The Verona Board of Education normally gathers on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month, but it is meeting tonight and one of the items on the agenda is a vote on Verona’s strategic plan for the next five years.
Elizabeth C. Jewett, the outgoing director of instructional studies, presented the plan at the June 11 meeting. It was the result of several months of work by six committees composed of parents, educators, community members and even high school students. The committees hashed out strategies in six key areas, from school finances to curriculum and facilities. Each strategy is broken down into action steps that can be assigned to someone within the district–with a due date on completion.
There are several surprising recommendations. Strategy 1, for example, directs the district to look for additional alternative sources of funding such as paid summer enrichment or acceleration program and adult education. It tasks the district with seeing whether Verona could implement an activity fee to help fund co-curricular programs and share staff with neighboring school districts. It also clearly signals that the BOE will be looking to wring more savings out of employee health care.
The “partnerships” included in Strategy 3 include a search for more internships for VHS seniors and education opportunities abroad. And in Strategy 5, there’s a proposal to use online forums to help teachers in different buildings share ideas and approaches.
You can delve into the plan components by clicking on the links below, or watch Jewett’s presentation in the video; her remarks begin just after the 13-minute mark.
- Strategy 1: Secure adequate financial resources
- Strategy 2: Foster a healthy and respectful school culture
- Strategy 3: Partner locally and globally to expand opportunities for the school community
- Strategy 4: Continue to implement a rigorous, integrated curriculum
- Strategy 5: Provide meaningful professional development for all staff
- Strategy 6: Provide upgraded, sustainable buildings, grounds and technical infrastructure
Another pain in the tax?
Maybe the community needs to think about this. Bonuses have pretty much disappeared from the private sector, and private sector workers have been pressed to do more with less, especially less remuneration. But private sector salaries are not capped by a state law. The meeting that will set the superintendent’s goals for 2013-2014 will be at the end of July. If people have an issue with the bonus, they can raise it to the BOE then.