Stakeholder Meeting Minutes - October 1, 2009

Minutes of Craftsbury Stakeholder’s Committee
October 1, 2009

The meeting of the Craftsbury Stakeholder’s Committee was called to order by Annie Volmer, Chairperson of the Craftsbury Steering Committee at 6:40 on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at the Craftsbury Town Hall.

Annie read the Steering Committee’s statement of purpose and discussed how the Committee came to be. The Steering Committee is a sub-committee of the Schoolboard that was created for the purpose of bringing Town’s people together to make a recommendation to the Schoolboard regarding the future of the Craftsbury Schools. This process is open to anyone that would like to attend. Annie then introduced Heidi Krantz. Heidi has volunteered her time to be the facilitator of the Stakeholder’s group.

Heidi asked if the Steering committee along with the Stakholders to break into groups of five to six people. Each group had 30 seconds to introduce their group members and tell everyone something about each person and a fun fact about the members. This enabled the groups to get to know each other.

Stark talked about the “housekeeping” type things that were contained in the folders that everyone received. All Stakeholder meeting will be warned and the approved minutes will be posted on the CSCC blog, C Village Store, The Stardust Book Store, and Public Library. All meetings will start at 6:30 and are expected to last 1 ½ - 2 hours. The School newsletter will also have informational articles about the Stakeholders Committee. In the folder, is a listing of the perspectives that are committed to being on the Stakeholder’s group. If anyone can think of a perspective that is missing, please let a Steering Committee member know. Stark further asked that any and all information that Stakeholder members find be given to the Steering Committee for organization and distribution.

Heidi explained the group process. Differences between public meetings and the collaborative process were discussed. In a collaborative process, we need to have the following group needs:
o Goals
o Clear Rolls
o Practical Process
o Effective Relationships

The Steering Committee’s job is to come up with the “map” and the Stakeholder’s job is to choose the route. There are four stages of groups:
o Forming – everyone gets together
o Storming – everyone starts to get used to each other’s differences and starts putting together ideas.
o Norming – everyone starts functioning together and making progress.
o Performing – everyone makes progress to come to a main goal.

The group will go through these stages and will probably go forward and backward in these stages depending on what is happening with the members. For example, a new member starts participating, may move the group from the Norming stage back to the Storming stage.

The group discussed agreements for engagements or ground rules for the Stakeholder’s meetings.
o Accepting perspectives of all – being open minded
o Listen to understand not for the purpose of making a rebuttal
o Respect all ideas
o Invite contributions from all members
o Establish reasonable time limits
o Commit to length of the process in order to be successful
o Be kind to all members
o Be willing to compromise

Steve Moffatt explained the role of the Schoolboard and how the Stakeholders and the Schoolboard would function together to keep each other informed. This process was asked for by the Schoolboard for the following reasons:
o Will help to get good information out the community that is meaningful
o Schoolboard wants to hear ideas from the community
o The Steering Committee is an official sub-committee of the Schoolboard this will allow the Stakeholders to have easier access to information
o The Steering Committee is at Schoolboard meetings in order to be a liaison for information between the Schoolboard and the Stakeholders Committee

Steve talked about the upcoming bond vote for renovations to the Academy Building. Steve urged anyone to come to the Schoolboard meetings or speak to a Schoolboard member to hear more detailed information. There will be an informational meeting on November 3rd.

Perry talked about the role of the Steering Committee. The collaborative process is a process that we didn’t invent. Research shows this process can be very successful. The Steering Committee will have the following responsibilities:
o Support Stakeholders with their work
o Arrange meetings, arrange for facilitation of these meetings
o Agendas, minutes and posting minutes after approved
o Information conduit to and from the Schoolboard
o Coordinate the flow of information
o Gather information for the Stakeholders
o Seek funding for this process

The role of the Stakeholders are as follows:
o Clearly define questions
o Gather creditable information
o Generate a list of solutions and agree upon them
o Inform, update and listen to the community
o Come up with a recommendation for the Schoolboard
o Follow through with the recommendation and answer questions

Heidi explained that it is crucial to let go of perceptions of the past. We have to be willing to acknowledge and accept that everyone has different ways to process information. We will all need to be tolerant of this in each other.

Tina discussed the calendar. The following is a listing of the meetings scheduled:
o October 15
o November 5
o November 19
o December 3
o January 7
o January 21
o February 11
o February 25
o March 11

We may be able to accomplish our goal earlier than March 11th. We will have an update of where the Stakeholder’s group is at Town Meeting. The meeting place was discussed and it was decided that the meetings would continue to be held at 6:30 at the Town Hall. We will start the process at the next meeting.

Susan did some Brain Gyms with the group to help the group to focus on suspending opinions, setting the process, and doing the process.

Heidi asked everyone to write on a slip of paper a thought that each person needed to “leave behind” in order to start the process with a clean state. This was done as a symbolic gesture for a new beginning. The papers were collected in a basket and thrown away.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:00.

Tina Sweet
Scribe

Stakeholder Participation Q & A

Question: What about those community members who pay school taxes but are not permanent residents? Are they invited to participate in the collaborative process?

Answer: Yes, all non-residents who pay school taxes are invited to participate as Stakeholders (in addition to all residents who pay school taxes).

Question: How about those who pay school taxes elsewhere and whose children are tuitioned to Craftsbury Schools by their towns?

Answer: They too are welcome to participate as Stakeholders. See Stakeholder meeting schedule below.

Stakeholder Meeting Schedule

Craftsbury School Community Collaboration

Schedule of Stakeholder Meetings

At the first Stakeholder Meeting, held October 1, those gathered agreed to meet on the following future dates (see additional details below):

October 15
November 5
November 19
December 3
January 7
January 21
February 11
February 25
March 11

· All meetings will be held at the Craftsbury Town Hall.

· Meetings will begin promptly at 6:30 pm and every effort will be made to conclude by 8:00 pm.

· Meetings are open to the public.

· Refreshments will be served

· It is hoped that all stakeholders will be able to make all meetings. However, it is fully understood that this would be difficult if not impossible. When a Stakeholder does miss a meeting please consult the Minutes that will be posted on our blog and try to talk to another stakeholder about the discussion that took place.