School Board Wrap-Up

The following is from the Oct.26 meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education.

Strategic plan approved

Supt. Sherine Smith presented the District Strategic Plan to the Board of Education for discussion, input and approval, and reviewed the District's Vision, Mission, Core Values and Strategic Goals, which were developed jointly with the Board at the Governance Team Workshop earlier this year. After a two-hour presentation, the Board voted unanimously to approve the District Strategic Goals.

Her responsibility to the District, she said, will be to create and support systems that align with these goals and result in measurable student achievement, which she will monitor and report on over time to ensure they are working.

Asst. Supt. of Instructional Services, Nancy Hubbell, thanked the department directors and managers who participated in the development of the SMART Leadership

Team Goals, which stand for Strategic and specific and aligned with District Goals; Measureable through fidelity rubrics, occurrence of specific events, as well as national, state, and local testing; Achievable; Results oriented, with specific Action Steps; and Time bound.

The District staff is "justifiably proud" of their past achievements, she said, and the Leadership Goals will build upon these successes as it moves forward in manageable steps to improve areas of focus.

Goals will integrate fidelity to adopted programs and models; completion or expansion of initiatives that are working such as Success Maker and REACH; addition of other programs including Rachel's Challenge, Business and University Partnerships and College and Career Readiness.

Norma Shelton, Asst. Supt. of Business Services, presented the learning environment and fiscal responsibility components, which support the educational goals of the District.

School culture and goals

Each school site principal presented the Board with practical examples of the action steps to achieve the District's goals in the areas of academic achievement and school culture.