In a recent Gazette article, ìD-49 tape reveals public left in darkî, Brian Newsome indicated that when it comes to legal opinions, even lawyers find it difficult to determine what exactly can or should be done in executive sessions.The Executive Session in question happened nine months ago and was held to protect the integrity of our valued employees as well as to honor and respect the wishes of our former superintendent. It had become apparent that the board of directors needed to make a change for the future academic success of our schools. The decision to provide the best leadership for the students of our district proved to be contentious. We made this vital change and are confident we abided by the law.We have hired an interim superintendent who has helped the board to make positive changes. There remains much work to be done, and we solicit constructive input from the constituents of D 49. Thus, we would like to institute an initiative that could transform our district to the most inclusive, focused and high achieving learning environment in the state.We willï Schedule one town meeting per quarter that two board members will attend, which devotes one hour to listen to the interests and concerns of the D 49 community.ï Return to scheduling one regular board meeting a quarter in the district school buildings, making the meetings more accessible to the public.ï Continue to keep executive sessions toward the end of the meetingsï Continue to clearly abide by the best legal advice our district can obtainï Not hold meetings longer than three hours without a 2/3 vote of the boardï Be vigilant to schedule informational meetings on key issues of policy, such as budget adoptions, school building attendance boundaries, building of new schools, major policy developments and other relevant topics to keep patrons well informedï Encourage each school site to improve communication systems with the parents of their school in order to increase the academic achievement of studentsWe willï Re-emphasize that our central office administration actively seek the input of principals, teachers and staff to improve instruction at each schoolï Encourage our administration to allow individual schools to have a new level of freedom to educate students in their buildings in a way that will focus on student achievementï Empower our administration to fund our schools to allow for more financial decisions to be made at the building level according to the need of each buildingï Enable our administration to structure agreements with each school to hold them accountable for the performance of their students within the Professional Learning Communities standardFrom our community, we askï Support your board, administration, teachers and students toward a focused goal of accomplishing academic excellence for each and every student.ï Join the board in being creative to develop the best systems possible to make our district the highest achieving district in Colorado.ï Attend board meetings, visit our schools and encourage our staff and students to accomplish these goals.ï Remain supportive of the tremendous challenges and decisions our fast growing district faces.We value the opinions of the public. No matter how inconsequential you may think your ideas are, your opinions matter. We want to hear from you.We are privileged to serve on the D 49 board, and we remain committed to making D 49 the best school district in Colorado. The children are our future, and we do not take responsibility for their academic success lightly.Please contact any of your D 49 board members with any comments that you have. You can reach us at www.d49.org.Amy McClelland and Anna Bartha have served on the Falcon District 49 school board since 2005.
