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Prairie Board desired to create interactive performance tasks
and an open forum for focused dialogue filled with facts
about the district and exchanged between members of the
community. The goal was for the community to talk with each
other and learn about the diverse opinions present in the
community.
The strategic planning involved creating a setting of civility.
The goal of the planning was to create a safe place where
young parents could engage in dialogue with the senior
citizen, a setting where the farmer engaged in conversations
with the business manager and a setting where board
members could get back in touch with the community.
As a relatively new school district (consolidation occurred in
2003), members of the West Prairie School District Board
recognized several reoccurring themes and patterns within
current and future decisions. The board acknowledged a
potential disconnect between the storyline in the community
and the state of current issues. Many aspects of the district
had changed in 15 years and the board believed it was time
to move from the status of “newly organized” to the status of
“established.”
The new elements to the story included:
● Decreasing enrollment.
● Declining infrastructure (aging facilities with empty
classrooms).
● Deferred maintenance.
● Financial limitations (instability of the state budget).
● Over-extended transportation department (aging fleet,
limited driver pool, retention of a mechanic, extensive daily
routes, 244 miles of rural terrain etc.).
While present and past board members had done an
excellent job of bringing two communities together through
consolidation, the board realized the next chapter needed to
be written by the main characters in the story. Community
members needed to be re-introduced to the story line. This
meant engaging with the community through a series of
public meetings. The goal of each meeting included:
● Completing and extending the oral history with current
facts, figures and demographics of the district.
● Modeling for the community, parents, staff and students a
model for civil dialogue.
● Outlining the complex nature of education overall.
Engagement
...
cont’d.