BOE changes guard, discusses yearly goals

PINE PLAINS — After years of service as Pine Plains Board of Education president, Helene McQuade relinquished her top spot at the board’s July 6 reorganization meeting, with former Vice President Bruce Kimball taking her place. Brian Croghan become the new vice president. Heather Boucher and JoAnn Wolfe, who were both re-elected earlier this year, were also sworn in at the reorg meeting to three-year terms. Board presidents and vice presidents are elected by the board every year.

The following meeting, held July 21, was the board’s annual opportunity to review its list of goals for the upcoming year.

The document is broad rather than specific, setting end-goals to work toward rather than the specifics to achieve them. It’s anchored by work that came out of last year’s Vision 2012 initiative. Examples include improving academic performance, working to eliminate social and cultural barriers and pursuing innovative ways to offer cost effective curricular options.

Several areas were discussed in detail at the meeting. The first began with Kimball, who expressed interest in the board having a more active role in monitoring the effectiveness of the school’s programs, including attendance, academics and graduation rates.

Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said it was a practice that would be immediately adopted by the administration.

“The data is there,� she explained, “we’re probably just not creating the type of reports that you’re looking for right now.�

“We need to find out if what we’re doing is working and why,� Kimball said, who added that he knew there were many Pine Plains programs that were successful. “We’ve gotten reports of initiatives. My question is ‘OK, is it working?’ If it is, how can we use it in other places? If it isn’t, let’s try something else.�

“I don’t think we need to see weekly reports,� said McQuade. “But we’d just like to see how it’s going.�

The final discussion of the evening was how to get more community members and parents involved in the school. Boucher pointed out that while there are good numbers of volunteers, it’s always the same people and families. The board talked about how to get more people involved in the decisions the Board of Education was making, as well as ways to reach out to people and get them interested in the school district.

Todd Bowen, the newest member of the Board of Education, readily acknowledged that before deciding to run for the position he was a resident angry with the school board. He argued that there were many people in the school district who felt angry with the board. He said he felt that the board should be making more of an effort to reach out to the community.

“They have a view that board members are not looking out for their best interests,� he said. “We have to go out there and talk, go out there and speak with them. We have to feel the heartbeat.�

Other members of the board disputed that they weren’t making an effort to reach out to the community. Both McQuade and Kimball also said that there were plenty of people who were upset with the board, but there were also plenty of people who felt they were doing a good job.

“Then there are always going to be people who will be at arm’s length,� McQuade pointed out, adding that for whatever reasons those people weren’t interested in actually getting involved. “What we need to do is try to reach the ones who might be actually willing to help.�

The board agreed that one of the goals for next year would be to develop a public relations plan to reach out more to the community and try to find new ways to get people involved with the school.

Kaumeyer said she would take the board’s comments and organize them into a 2010-11 Board of Education goals document that would be available for the board to adopt by its next meeting on Aug. 4.