board president Susie Deyo said afterward.

Nelson, who succeeded interim superintendent Rich Stewart, shared with board members sections of work written by Harvard professor emeritus and consultant John Kotter, lauded as a “thought leader” in business leadership and change.

Kotter is the author of 20 books, 12 of them best-sellers and is the architect of an eight-stage model of successful organizational change.

Nelson said curriculum change is likely necessary and will require significant investment in resources to reverse local and national trends of declining math and science standardized test scores.

“When scores are down,” said Nelson, “you have to look at curriculum change to address those issues. You have to follow the research that indicates how students learn.”

In that vein, Nelson and the board discussed a June 2022 target date to “develop and begin implementation of research-based instructional frameworks that support improvement to student achievement.”

Nelson and board members expressed the need for COVID-19 re-entry planning after district students were limited last year to distance learning and hybrid in-person instructional formats due to the pandemic.

“We have all these students coming back,” Deyo noted, “and we don’t know where they are (academically).”

Nelson is optimistic district staff will be able to meet the challenge.

“Last year was tough on teachers. It was tough on everybody,” said Nelson, previously an administrator in the Arlington School District. “When the teachers get back, they’ll be inspired because of last year.”

The board will continue to hold monthly study sessions other than in September when the panel will instead meet with the Swinomish Tribal Senate, on which board member J.J. Wilbur likewise serves.

By September, district officials are also hopeful a technology and facilities committee can be formed to begin prioritizing needs in those areas.

“We want our students to be proud of their facilities,” stressed board member Lynette Cram.

Formal approval of specific board and superintendent goals for 2021-22 is expected next month.