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ARCHIVES of the Youth Initiative High School Waldorf Initiative Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA |
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YIHS “Group Memory” for 6/13/07 all-school meeting (15 people attending) Factors which led to the June 7 & 13 meetings (from Charlene at the beginning of the 6/13/07 meeting)
Many areas in school policy in which it’s not clear who has responsibility As the school grows, the role of faculty is no longer clear Question of what authority/role the Board has in making policy Charlene tried to review/update the school handbook to clarify policies—and found some out of date, some unclear. So the question is who should clarify the policies? The nature of the organization is that all stakeholders (faculty & administrators, parents, students, board members) have some role—but those roles and responsibilities overlap and are not clearly defined. Decision-Making Task Force? (hasn’t met since April and will meet at least once more to help distribute tasks decided here) Dawn has led a review and revision of Board By-Laws These Vision meetings are an attempt to clarify responsibilities, so that those with responsibility will be charged with updating policies in their domain. The process (reviewing/re-writing policies) should be complete by the all-school meeting in August.
Responsibilities (from 6/7/07) critiqued @ 6/13/07 meeting (Responsibilities are in Times New Roman, black; critiques, or additions, are in Trebuchet MS italic, blue.) Responsibilities of Parents Fundraising Needs a coordinator? (may be resolved through restructuring the Parent Body, see #17 below) Provide support to one’s student by providing structure & helping the student to maximize YIHS experience Stay in touch/open communication with teachers, cooperating with them Provide financial support, through tuition Be informed, reading publications from YIHS Be involved, through service Be a part of the community for other students (build community for all YIHS students and for the greater community) Participate with other parents (talk, call, check-in) Attend meetings Do committee work Volunteer Be an ambassador, advocating for the school Find opportunities to be a mentor for other students Be creative, bringing initiatives Where/how can parents who are experienced in Waldorf bring their experiences, ideas, & interests to the school, to other parents? Drive & chaperone Be open to learning about Waldorf education (perhaps Renewal could be provided to parents? excerpts from Waldorf texts could be included in the Weekender? other opportunities for learning about Waldorf should be provided—materials beyond what’s already in the enrollment packet. Students & parents should be/are given an oral presentation about Waldorf.) Restructure the Parent Body (A) to facilitate parent initiative & service and (B) to inform them of Care Group functions (and other activities/functions)—creating committees & task forces for specific functions (including, but not limited to, fundraising). Some structuring should happen in the Spring, for the following year. Faculty could make more presentations to parents. And there could be more Parent/Faculty social gatherings (in the first month of school especially). Volunteers formally representing YIHS could report to the Personnel Committee (?)—although clearly defined Care Group procedures and a conflict resolution procedure may deal with all but crucial volunteer issues.
Responsibilities of Faculty Pedagogy (design curriculum, teach, work with students, communicate with parents, write weekly reports & semester evaluations, communicate with other faculty & administrators) & discipline Open a space to be able to work out of one’s highest & best intentions Be authority figures in YIHS Enforce rules Have some familiarity with Waldorf pedagogy Is a stronger commitment to Waldorf pedagogy necessary? What is the balance between inspiring faculty to Waldorf knowledge and requiring Waldorf knowledge? And what can be expected of teachers who teach for only 3 weeks? Does having knowledge of Waldorf mean that “core faculty” should have more authority? A list of essential Waldorf pedagogical practices is needed/should be supplied to all teachers? YIHS seeks to be more of a Waldorf leaven rather than a Waldorf cloister. New faculty should be in a relationship with a core teacher, who acts a mentor (but the mentoring process could be better developed). All YIHS teachers should have some “teacher development” plan that would include increasing one’s understanding of Waldorf pedagogy. How much is mentoring a major responsibility? Should there be additional financial rewards for core faculty? (How clearly is the “core faculty” defined?) Serve on committees, representing the activities and actions of the group you represent Attend meetings Act as mentors & advocates for students Questions Role of care groups? (Designed to assess wellbeing, attitude, & discipline—should they be used for discipline?) Originally called a “Boundary Board”—designed to work with discipline (getting homework done, etc.): a place where agreements are made and monitored. The Class Parent, originally, was to be the facilitator, there to support the faculty member. Do reports going to the Class Parent create a problem with confidentiality? Confidentiality releases may be needed? The “Hyde School” model of parental involvement in discipline. (The confidentiality issue may be in conflict with the “brother’s keeper” ideal?) Care Group initiation and training is going well for students (especially during the August camping trip) but perhaps more Care Group orientation & training is needed for Parents? Who is the faculty? (distinction between core faculty & other faculty)
