The Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education participated in team building activities and listened to a presentation from Dr. Harold Coles, Westchester County district superintendent for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Superintendent of Schools at a professional development retreat on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
Superintendent Dr. K. Veronica Smith also gave a presentation, followed by the president and vice president of Higher Learning Network.
“When I got on the board, the first thing I said was that I wanted to have a retreat to learn different roles and policies that the school district has and what the trustees’ fiduciary rights are,” said Board President Lorna Kirwan. “The bottom line is that it’s all about the kids in the school district.”
Each of the board members introduced themselves and explained their reasons for serving. Many of them explained that they want to represent the community and get children the resources they need to succeed.
“We’re looking for open communication, and that starts with keeping everyone on the same page,” said Vice President Sabina Kelley. “I think that’s going to be important. The Board’s position as far as I can see is to do policies and procedures. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to others. We have to be clear on our vision and what we think our district should look like.”
Dr. Coles spoke about the roles of a board member and how to effectively lead a school district. He warned them about common mistakes by school board members, including sharing confidential information from executive session. He also outlined the different topics that should be discussed in executive session.
He explained the different responsibilities of board members and administrators. He also discussed authorities, obligations and guidelines for board members.
Dr. Coles shared the 13 behaviors of high trust leaders by Steven Covey. It is important for a board member to gain the trust of the community because the board represents them as stewards of the children and their tax dollars.
Dr. Smith then led President Kirwan, Trustee Orville Gayle and Trustee Adriane Saunders through a game of Trustee Jeopardy. She asked them questions about the school district and their responsibilities of trustees as a fun way to learn more about their roles and the schools that they are representing.
She then gave a presentation highlighting the mission, visions, core values and goals of the school district. She also discussed the eight core principles of good customer service and why it’s important to serve the community with good customer service in mind. She ended the presentation with an overview of the back-to-basics approach with a focus on reading, arithmetic and writing.
“I always felt that we need to include everyone,” said Dr. Smith. “I came into education really wanting to make a difference. I came to the district in 2001 in special education. I felt that I wanted to be a part of the change. I believe in a good public education. I think that it takes us all to do that.”
The theme of the day was becoming change agents in the school district. The final presentation was by Higher Learning Network, who went through ways that the Board and administration can help principals and teachers succeed in their mission.
Higher Learning Network is a group of educational consultants that help schools improve the quality of their education and internal operations. They offer job-embedded professional learning services and are one of the leading partners for educators in New York City and the surrounding areas. Errol Bedford, president of Higher Learning Network, and Reggie Stephens, vice president, led the presentation, which was focused on data. Trustees were given sample data and asked to formulate questions about the data to help them better understand it. This exercise emphasized the importance of diving deep into data and making decisions based on data and facts.
Mr. Bedford and Mr. Stephens also facilitated two team building exercises. In one activity, the participants threw a ball to each other and answered the question their thumb landed on. This activity allowed the members of the Board to learn more about each other and how they viewed their responsibilities.
The second activity involved each member holding a piece of a pipe and creating a path for a ball to roll on. Everyone had to work together to get the ball through each pipe and into a cup. They successfully completed the task with three balls of varying difficulty and won $250 from Higher Learning Network to a school of their choice on the final attempt. The Board of Trustees left the retreat armed with more knowledge of how to help the school district succeed. They also suggested doing more professional development sessions to continuously learn the best ways to serve their community and students.
