HR Knowledge report out on Listening sessions:

• Frank Zych and Sheila Crawford of HR Knowledge shared the details of the listening sessions with the board and senior leadership.
• No names of specific individuals' feedback will be shared nor will a specific name of an individual be reported out if there is a specific complaint. Frank shared with the board that if any more details are needed, he is willing to meet again as long as the anonymity of the person sharing their perspective is kept confidential.
• Sessions were held with 76 returning staff members and broken up by School.
• No names were collected and no debating of points were conducted.
• Three poll questions were recorded to begin.
  • I believe in the mission/purpose 39+, 28 OK, 9-
  • Is FRCS a good place to work? 9+, 30 OK, 37 -
  • Communication is consistent, open & effective" 6+, 9 OK, 61 -
• Overall morale is worse than 2018 when similar sessions were conducted,
• Good things were reported about the School District
  • Staff feel supported by their peers
  • Students are in a position to succeed
  • The flexibility of the curriculum
  • School Principals are highly regarded
  • Appreciate being able to see students' growth from k-12
• Areas of improvement for the School District
  • Fundamental and competency of the senior leadership
  • Communication from leadership is hostile, condescending, and disingenuous
  • No support from senior leadership with student behavior. The students run the school.
  • District is chronically understaffed with a high turnover and lack of pay structure
  • No apparent concern for teachers' security and well being
• HR knowledge asked the staff if they could snap their fingers and fix one thing, what would it be?
  • Elementary School Principal to return to work
  • Have more prep time in their schedules
  • Immediate change in senior leadership 
  • Support for unionization
  • Trust in Administrations intentions / actions
  • Be valued as an employee/person.  Have skills recognized
  • Public transparent pay scale
  • Qualified diverse staff
  • Behavioral support in classrooms
• Moving forward:
  • The Board encouraged the Senior Leaders to workshop the things they heard and put together an action plan to address issues without focusing on any disagreements with anecdotes share during the conversation this evening.
  • The Board is going to digest the information and look for specific actions they can take to address issues as well. 

Interviews continue as there are still ~38 open positions that need filling.  Special education is the most understaffed at this time with 12 of their 20 positions open.  Lori Obenchain is making strategic changes to ensure we meet the IEP plan requirements and not burn out the staff she has.

Staff Recruitment & Retention Committee Scope

The Board discussed if the composition should be different than proposed after just hearing the feedback from staff.  Susie Girard explained that trust couldn't be built unless it is given a venue for it to happen. There are still TAG, DAG & Parent Advisory groups where more private conversations could be worked through.  Those groups should be supported so they are well managed.

• Add Employee Handbook to the scope of the committee
• Add a method for repeated feedback throughout the year

• Attendance Policy - Tabled
• Finance Committee Scope 
  • Add Manage Annual Budget Calendar
• Student Recruitment & Retention Committee Scope
  • Correct spelling error

Matt Yezukevich gave an update on the Interim ED and ED Searches

• Interim ED Search 
  • 20-30 candidates were first screened by Ray & Associates
  • ~8 candidate resumes were reviewed by Sergio, Matt & Ramona of which 1 or 2 internal
  • To date they have phone-screened 4 resumes and down-selected to 2 candidates
  • Ray & Associates will pair the list down and do background checks
  • Anticipate interviews the week of 26SEP
  • If an offer could go out by ~03OCT someone new could start between 1& 4 weeks from that date depending on their availability.
  • This is a national/regional search
• Executive Director Search
  • Search committee will have Board members, SLT, Staff, Families & Students
  • Board discussed who would participate from the Board
  • This is a national/regional search

Susanna Girard reminded the Board that we have discussed moving to a single Executive Director as soon as possible. This could be an Interim ED or the final ED.  Having the Co-Exec model has proven to have its difficulties and requested a vote of the Board to show that we are in alignment for that strategic plan.

None requested