Invitation to Stakeholders

To: The Citizens of Craftsbury

Subject: Craftsbury School Community Collaboration

The Craftsbury School Community Collaboration (CSCC) is seeking volunteers to serve on a Stakeholder Committee that will address the educational challenges facing the Town of Craftsbury. The task of the Committee will be to forge a long-term vision for our schools and develop recommendations dealing with such matters as grade structure, school consolidation and the physical plant. The Group will be comprised of individuals that reflect the full diversity of views regarding the future of the Craftsbury Schools. The CSCC is an independent sub-committee of the School Board and is free to make any recommendations that it believes are appropriate.

It is anticipated that the Stakeholder Group will meet approximately twice a month for a minimum of six months. A Steering Committee has been established to support the work of the Group and to collect information.

For further information please go to http://www.craftsburyschools.org/ and click on Craftsbury School Community Collaboration.

To volunteer please call any of the following Steering Committee members as soon as possible:

Annie Volmer: 586-6930 Harry Miller: 586-9972
Suzan Houston: 586-2873 Tina Sweet: 586-2224
Stark Biddle: 586-7760 Perry Thomas: 586-9670
Ron Sanville: 586-9642 Steve Moffatt: 586-6900

Please help us with this important task!

Collaboration in Craftsbury

The Collaborative Process:
Is it Right for Craftsbury?

Collaboration is simply a process for bringing people with different opinions together to work on a problem. However:

The process is very carefully designed and structured and managed to ensure forward progress.

Collaboration works best when:

· There is agreement on the nature of the problem

· All points of view are reflected so no group feels left out.

· Everybody has the same reliable information on which to make a decision.

· Everbody is equal and all opinions and beliefs carry equal weight.

· There is careful advance preparation to avoid stalemate.

· There is a good facilitator to keep the process moving forward.

· There is ample time to collect information, analyze alternatives, look at pros and come to consensus

The Process works because:

· Agreement on small issues tends to lead to agreement on large issues.

· The group is working from the same facts and information.

· All groups and all perspectives are part of the solution

· Participants (or stakeholders) become advocates of the solutions they have arrived at.

· The process is carefully managed to avoid stalemate and acrimony.

Collaboration is not:

· A process based on majority rule;

· A debating society where members dominate by making convincing arguments.

· A search for the single correct solution

Collaboration is right for Craftsbury because:

· There is disagreement on the reliability of the information.

· Not everyone has access to the same information.

· There is a need for new information and access to new research

· Some believe decisions have been made by a small majority.

· There is disagreement on the nature of the problem.

· Some groups do not feel adequately represented.

· To date the issue of the School has taken the form of an up or down vote.

· The issues are complex and interrelated.

· The Town has become polarized

Q & A from September 3, 2009

Craftsbury School Community Collaborative
Informational Meeting
September 3, 2009
Questions and Answers
(Note: Some of the questions that arose at this meeting also surfaced at the August 29 meeting. These are not duplicated in this summary. )


1. What is the relationship between the work of the Collaborative and the ongoing day-to-day work of the School Board such as responding to the availability of interest free bond funds? Isn’t there a conflict?

The Collaborative is designed to take a long-term approach to the future of the Craftsbury School System. We recognize that inevitably there will be short-term issues and opportunities with long-term implications. The Collaborative will do its very best to coordinate with the School Board and identify the long run implications of short-term decisions. Of course, the important work of the School Board cannot be put on hold while the Collaborative moves forward but every effort will be made to insure maximum long-term flexibility so that future options are not foreclosed.

2. What will the March status report at Town Meeting cover?

It is too early to know whether the Collaborative will have firm recommendations by Town Meeting. If so, we anticipate that the Report would outline alternative approaches, the pros and cons of each and make a recommendation as to the best choice. We anticipate that the recommendations would cover: grade consolidation, the future of the k-12 structure and the needs of the physical plant. In addition, the Collaborative may identify significant curriculum modifications and/or make recommendations regarding the fundamental structure of education in Craftsbury. An early function of the Collaborative will be to define the questions and issues that need to be addressed.

3. How will the citizens of the Town have a voice in what is recommended?

The single most important aspect of community collaboration is that citizens believe their voice is being listened to. For this reason, the Stakeholder group will be deliberately designed to reflect the full diversity of all groups and all points of view.

4. How will the Steering Committee ensure that the Stakeholder Group represents all points of view?

The Steering Committee will put together a comprehensive list of all the various groups whose views need to be reflected in the discussion and compare that to the group of volunteers that have come forward. If there are gaps the Committee will attempt to identify and reach out to individuals who can fill that perspective. For example, if there were no Craftsbury Academy alumni, the Steering Committee might search for an individual and ask that person to serve.

5. Why do you use the word “reflect” instead of “represent” when you speak of the work of Stakeholders?

The Stakeholders cannot be expected to “represent” a particular constituency the way our legislators do because this would make it much more difficult to compromise and come to agreement.

6. Will the Stakeholder Group include summer residents, individuals from adjacent towns whose children go to the school or anyone other than registered Craftsbury voters?

