Fulton Public Schools Board of Education members met in a workshop setting Wednesday night with Superintendent Jacque Cowherd to reflect on the district and themselves as a group.
Phyllis Barks, Associate Executive Director of Leadership Development with the Missouri School Boards' Association, led the discussion and posed questions that prompted the group of six to dig into the high and low points of the Fulton district.
After some talk, Barks asked the board members to identify district-wide challenges which they listed as:
•Higher attendance rate, preferably at 100 percent;
•Under performance in reading and literacy;
•Understanding of technology and how to use it effectively in the classroom;
•Reduced funds from the state that the community may have to compensate for;
•Changing state and federal learning targets;
Of those, Barks instructed the board members to vote on their top three priorities. Each was given three red stickers to mark their votes. Reading and literacy concerns were voted on as a top priority. It's a focus for board member Rodney Latty, who brought up the subject and placed more than one vote for the measure. He said that under performance in reading and literacy must be detected in early development stages because the resources for reading and literacy drop off after elementary school.
"Once that kid leaves elementary school, the safety nets start to disappear," Latty said.
Changes in state and federal learning targets came in as the second priority, which board member Dennis Depping tended to focus on a mass amount of students and lose emphasis on the individual learner.
Technology and funding challenges tied for third. Because technology is continuously evolving, the board members discussed how teachers need to be adequately trained to develop learning strategies in conjunction with technological changes. They also talked about how the technology needs to match how students learn. The district may request a technology aide position to ease technological transitions in the classroom. When it comes to funding, board members talked about reduced state funds means the community has to compensate for less money through a hypothetical tax levy.
Noting that each area has room for improvement, the board also listed the district's strengths. Latty said that he notices students desiring to attend school and be an active member in it. The evidence for this, the board members discussed, is participation in extracurricular activities, the graduation rate, school atmosphere and attendance rates.
Administrative leadership and engagement with students was another highlight, one board member said. In recent years, board members noted increased participation in parent-teacher conferences at the high school and elementary levels. Cowherd said a district strength is that there are various teaching styles within the buildings, allowing teachers to be better matched with students and produce better learning results. For specific classrooms that are more challenging, Cowherd added that the district has extra resources to provide teachers with support.
After talking about the district, the board members looked at themselves as a group. Board members listed their strengths as identifying problems at the middle school and hiring a new principal from within the district, supporting the grant writing process for the high school, FabLab, recognizing student and staff success, providing specified time for public comments at board meetings, being unified in the board's purpose and doing what's best for students, having mutual respect for one another and being a diverse board in terms of term length, occupations and backgrounds.
The board members stated they would like to improve how the board understands the impact of its "big picture" decisions at each level, maintains a salary schedule that is competitive, provides resources to teachers so they are 100 percent effective and stresses the importance of professional development. They also agreed that they would like to improve the board's public perception and make the community aware of the research and time members dedicate before making a decision.