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.