The guiding principal is that the Stakeholder Group should represent the perspectives of the community of individuals that will be impacted by the decisions that are made. For example, Craftsbury students should have a voice. However, it may not be appropriate to include individuals who are not responsible for educational costs. In any case, this is a decision that will be made in close consultation with the Stakeholder Group when it is initially formed

7. How can you insure that all the Stakeholders are neutral?

Stakeholders are not expected to be neutral, but they are expected to listen to and think about the opinions of other members and information provided by experts. The Collaborative process is based on the belief that when reasonable people with different points of view come together with the same information they can gradually work toward agreement.

8. What is the relationship between the Stakeholders and the Steering Committee?

Members of the Steering Committee will not be Stakeholders. The job of the Steering Committee is to support and facilitate the work of the Stakeholders. The Steering Committee will remain neutral throughout the process and will not take a pro or con position on the deliberations or on the recommendations put forward by the Stakeholder Group.

9. What is the difference between this process and the process we have followed in the past? That process did not work; why will this process work.

There are several very important differences. The first and most obvious is that the prior process only addressed the issue of school construction while this process focuses on related elements such as consolidation, grade structure and the long-term future of education in Craftsbury. The second difference is that the prior process was focused on developing support for an existing proposal while this process is focused on developing a proposal that will have broad community support. A third important distinction is that this process is deliberately and carefully designed so that all perspectives will be included.

10. How will you communicate with the citizens and keep the Town informed and engaged in the process?

We currently plan the following outreach and communication program:

1. This blog.

2. A report in each of the the School Newsletters.

3. A monthly status report that will be sent to parents together witht he student progress report and posted on the blog.

3. Continued coverage in the Hardwick Gazette.

4. Open and public meetings of both the Stakeholder and Steering Committee.

5. Progress reports at every school board meeting.

6. Importantly, all members of the Steering Committee will be available to answer questions.

Q & A from First Informational Meeting

Craftsbury School Community Collaborative
Informational Meeting
August 29, 2009
Questions and Answers
(Note: Several Q&A’s have been added to respond to
related or implicit questions.)

1. Can the Stakeholder Group report directly to the School Board?

Yes. The role of the Steering Committee is to support and coordinate the process. Recommendations and advice from the Stakeholder Group will go directly to the School Board.

2. Why is the Steering Committee a sub-committee of the School Board?

For two reasons. First, in order to apply for foundation grants, the Steering Committee needed an official legal status that a connection with the School Board provided. Second, the Steering Committee felt it needed to have a close working relationship with the School Board and Supervisory Union in order to have access to regulations, technical information, old studies and reports, etc.

3. Is the Stakeholder Group obligated in any way to take a position advocated by the School Board?

No. The CSCC is a fully independent process. The Stakeholder Group can make whatever recommendations it chooses. There is no obligation to pursue a particular course of action or reflect a particular point of view. The School Board is fully aware of this and is completely supportive.

4. Why are School Board members on the Steering Committee?

School Board members serve on the Committee in order to provide access to information and the history of prior work and to maintain full and open communication with the School Board.

5. Will members of the Steering Committee be members of the Stakeholder Group?

No. The job of the Steering Committee is to support the collaborative process and provide the help the Stakeholder Group will need to move toward agreement on what needs to be done. The Steering Committee does not have a position on these issues and will remain non-commital throughout the process.

6. Is the School Board supportive of the process and with the proposed time frame?

The School Board is completely supportive of the process and has pledged full cooperation. The Steering Committee has discussed the tentative time frame with the Board.

7. How are the Stakeholders selected?

First and most importantly, participation as a Stakeholder is voluntary and therefore self selecting.

However, the key to effective collaboration is to make sure that all groups and all points of view are represented. This is an important role for the Steering Committee to perform. For this reason the Steering Committee may reach out to individuals and ask if they would be willing to participate order to ensure full representation.

8. Can students and younger people participate?

Absolutely! This is a key group and there voice needs to be heard.

9. How would the process work?

There are several books and web sites that describe the collaborative process. We are currently searching for an advisor that can help us take these approaches and apply them to our special situation here in Craftsbury. In very broad terms once established the Stakeholder Group will first define the problem (or the “scope of work”), establish guiding principles, identify alternatives, gather information, evaluate pros and cons and develop a proposal to move forward.

In practice, of course, the process is more complex and less linear.

Minutes from August 5th Meeting

Craftsbury Schools Community Collaboration
Steering Committee
Minutes – 5 Aug 09

Present: Annie Volmer, Ron Sanville, Perry Thomas, Tina Sweet, Harry Miller, Steve Moffatt

Minutes from 22 July 09 were approved.

Media Blitz Update
Informational message to go out to e-mail list
Plan to post minutes on blog after approval by steering committee. Also include contact information for Annie and Steve. Blog is intended for informational purposes only.

Old Home Day
Tina will set up booth outside Chris young’s office.
No float. Instead, Annie will distribute copies of the one-page letter.

Calendar Updates
Town hall reserved for informational meetings.
Current plan is for stakeholder group to meet twice monthly starting September 23rd and proceeding for six months to one year.
School Board meetings moved to second Tuesday of the month.

Facilitation
UVM Extension (Perry)
Ben Williams as source of contacts (Annie)
Anne Morse as source of contacts (Steve)
Snelling Center (Steve)
Cindy Cook or her colleague—possibilities if funding materializes

Other
Carol Butler Young is a Craftsbury native and was principal for Glover when they built their new school. She is interested in sitting in on one of our steering committee meetings. Annie will give her a call.
Next steering committee meetings are scheduled for August 19th and September 9th, 7:00 p.m., at Stardust.