New Committees Intend To Improve Communication And Culture At FPS

By Gordon HopkinsThe Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education has voted to form two ad hoc committees to improve communication and culture at FPS. The vote was held at a board meeting on Monday, October 11.These committees are a continuation of efforts begun earlier this year to address concern raised by a parents group and others about a variety of issues.A stakeholders committee was created and met four times in the Spring and Summer months of this year.The committee was comprised of FPS staff, teachers and administrators, and a diverse range of community member stakeholders, many of whom are parents of current or former FPS students. The committee was facilitated by three external consultants, Dr. Keith Rohwer of NCSA, Dr. Brian Maschmann of Norris Public Schools, and Dr. John Skretta, of ESU6. Dr. Skretta then delivered an exit report, the purpose of which was to present the final results and recommendations of the committee to the Board. These two new committees are the result.School Superintendent Stephen Grizzle recently issued a statement that read, in part, “There was excellent discussion amongst the board members that were present and part of the committee and the ones that were not involved. After discussion, the consensus of the board was to move forward with two main goal areas for our continued work.”Each committee will consist of three Board of Education members; four community members; three teachers, one from each school; two classified staff and an administrator.Grizzle had sent out a request via social media for volunteers from the public to participate in the committees. There were more volunteers than open spaces available, so at the October 11 board meeting, names were drawn from a hat.Members of the communication committee are: Jody Starr, Jonathan Winter, Angie Judd, Trevor Steinmeyer, Dusty Schmidt, Amber Arner, Mike Hansmire, Natalie Lassek, Cassidy Sadd, Amy Engle-Evans, Janet Gerritse and Michelle Novak.Members of the culture committee are: Barry Schwab, Jacie Milius, Sharon Ebke, Paige Boeckner, Spencer Brown, Cheryl Trimm, Amber Pearce, Laura Mohr, Megan Pachta, Ryan Dusso, Stephanie Engelman, and Cheryl Lofing.These meetings are not open to the public and the press will not be allowed to attend. However, reports will be given at school board meetings.One of the issues to be addressed by the committees is transparency, which has been cited as a problem by the parents group.School Board member Dr. Jonathan Winter had requested copies of the “stakeholder input information,” the notes and recommendations written by the committee members. Those notes were provided to all the board members. However, Dr. Winter advised FJN, “Upon further inspection, it became clear that some forms were missing. I only knew that because my own submitted response was not there.”Regarding the information that Dr. Winter said is missing, Grizzle responded, “I have given everything that I have. You have what the school board got and what I got. My assumption is that whatever is not included has been misplaced?”FJN reached out to Dr. Skretta, who said, “none of the notes were missing from any of the information we collected. Everything we gathered from committee members and from the committee work has subsequently been disseminated to Superintendent Grizzle and the district.”

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