Fresno Unified board conducts retreat. What did they learn from the $100,000 coach?

Schools have too much money, yet, via bonds and parcel taxes demand more.  For what?

“Fresno Unified is entering the eighth month since former superintendent Bob Nelson announced his departure in January. The district had held a series of listening sessions in February but decided to only interview internal district employees as the first step, which outraged the public and the board called off the interviews in early April. The board agreed on an external search but it hasn’t provided updates since early May when Her was appointed the interim.

With the $40,000 headhunter firm quitting the same night when internal interviews were canceled. The board hired the Council for $100,000 to help trustees work as a collective governing board and to provide guidance on how to proceed with the search. The retreat was scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend as a kick-start for the coaching, but it was eventually postponed to Labor Day weekend.”

Guess the3 voters elected people without the ability to do a search, including the whole community.  The next time Fresno Unified wants a bond, remember this waste of $100,000.

Fresno Unified board conducts retreat. What did they learn from the $100,000 coach?

BY LEQI ZHONG, Fresno Bee,  9/5/24  https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article291936560.html#storylink=cpy

School board members and the interim superintendent met at a two-day retreat over the holiday weekend to learn about goal-setting and the process to proceed with the stalled Fresno Unified superintendent search. The board agreed to commence with community listening sessions to hear what the public wants from the district.

By the end of September, the district will announce schedules for these listening sessions, said Nikki Henry, Fresno Unified’s spokesperson. During the two-day retreat at Fresno City College’s West Center, the board pledged to spend at least 50% of every open meeting moving forward discussing student outcomes and how to improve them, and also directed staff to release board meeting materials earlier in the week to allow for more communication and questions before the meeting.

The retreat was focused on setting goals for the third-largest school district in the state, and helping trustees to “nudge on a desire to shift away from the bickering, away from all the political fights, and toward what is working for children,” said AJ Crabill, consultant from the coaching firm, Council of the Great City Schools. The group talked about their behaviors, discussed their roles and responsibilities, and reviewed board meeting agendas to reflect on how the board has lost focus on pushing for student achievements.

 Crabill said an effective board allocates time and energy based on priorities. “If you say the children are the most important reason we’re here, you’d think we spend half of our time talking about what is working in reality for children,” he said. The only way to know is to spend time looking at the data and analyzing the growth, he said. “Our coaching is, if that’s really a priority for you, spend at least half of your time doing that,” he said. “Right now, they are spending most of their time doing stuff that’s not helpful for kids.” Following the retreat, the next step is to conduct community listening sessions, said Crabill.

The listening process will possibly take 30-45 days, said Trustee Valerie Davis. Trustees will listen to the community members in their regions and provide the public with information on why the board is intensely focused on improving student outcomes. The community input will be used for the board to develop one to three goals and guardrails that describe the superintendent’s job duties. Currently, the district is following the two goals that Her set for the new school year: improving student outcomes and providing excellent customer service. Crabill said Her did the right thing to fill the gap while waiting for the board to complete the whole process.

“They still have to go out to the community and ask (for priorities). That’s the one thing that Misty did not do because it’s not her job,” he said. “She took her understanding, and connected with all the parents and staff that she could, said ‘What are the two biggest things I’ve got to work on right now while we wait for the board to set its goals.’” “She’s been here for decades as a student and practically every position all the way through,” he said. “So it would not surprise me if her instincts of the community’s vision of values are unusually accurate.”

The community listening sessions and setting goals will drive the superintendent’s search. “Our coaching regarding superintendent search is, first, get clear about what you want the superintendent to do, and then hire somebody who has some track records of doing that,” he said. “What most boards do is exactly backward, hiring somebody who seems shiny and special, and then it’s like, ‘tell us what your job should be.’” It’s a matter of expertise, said Crabill.

The problem is having non-experts doing expert work. “The seven of them were not elected because people thought that they could run the district,” he said. “Misty wasn’t selected to represent the community; she was selected to implement the vision and values.” “What you really want is the board to turn the community’s visions and values into goals and guardrails, and then hand that to the superintendent, say ‘Your job is to now start to implement this and provide us monthly updates on how it is going, so we can see if children are learning or not,’” he said.

Fresno Unified is entering the eighth month since former superintendent Bob Nelson announced his departure in January. The district had held a series of listening sessions in February but decided to only interview internal district employees as the first step, which outraged the public and the board called off the interviews in early April. The board agreed on an external search but it hasn’t provided updates since early May when Her was appointed the interim.

With the $40,000 headhunter firm quitting the same night when internal interviews were canceled. The board hired the Council for $100,000 to help trustees work as a collective governing board and to provide guidance on how to proceed with the search. The retreat was scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend as a kick-start for the coaching, but it was eventually postponed to Labor Day weekend.