Final 2012 meeting lays out district's core values

PINE PLAINS — The final Vision 2012 Initiative meeting was held last Thursday, Feb. 26, in the form of a presentation on the accomplishments of the various meetings.

Over the last few months, numerous faculty and community meetings have been held in all corners of the district. The initiative, which has been spearheaded by district Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer, has been working since last year to identify what the community feels are core values the district should have. Those values can inform the administration how to proceed in the future. The community involved is a combination of staff, students, teachers, parents and district residents.

Early that day, faculty exercises were held. All the core values collected at different Vision 2012 meetings over the last few months were organized by theme into 12 main groups. Faculty was then broken up into 12 groups, each representing a set of core values. Those groups met twice during the day and discussed what the district would be like in 2012 if each of those values were achieved.

The results of the day’s exercises were put into a half-hour long PowerPoint presentation.

Summaries of the Vision 2012 meetings have been posted on the district’s Web sites, and from the various sessions core values like the following have emerged:

• All students should graduate;

• Students, staff and community members should have a safe, positive and healthy environment;

• The district should have a fiscal responsibility to the community;

• The community cares about a well-rounded education promoting school plays, the agricultural program, athletics, the China Exchange Program and arts in general.

For the presentation, those core values were grouped into categories, and while music played and a slideshow of districtwide photos ran, those values and the projections of what the district would look like after achieving those values played for the duration of the presentation.

“I’m very pleased with the work that everyone did,â€� Kaumeyer said, adding that the presentation was a work in progress and not the final product.  “This is just to give you an idea of the culminating mission statement.â€�

Kaumeyer added after the presentation that she hoped there would be additional Vision 2012 presentations in the future.

The meeting, held in the high school auditorium, had attendance in the single digits. Although discussion about the initiative after the presentation wasn’t planned, Stanfordville resident Henry Boehringer had a few things to say.

“The emphasis here is on community involvement,� he said. “Parental involvement is great, but I think when you divide the district up it’s harder to accomplish that. From a pragmatic perspective, it takes a good program and a good vision and makes it impossible to achieve.�

“I’m an eternal optimist,� Kaumeyer replied. “I personally think we have to keep trying. There are going to be the geographical differences [within the school district], but I was touched by the dedication of those who participated.�

The discussion then turned to the last Board of Education meeting and the board’s reconfiguration plans.

“I was so moved by the response of the audience,� board President Helene McQuade said. “People who had been very angry were telling us how grateful they were that we heard them.�

“The people got what they wanted, for the time being,� Boehringer said. “There’s a difference between happiness and relief.�

“From my perspective, the people left with a different understanding of the problem,� McQuade said. “I think they’re willing now to go through the process of listening. That’s progress. And maybe it has to be incremental, but we have to be optimistic.�

Kaumeyer said that as far as the Vision 2012 program goes, she was pleased that it came about in a grassroots sort of way, instead of something that was mandated from the administration.

The next step, Kaumeyer said, is to figure out how to achieve those core values. She said that the target date wasn’t necessarily 2012, but the general future.

Boehringer ended the conversation by saying that community involvement would be most realistically achieved in two kindergarten through grade eight communities, one at Cold Spring and one at Seymour Smith. He argued that the cost savings of closing the middle school could be comparable to the options the board had been considering over the last few months.

McQuade said that the board hadn’t entertained that possibility.