Highlights From The August 27th Board Meeting
Below are highlights of the August 27th Board of Education meeting.
Please remember, these are just highlights and should not be considered the official minutes.
During the work session members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Bisgard engaged in a learning session facilitated by Joe Crozier who retired recently from his position as Grant Wood Area Education Agency’s chief administrator.
The meeting began with board members and the superintendent taking time to discuss their personal and home life outside of the district. The goal of this part of the learning session was to provide everyone the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level.
Superintendent Bisgard then spoke about his transition plan into his role as the district’s superintendent and the key areas that he continues to focus on. These areas include building relationships both internally and externally with the community. The superintendent stated that he is committed to getting to know the teachers and staff from each building throughout the district and then building upon those relationships. Getting to know everyone in the district also enables the district to get to know the superintendent.
The focus of the learning session was then shifted to discussing the various roles of a school board member, the roles of a superintendent, and how the two roles interact and work together.
School Board members offered their input stating the role of a district superintendent is to act as CEO, help create the district’s vision and implementation of the vision, look at short and long-term planning, be the “face” of the district, and build relationships in the district and community.
Oversight of district operations and finances, creating a district vision, gathering questions and concerns from community members and providing feedback and direction for the superintendent and associate superintendent were several key roles of a school board that were discussed.
The discussion concluded after talking about how the roles complement each other and how the groups can communicate effectively with each other for the benefit of the district.
During the regular meeting, the superintendent provided an update on the upcoming bond vote on September 11th. The last open house will be held at Bowman Woods on Tuesday, August 28th from 6:30 – 8:00 — everyone is invited to attend. Efforts to communicate information about the bond continue through various mediums including the district website, social and local media outlets.
The district will have satellite voting on Friday, September 7th from 4:30 – 9:30 pm at our first home football game. Admission to the game is not required to vote.
On September 11th, there will be six polling stations open from 7:00 – 8:00 pm – for more information, visit www.linnmar.k12.ia.us/vote and please let your voice be heard and vote September 11th.
Superintendent Bisgard also discussed the district-wide lockout that occurred earlier in the day. The safety and security of our students will always be our first and foremost priority. Thank you to the Marion Police Department and everyone in the district for your quick action.
The next Board of Education regular meeting will be held Monday, September 10th at 5:00 pm. (There will not be a work session so board members can attend PTO meetings to discuss the September 11th bond vote.) To view the full agenda and exhibits, visit the Board/Policy website.