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In one of its more lengthy exercises throughout the year, the Austin Public Schools Board held its annual school board goal setting retreat at the end of its work session Tuesday night.

The purpose of the brainstorming session is to focus on a goal for the upcoming school year and to do that the board fell back on its self-evaluation through the Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) last month.

In doing so, the board was looking at five standards: conduct and ethics, vision planning, structure, accountability and advocating in communication.

“We looked at opportunities in each area to determine some themes, things that we need in order to see growth in those areas,” Board Chair Carolyn Dube said. “What we landed on at the end is really focusing on board conduct and ethics. It has overarching impacts on all of the rest of them.”

Dube said that part of that is the board understanding, “governance and the role of the board and keeping our focus on long-term vision planning and setting a shared vision for the district. We basically determined if we can grow as a board in that area, then all the areas will come along with it.”

While this goal-setting task comes around every year, this year it comes during a challenging time for the district as it seeks to work through difficult climate and culture questions that have been simmering for quite some time now.

The struggles have maintained now familiar concerns of difficult working conditions, teachers being moved throughout the district without input and an overall feeling of not being heard. 

However, Dube said that the work the board did Tuesday night and the work that will inevitably follow will help approach those issues going forward.

“What I will say about climate and culture is embedded in every single conservation we have because it’s not something we can isolate in a single topic,” Dube said. “Every single thing we do, everything anybody in the district does has an impact on the district climate and district culture.”

From Tuesday night’s work, Dube said a number of action items will follow in coming meetings as they seek to meet the goal through SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Assessable, Realistic and Timely.

In July, the board will seek to refine their goal, which will go toward setting the goals of Superintendent Dr. Joey Page for the upcoming school year, who in August will have his year-end review set by the board.

A part of this process stems from an audit done a couple of years ago within the Human Relations Department. From that work, the district has been receiving more exit interviews of those leaving the district, which will play a part in how the board approaches goals in the future.

“More people gave feedback this year, which was great,” Dube said. “It really is about hearing their stories and understanding some thematic trends on what are some trending concerns. Trending issues we need to bring to the forefront.”

Dube added that it’s not just the goal being set that’s important. The importance of the process is amplified throughout.

“It makes us better by A), reminding us what our role is within the district,” she said. “B), it helps us be stronger in how we work together. It gives us something specific to work towards. No single board member can do anything on our own. We can only do things as a board.”

“The important thing is really how are we functioning together?” Dube added. “Do we have a shared understanding of our purpose and shared understanding of our strategic plan?”