HI.. I'll post this again from 7/2 to give a little more flavor of the Brittenham context. I started working in WAPS when Lee came and brought a $100.000 here.. part of it paid for the training that the original sites teams had. Scott Lowery mentioned he had training when he was a site team member in cities... I'd think it would be good to have budgeted dollars to help this process of orienting new members, learning communication skills, team skills, etc. Also, it' s interesting to consider Dick's comments about the challenge of finding time to meet... Perhaps if we think about the bigness of involving individuals in the mutual functioning of a building, 1 hour per month is pretty scant. Could some research be done on what amount of meeting time and sub committee work it takes for a team to feel really meaningful? Or do the range and quality and depth of decisions vary with the amount of time teams function? What is the oversight on site teams -where they really thrive? Is it at central office, board, union level? How do site teams communicate what they are accomplishing, grappling with, frustrated with etc.. to whom?
From 7/2 Site Based Mgt in Winona Schools will be starting its 20th year. Lee Brittenham, superintendent from 1983-1991 was a passionate believer. He had been exposed to Site Teams in his work in Hood River , Oregon and was recruited to do his doctorate at UW-Madison and to be involved in a site team research. I believe at one time there was a decision matrix of what was site, central office and board decisions.
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To: "Steve Kranz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Winona] Discussion on Site Teams
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Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 13:26:12 -0600
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[Winona Online Democracy]
Thanks for the opportunity Steve. I have been a member of the Rollingstone Site Based Team for many years. I have served as a parent and now a community member. We have had many good meetings and have tried to stick to our purpose. To have an impact on decision making, it is important to have as diverse a group as possible as members of the team. We have gone from mostly staff, to a mix of parents, staff, and community members. Some of the issues we have discussed have ranged from marketing our school, examining the building budget(no easy chore), looking for revenue sources, repeatedly asking for re-districting to fully utilize our building, to matters concerning cooperation between the City and School district. St. Mary's University has been an excellent resource tool in helping us to explore ideas about the future of our school. Bob McClure has been a very valuable asset to our team. The challenges we face as a team, include having a decent meeting time. We now meet at 7AM the 3rd Wednesday of the month. The earlier start time caused us to move to this time. We have explored other times and days, but it seems they don't work as well especially for staff. With a change of administrators, it is also a challenge for her to find times she is available with her staff and team. The site team idea, I believe, was started during the Lee Brittenham days. I was on the board then, and I remember the beginnings of site based then. I feel it can be an excellent tool to help the board and administration listen to and also be a resource for the teams. Follow up is very important. As a board member, you know we have forwarded proposals to the board and administration from the team. Some were accepted and others not. It would be nice to have feed back on the reasons for or against our proposals. Finally, it would be very helpful if the representative board member or an at large board member could attend a site based meeting on occasion. Fred Peterson came to our meetings on occasion and I think heard a lot of good discussion and questions. I think all teams would like that. We also have had Dr. Bartleson and other central administrators attend when we felt we needed more resources. Dick Gaffron ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Kranz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 12:43 PM Subject: [Winona] Discussion on Site Teams
[Winona Online Democracy]up
Greetings,
The topic of "Site Teams" and shared-decision-making in schools has comebeon Winona Online Democracy on a few occasions and, since site teams are a place where the public and the schools come together, I thought it wouldthea good opportunity to have a discussion about these topics that could include both staff and the public.
It is also a timely topic because, starting with their October meeting,"Meet and Confer" committee will be discussing potential improvements inhowMeetour site teams function. It is my hope that a discussion on Winona Online Democracy can help inform, and generate ideas for, the work done by theand Confer committee.our
In order to facilitate the discussion, I'm asking a variety of individuals (teachers, board, admin, community members) specific questions about howsite teams function and the "potential" impact that site teams could haveinopinion,our school system and community. Their answers will be posted to Winona Online Democracy in the coming days (either by the individual or forwarded to the list by me).
I hope this will be an informative discussion that will yield some good ideas for how site teams can function best for the schools and the community. Please feel free to add your thoughts to the discussion at any time. You don't have to be an "education expert", you just need ana question, or an idea.page at
Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions.
-Steve Kranz, Board Member -Winona Area Public Schools
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Randy Schenkat 1358 Skyline Dr. Winona, Mn 55987 507-452-7168
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