CHIMACUM — The Chimacum School Board has scheduled a series of meetings over the next month to prepare an application to be recognized as a “school board of distinction,” an award given annually by the Washington State School Directors Association.
The board was recognized in 2011 for getting at least 70 out of 100 points but did not place.
The application requires an essay that demonstrates the board’s strength in five areas: transparency and accountability, leadership for learning, employing quality staff, clear evaluation of the superintendent and the accommodation of different viewpoints in the decision-making process.
Superintendent Craig Downs said the board had set aside time at the end of recent meetings to examine these priorities, but the meetings often ran long, and there was no time for additional discussion.
With time running out, the board scheduled special meetings.
The first was Wednesday.
The rest will be May 16, May 30 and June 6. They begin at 7 p.m. in the Chimacum High School library, 91 West Valley Road.
School Board member Kris Butler said each board member will give a presentation on one of the five topics.
She said the recognition is important, but the process is the most valuable part.
“It gives us more clarity about what is most important, what we should set our sights on accomplishing,” she said. “By doing this exercise, we determine whether we are doing what needs to be done.”
Finishing the process and writing the essay help guide the board, she said.
“It gives the community confidence that we are meeting the standards that we have set for ourselves and the district.”
School Board of the Year will be announced at the Washington State School Directors Association’s Nov. 16 conference in Spokane.
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
