March 19, 2019

1. Feedback from Teacher Superintendent Council & Next Steps March 19, 2019

2. Small Groups Communication/ Acknowledgement/ Respect School Leaders Requirements Above & Beyond

3. Process • Brainstorming- individually • Positives • Areas for Growth • Discussion/ Sharing • Overall Feedback • Themes Processed • Theme Information Shared

4. Communication, Acknowledgement & Respect Key themes: • Positive communication that acknowledges the contributions of staff to the success of our district are greatly appreciated • Dr. Vesely’s newsletters are valued and strike the right tone for communication • E-mails that contain clear, concise and detailed information or directions are useful and appreciated • Reminder e-mails or communications are appreciated

5. Communication, Acknowledgement & Respect Key themes: • Explaining the ‘why’ for change is crucial • Ensuring that messages are delivered in a timely way is important, and if a message is coming late for a reason out of our control, to ensure to share that information • Face to face meetings work best when a significant change is being made or the why for the decision needs to be clearly communicated • If a communication is lengthy or has multiple parts, the use of bullets and links to make the information more digestible is appreciated

6. School Leaders Key themes: • Positive, honest, hardworking, dedicated • Builds community and culture, values traditions • Present on our campus • Sets high expectations • Keeps kids at the center • Not afraid to have hard conversations with staff • Strong communication through weekly staff updates • Clear goal/ vision for the school

7. School Leaders Key themes: • Lack of consistency between school leaders- great deal of variance in terms of communication, staff support, presence in building, attendance at meetings, engagement in the work, holding staff accountable • Some leaders demonstrate: • Lack of strong decision making/ decision making process • Lack of timely response to situations, communications • Discipline follow through/ clear consequences • ‘Friends’ on staff, which creates inequities and unfairly influences decisions • Teacher in Charge is not working at school sites • Communication seems strained between school leaders and district office

8. Requirements Above & Beyond Key themes: • Response to Learning Plans are timely to complete, especially data analysis • Interim assessments still need refinements- length, time involved in data entry, time needed to prepare and administer • Site based decisions such as committees, duty and expected level of participation in events varies significantly across the district • 301 requirements feel large to receive top level of payout

9. Requirements Above & Beyond Key themes: • KSIT/ MTSS process difficult to navigate • RED/MET/IEP meetings are not timely or well facilitated, attendance at meetings as general ed teacher for self-contained students, teachers who have multiple students with special needs • Lack of options/ differentiation in professional development offerings (site and district based) • Large amount of e-mail, being asked to forward multiple messages to parents from site and district • BITs needed more on some campuses

10. Next Steps-Communications • Continue positive communications, such as Dr. Vesely’s monthly newsletter • Continue recognition such as Kyrene Values Teachers and continue to seek ways to expand this program or other similar programs • Continue focus on the ‘why’ in all district communications- especially for when communications involve a change in approach or practice • Engage in regular conversations about when face to face conversations are needed and to ensure time and opportunity for those conversations at both the district and site level

11. Next Steps-School Leaders & Communication Structures • Work with school leaders to ensure steady flow of communication to staff, including the ‘why’ • Provide exemplars of staff communications and weekly newsletters • Set clear expectation for regular staff communication- including specific components that have been found helpful by staff at various school sites • Communication from District Office to School Leaders (the “Memo”) has been revised to highlight expectations for sharing information with staff • A focus on the ‘why’ in all communications is an expectation • Communication 101 for all Directors/ School Leaders- use of bullets, shortening of content, etc. to maximize information included while limiting the length of the e-mail

12. Next Steps-School Leaders & Discipline • Revision of Student Behavior, Attendance and Discipline sections of the Kyrene Family Handbook in process • Continued training and support for school leaders and other staff in the handling of discipline, PBIS structures, and restorative justice

13. Next Steps-School Leaders & Teacher in Charge • Will work with School Leaders in June on this specific topic- identify different approaches, solutions and ideas to lessen impact on schools • Examine calendar structure for the 2019-20 SY to seek ways to minimize the amount of time that both the Principal and Assistant Principal are out of the building

14. Next Steps-School Leaders • Continue to utilize feedback (surveys, etc.) to work with school leaders regarding district expectations and understanding of staff perceptions and feedback • Continue leadership development with all school leaders- focused on leadership competencies of Engages the Team and Impact & Influence

15. Next Steps-Requirements Above & Beyond • Continue to collect feedback and examine interim assessments for efficiencies and alignment to curriculum • Examine/ revise RTL form for efficiencies, seek support for data analysis • MTSS System currently being revised to create a system that is easy to use and consistently implemented across our system • 301 Plan Revised Yearly- feedback will be provided to team of teachers who creates the plan • All school leaders and resource teachers have attended training on Facilitated IEP Meetings

16. Next Steps-Requirements Above & Beyond • Change to School Messenger to simply communication with families • Professional Development department is examining ways to increase options and differentiation within KTIP and other district professional development

17. Feedback on the Feedback…. On one side of a notecard…. • Write one thing that is currently happening in Kyrene or at your school that you want to see continued because it has a strong, positive impact on employee morale On the other side, • Write one action step connected to communication, school leaders or requirements above and beyond that you believe would continue to move our district forward in a positive way

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