Eau Claire school board adopts new model of governing

Apr. 20—EAU CLAIRE — The Eau Claire school board on Monday voted to adopt a new method of governing the school district.

Under the new model, which is formally called coherent governance, the school board will step back from making day-to-day operational decisions involving the school district. Instead they will create policies outlining the results they want to see from the school district, and monitor those policies and results on a rotating basis.

The superintendent and school administrators will get more authority to establish day-to-day policies aimed at producing the school board's desired results, without the board directly approving those policies at their meetings.

To oversee, the school board will review administrators' policies — and the data and results they produce — on a set, annual schedule, according to the model.

For example, the school board this spring discussed data involving the district's school resource officers, and sent the matter to its Policy and Governance Committee for longer review. Under the new coherent governance model, the board will now review that SRO data once per year, when it's scheduled to monitor the district's student discipline framework. (The board can monitor policies that aren't immediately scheduled for a review if a majority of the board approves, according to the new policy.)

The Eau Claire school board voted 6-1 on Monday night to adopt the new model. Board member Marquell Johnson was the only no vote.

Johnson said he supports parts of the model, but said he's concerned the school board will no longer be able to respond quickly to day-to-day issues that crop up. He also said he's concerned a set, annual schedule of policy monitoring will shield school board members and administrators.

" ... It's still unclear to me that this proposed model allows for school boards to address immediate issues that arise during the school year," Johnson said before the vote. "Snow days converted to virtual learning days, SRO policies ... would be relegated to some predetermined monitoring report instead of a demand for immediate attention. That remains of huge concern for this model."

Four other board members said they are in favor of the model overall, though they understand or share some of Johnson's concerns.

"While I share some of Dr. Johnson's credible thinking, I do believe, and I've heard from other school boards, that this is a way of really focusing on the board's time and effort in a way that's at a 30,000-foot level," said board member Phil Lyons.

Board member Erica Zerr said she is nervous about parts of the new model, but believes it will help focus the school board on a long-term goal.

"What we've been doing in this district, in a lot of ways, has not served all our kids to the best it can," Zerr said.

Board treasurer Aaron Harder said he hopes the board and superintendent will still take immediate issues seriously as they come up.

"It will be a work in progress," Harder said. "I'm going to vote yes, with some optimism that it's a step in the right direction and it won't be perfect, but I think it's a step in the right direction in terms of focusing board attention in a place where it can be the most effective and helpful to our students."

The coherent governance model will go into immediate effect at school board meetings, Nordin said.

Inside the coherent governance model

Eau Claire school board President Tim Nordin said last week he favors the new model because it allows the board to give the superintendent the responsibility to make decisions involving how the district operates, and the board will give the superintendent their overall expectations to meet.

Nordin said last week the school board isn't stepping back or relinquishing its authority to the superintendent, but that the school board will be able to demand more data on the results of each of the district's policies.

The switch to coherent governance will impact two of the school board's committees, the Policy and Governance Committee and the Budget Development Committee.

The Policy and Governance Committee will shift its work to the school board as a whole, Nordin said last week.

The Budget Development Committee will continue to function through April 2022, to transition its duties to the full board and to continue working on a potential spring 2022 referendum.

As of now, the board isn't planning to hire a consultant to assist with the transition, Nordin said.

The proposed coherent governance policies are posted on the board's website, tinyurl.com/29tky6uv, under the April 19 school board meeting agenda. The policies can also be found at tinyurl.com/k7xyd787 and at tinyurl.com/sk83ham8.

In other school district business:

* The school board approved several new hires Monday night, including Justin Jablonske as Northstar Middle School's assistant principal and athletic director; Alicia Kirkman as assistant principal to Robbins and Sherman elementary schools; and Taylor Semingson as assistant principal at DeLong Middle School.

* The board awarded bids for several scheduled construction projects, including a gym floor and parking lot at North High School, a culinary lab project at North and Memorial high schools, a parking lot project at Longfellow Elementary School and a water main project at Sam Davey Elementary School.

* The board heard a presentation on an equine and ranch-related education program that's been piloted at South Middle School since 2016. That program, which partners the school district with Eleva youth nonprofit Acres for Joy, expanded this year to include Northstar and DeLong middle schools and McKinley Charter School, according to the school district.

* The board approved slight changes to the district's open enrollment policy, specifically involving special education students who open-enroll in the district.

* The board also approved a slight change to its facility use registration fee, substituting instead an annual use fee.

* The board approved the school district's request for a waiver from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin school districts that request the DPI waive an instructional hour requirement due to the COVID-19 pandemic must first hold a public hearing. The Eau Claire school board received the same waiver in the 2019-2020 school year.

* The board also met in closed session Monday evening to discuss evaluating the superintendent.