Conclusions

There’s a strong desire to crystallize what’s happened with these Wisdom Councils so the energy is perpetuated.
Any next steps shouldn’t add more work or layers to current structures for teachers and administrators. The Wisdom Council is in service of the existing layers!
How do we bring teachers and parents together in efficient, focused, and authentic dialogue about what our philosophy is, how to maintain it, and how to describe it?
We like the idea of parent representatives serving on FOSBE from each classroom.
Jodee proposes a forum next year on alternative education at which she and her colleagues will provide background on the history and philosophy of alternative education and where those attending can discuss what this means at Salmon Bay.
Pennie needs a co-leader for this to continue.

Comments:

· What strikes you?

· What are you curious about?

· What resonates for you?

We should look at all three councils, pull together themes, and present them in a report.
Will the Wisdom Council continue next year?

It will be discussed at the next FOSBE meeting on May 11^th
The Wisdom Council is on the next Middle School PTA meeting agenda
Pennie needs some co-leadership to have it continue
The Center for Wise Democracy might have some requirements for it to continue as well

Is there broad support for the Wisdom Council? A lot of people are interested.
It was a worthwhile process.
The 3^rd Wisdom Council struck new territory!
I didn’t read the statements of the first two Wisdom Councils on purpose…
This is the work that helps form our identity – this process should continue to help us with this. It’s very neat to hear the statements.
Teacher and administrator participation – I want to check with them to see how these statements sound… Perhaps survey them? It’s important to involve all the parts of our system in this dialogue because this is in service to them.
It would be really different if teachers and administrators were in the room.
The Wisdom Council felt like a place to ask important questions, not necessarily find the answers.
I left feeling how important the school is to me and my children, and how much I care about supporting the school.
Can there be a forum for teachers to have this kind of experience? I don’t know how teachers feel about anything.
How can we best use the great energy and perception of the Wisdom Council efficiently, authentically, and in a focused way:

Could use professional development days for teachers, but it would cost $7-8,000.
What kind of process should we use? It’s important to not include parents at first.
We talk a lot about communication within the school… We have some teachers who only read email, and some who only read hard copies of things.
Our staff need time to talk about our identity.
Jodee had a similar experience at Summit in the days when schools didn’t have the authority to hire their own teachers, they worked through re-defining their identity at the 4-5 year mark.
How do we maintain our climate given teacher turnover?
Data: the elementary and middle schools of Salmon Bay didn’t come together because of philosophy, they came together because of space. This is a different element of clarifying identity.

We need a spot where parents, teachers, and administrators can come together… Are there structures out there already so we don’t have to re-create the process for us to come together and talk about our philosophy?
We are in a cycle of re-identifying ourselves. This feel like a year 2 process of the principal.
The Building Leadership Team (BLT) meets twice a month. We are talking about how to create the space to talk about these issues. The FOSBE retreat might also be a forum because around half of the elementary school teachers come to this.
What about this idea at the district level… They seem to be looking for parent input… Could the district be ready to create the space to have teachers, administrators, and parents come together in a way that doesn’t impose it from the top down. The process should be something schools and parents want to do, with resources provided by the district.
The district’s current plan for parent involvement is to make parent involvement a part of the principal’s job description.
Parents should be advocating at the district level for resources, processes, and time to support the principal’s parent involvement efforts.
Teachers are slammed.
We haven’t come to agreement on when or how to have the conversation.
Teachers are expressing the same concerns… Jodee is proposing this work be a part of the school’s transformation plan and that it will take 2-3 years to do it… The plan should have strategically focused goals and philosophically focused goals in alternative schools so that we can access whether we are doing what we say we are going to do.
Other schools are dealing with this, too… OSPI says parent involvement is one of four important aspects of a school… PTA is an old model… OSPI isn’t funding this mandate.
OSPI really means having parents help their kids learn, assisting with homework, showing up in the classroom, and meet with teachers.
Excited about the idea of classroom reps – not a lot of teachers come to the FOSBE meetings.
It would be great to look at the Wisdom Councils and pick one thing to accomplish, that has an outcome. Should be something that no one can say is a bad idea.
It takes one person to really rally behind an idea to get it accomplished.
Communication is key… Who could carry this?
How can the Wisdom Council make the organizations we have work better?
Let’s work on something the BLT can support, also needs parent support outside of the BLT.
Parent handbook seems to be a mobilizing effort – 1 parent can lead this and start with the basics.
Handbook is BIG – it means institutionalizing our knowledge.
The classroom rep could also be the classroom volunteer coordinator.