Responsibilities of Administrators Facility & building maintenance Interface with adult authorities (i.e., public schools, colleges, repair people, etc.) Day to day operations of school including keeping records—transcripts, parent-teacher conferences, student reports, payroll & bookkeeping: the servant leadership function (perhaps there should be a bookkeeper?) The role of the “Administrative Group” should be defined? (Are there “Administrators,” “Administration,” & an “Administrative Group”?) Conrad began as a “School Coordinator” and has evolved into an “administrator” The “School Coordinator” job description should be reviewed. Is there an ultimate authority in the Administrative Group?—or are all decisions reached through consensus? Who is responsible for executing (or enforcing) existent policies? Some roles are defined (Jacob, for example, consistently deals with transcripts.) Does the Administrative Group need to clarify—for the rest of the community—their division of labor? Outsiders also need to know who to go to for various questions/situations/responsibility. Shouldn’t holding the spirit of the school be a function of all groups? What is the relationship between the Board and the Administration? Should there be a process for resolving differences? Given the Board’s legal responsibilities (as a 501(c)3 corporation), does the Board have some ultimate authority? Although much authority is grounded in trust, some conflict resolution procedures seem to be needed when trust breaks down. How to reconcile strong individuality & initiative with community and consensus? Open-door availability Attend ALL meetings, acting as liaison Questions Who is the ultimate authority? What is the hierarchy of authority? in which areas? (Do administrators have a “shepherding” function?)
Responsibilities of the Board Hold the school in trust Interface with the larger community Responsible for the financial health of the school, approving budgets Responsible for legal & government affairs Hold the school accountable to the vision & guiding principles Is it possible to have someone with authority to make decisions in “crisis” situations when community decision-making is impractical? Create committees & task forces with clear & specific mandates Hire & evaluate administrator & development director, with job description & yearly review Traditionally this has been done by the Personnel Committee (for administrators). The Board having authority for this is a NEW suggestion—not current policy. The Personnel Committee is a function of the Faculty. Responsible for financial stability, including developing and monitoring budgets, financial planning, fundraising, financial solicitations Responsible for capital and infrastructure—for financial sustainability Does there need to be a group that can be readily convened to deal with issues that require some confidentiality? (an adult, Faculty/Board group?—or is that the Personnel Committee?) The Board is the site where appeals about hiring, firing, & expulsion are made, and while it can hold closed meetings, it can’t exclude student members from closed meetings. (There is a proposal to make the Board appeal only on matters of procedure?) Responsibilities of Students (This list was not discussed on 6/13/07) Keep the school clean Do your homework Keep a good image of the school Make your education as much yours as possible Your fellow students Keep the school together both financially (to some extent), and emotionally Keep a good image of yourself
Core Values for YIHS Community (generated by small groups at the 6/7/07 meeting, only one addition made on 6/13) Respect Caring for others & ourselves Transparency in actions/operations Mutual Respect Interdependence Generosity of spirit Positivity Creativity Outcome: that Students ability to impart meaning to their lives, to go out to make the world a better place All groups are involved in supporting, making decisions, operating the school—coming out of love, emotional attachment to the school School Values & respects individuals School recognizes that the Universe & Human Beings have a spiritual nature Commitment to excellence and to each other and to an owning of what is learned Holistic nature of the education (intellectual, feeling, social, artistic, physical, physical environment) Commitment to innovation & creative new ideas Student initiative & responsibility Interface with larger community—reflecting & serving the community Flexibility to work with diverse needs & talents and still meet the needs of individuals Economic accessibility Integrity of keeping one’s word (feedback/added on 6/13) Highlighted values are not currently in the Vision Statement or Guiding Principles
The following values were pulled from the original list generated by the small groups because they are clearly included in the “Guiding Principles of the School” Waldorf inspired Spiritual based Service to each other & to the community Core group of faculty bring a Waldorf orientation and the school uses Waldorf pedagogy to carry out its mission Waldorf view of the human being Sense of community, including the harmonious cooperation of faculty students, & parents Commitment of faculty, students & parents
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