Notes from March 10th PCCDI Meeting with Plymouth-Canton School Board

Present:
Education Committee-Shelley Clifton, Anthony Davis, Charles Motley, Michael Craig, Leila Saba-Hanna, Ibu El, Nicole
Jackson
PCCDI Board - Jeff and Regina Shamberger, Lauren Khogali, Stan Oleskewicz, Cathy Bosman, Aamina Ahmed, Leila
and Shelley
PCCS School Board Members- John Jackson, Steven Sneideman, Adrienne Davis
Others: Steve Sprietzer, George Belvitch

Below are the concerns raised at the meeting by PCCDI members- and the responses of the board are
following

>>> "Jackson, John" ………..3/14/2011 7:06 PM >>>

Shelley-
Thank you for the great meeting with the PCCDI last Thursday. It was great to understand the concerns
and the issues of your group. Hopefully, the attendance by the three Board members indicate the
positive way we view this group. We are passing along a copy of this note to the other Board members
and several senior members of the Administration.

It was nice to hear the PCCDI believes progress has been made over the past 1-2 years. Of course, we
also heard there is still much to be done. That was not unexpected. Here are the follow-up items from
the meeting in no particular order of importance:

1.
The group inquired about a full plan for the implementation of Courageous Conversations. This will be
passed along to Administration.

2.
The was a question about how and when the success of Courageous Conversations would be evaluated
(measured). This will be passed along to Administration.
PCCDI requested to have input/be part of the selection process for the next Superintendent. We expect
to have broad input from the community in the selection of the new Superintendent.

3.
There was concern about the need for additional district board policies to deal with diversity and
inclusion. You were advised you are welcome to attend Policy Committee meetings and make Citizen
Comments. I asked that you specify the areas of concern so they can be researched, addressed and,
potentially, acted on. The next Policy Committee meeting is tentatively set for 10 am on 3/24. I will
confirm the exact time and date if you are interested in attending.
PCCDI expressed concern about the impending budget crisis, potential teacher layoffs and the impact on
staff diversity progress made over the past year. We cited contract terms about layoffs and shared our
concern for this same issue.
4.
There was concern expressed about diverse student representation in AP and TAG programs. This will be
passed along to Administration.

5.
You asked when the implementation plan for the Dynamic Planning Process would be made. Dr. Fiegel
will be seeking preliminary feedback and approval to complete the implementation plan on March 22nd.
This is not expected to be a complete presentation but a very good snapshot, at least. The complete
presentation of the implementation plan will be schedule sometime after that date.

Note: Number 6 and 7 were not included in Mr. Jacksons initial response (mistakenly omitted), although
we discussed it at the meeting- so I forwarded #6 and #7 to Mr. Jackson to add to the list of topics to
share with the entire board group, and he acknowledged that he would add these items to his lists.

6. The concern was raised that with teacher contract negotiations occurring, and education reform
beginning to adopt more policies that tie teacher/educator job stability to actual student performance- it
is our hope that the district will begin to work within new contract language to establish policy that
expedites elimination of poor performing teachers/educators. As parents, we would much rather have a
poor performing teacher removed from the district, rather than moved from one school to the next. In
terms of layoffs, it is much more beneficial to the students and district as a whole to keep newly hired
high performing teachers that have something to offer the students as opposed to poor performers that
have seniority within the district.

7. You stated that there are many retirements occurring this year for key PCCS central administrative
office positions-The PCCDI group shared that we want to take part in the selection of replacements for
these very important positions, as these positions set direction for the district.

Please let me know if I have missed anything. Thanks!

John T. Jackson, President, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Board of Education