New board members talk about goals

Sisters' three newly-elected school board members have a common goal: All want to establish a positive working relationship with district's new superintendent Elaine Drakulich, who will assume her post on July 1.

Christine Jones, who was elected to the four-year term Position 3 seat, summed up all three board members' positions: "The first thing we need to do is to get off to a very good start with the new superintendent. That's absolutely key."

Jones feels it is essential for the board to establish with Drakulich top priorities for the district beyond normal day-to-day activities.

"It's very collegial. She's the chief administrator of the district, but we need to be on the same page with her," said Jones.

Two-term board veteran Jeff Smith, who was reelected to the four-year term Position 4 seat, feels that with the new superintendent and the new board, the district will have the opportunity to heal. According to Smith many district residents are still upset about the board's firing of temporary, part-time biology teacher Kris Helphinstine in March.

"I think that we need to move forward," Smith said.

For Tom Dumolt, who will fill the Position 1 two-year term seat, the same seat he hold currently, public perception of the board is a big issue. According to Dumolt, when the board's business takes place, the public is not present to hear what transpires.

"The biggest thing the board can do is find away to get information to the public so they will know what the board is doing," he said. "In my observations I don't feel the board has been secretive or been hiding anything. We disclose everything. Very few people are there (after the time slot that is set aside for public comment and input) at the meetings."

Dumolt's goal for a year from now is for the board to have developed some form of communication "to reach out to the public and say, 'Here's what we are doing; here's who we are. Come and talk to us,' or get people to come to us and sit down and listen to what we have to say at the board meetings."

Dumolt admits that persuading the public to attend board meetings will be very difficult.

During her first year on the board, Jones advocates an examination of the allocation of the district resources both across schools and within schools. Jones' goal is to "see if we can tweak our allocations and get better course offerings whatever the issues are" to improve the education students are receiving in the classroom.

Jones is particularly interested in what is happening at the high school.

"We need to sit down and look at who our students are - what percentage are bound for college, which colleges; do we have any vocational students; what are we doing with our high-need students; etc., and then look and see if we are offering a coherent program for their education," Jones said.

For Jones, shifting resources is a reasonable and workable means of realizing improvement without additional monetary resources. She uses middle school principal Kathy Miner's plan to throw out some old electives and replace them with new, more appropriate choices next year as an example.

"It's that kind of thinking that we want to encourage," Jones said.

Offering more foreign languages could be a result of such shifting.

"Most four-year colleges will require students to have three or four years of a foreign language. I think that we're doing great disservices to our kids if we can't make that available," Jones said.

Jones sees Drakulich leading such a process with the help of some administrators, teachers and parents.

"It, however, doesn't work with a committee of 100 people," Jones said.

Dumolt is also interested in curriculum improvement, especially the continued alignment of the district's curriculum through the development of the Professional Learning Communities model.

Dumolt is also committed to the establishment of a facilities committee to develop long range facilities planning for the district. "It is something that was brought up originally last fall when we were on a significant increase in our growth pattern. Since last fall our growth has tapered off and we're not growing nearly as fast as we were, so it may affect timelines" of when such a committee will be established, Dumolt said.

Smith agrees that long-term facilities planning is essential for the district's growing population.

"We're going to need to develop a plan to provide for the classroom space," he said.