PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles School Board is developing the first steps toward the goals laid out for it by 88 district and community members at a summit last year.
The School Board evaluated 47 ideas for action gleaned from a two-day community summit in early December and created a draft action plan when it met Tuesday.
The action plan will be reviewed at Monday’s board meeting at 7 p.m. at Central Services Building, 216 E. Fourth St.
Approval of a final plan is expected March 28.
Many of the goals that were similar or compatible were combined, and a few were eliminated if they were not legal or not financially feasible, said consultant Kenneth Jones, who facilitated the process.
“This process has been very exciting, and what I’ve loved about it is we’ve gotten so much input from so many people throughout the community,” said Superintendent Jane Pryne.
“It is important to realize that once we put the plan into place, we can try to anticipate what will come up, but other things will come up that we will need to deal with.
“This is simply a process with which to start.”
Goals and plans
Among the objectives is to reinstate all-day kindergarten once it becomes financially feasible.
The action plan also includes a goal of all participants in the schools exhibiting enthusiasm, feeling valued and finding joy in the commitment to student learning and achievement.
To reach that goal, the board at the Tuesday meeting by consensus decided to start by having the district select a representative to work with a representative of employee unions.
Another action item includes evaluating the way information is communicated from the district and streamlining it to be more efficient.
The board would set up a task force to do that if the plan is approved.
Another action item would include recruiting all of the students for extracurricular activities.
That would be done by updating the clubs’ information, developing a leadership survey by the students at the high school and then requiring students to sign up for two activities when they register.
A second goal is to have all students graduate, live up to their potential and have the tools to pursue their aspirations.
The first objectives toward that goal would be to communicate criteria to new teachers and principals, ensure that evaluation language of teachers is written into collective-bargaining agreements and review policies about teacher evaluation so that teachers can be placed in the subject and grade areas they are most passionate about.
Advisory ‘recharged’
In order to make sure students have the skills to graduate, the advisory system at all levels will be “recharged,” the board said.
One suggestion was to bring in motivational speaker Joe Martin — who has written or co-authored seven books, including Good Teachers Never Quit, Let Your Leadership Speak and Tricks of the Grade — to talk with teachers.
Another idea is to develop a common planning time for teachers. Currently, high school and elementary levels have different planning times.
A task force would be created to restructure elementary school education, according to the draft plan.
Some suggestions have included changing the makeup of each elementary school so that all kindergarten through second-graders go to the same school and all third- through fourth- graders go to another, while fifth- and sixth-graders attend yet another campus.
The task force would look at the best way to handle elementary school.
The plan also calls for adaptability.
The School Board discussed possibly hiring an information technology services director who would help consolidate software, curriculum, databases and other information in the district as well as analyze some of the data.
Task force mulled
Under the community participation goal, the board discussed creating an ongoing task force to recruit businesses and individuals in the community to help with the schools.
The second step of the plan would include changing the responsibilities of the district’s communications specialist to also include working with the community on participation.
Jones said the plan was a good one but that he hoped the district didn’t use it as a “check list.”
“This is a living, breathing document,” he said.
“It isn’t something you make once and then look at six months later to see if you met the goals.
“This is something that needs to be discussed at every board meeting.”
The plan is more of a context for decisions rather than a step-by-step on how to achieve the goals — though certainly the hope is that the steps laid out Tuesday will make headway toward reaching the goals, he said.
In May, on a date not yet set, Jones will meet with the 88 people who worked at last year’s summit to explain how the action plan developed out of the goals they set out for the board, he said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
