The EMID Board will be meeting next Wednesday (9/19) at 5:30pm at Harmbee. Only one parent was present at the August meeting, and the board may be feeling that our family’s interest in the strategic planning process and changes to the district is diminishing. If you can attend the board meeting on 9/19, please do. The full September board packet is available for review.
Of most interest to families will likely be the EMID finance and budget update and the superintendent’s report. No details of the finance and budget update are available at this time, but the superintendents report includes this “strategic roadmap” in the board packet:
During the August meeting a similar document was shared. Superintendent Mohr and several board members stressed that this earlier draft only applied to the “shared services” mission of EMID and that a similar roadmap would be developed to describe the schools. The parent attending that meeting, Eric Celeste, asked the board and Superintendent to please be as explicit about this as possible, suggesting that the title be revised to recognize this limited scope. As you can see, the title of this document includes no such limit. We must assume, statements to the contrary, that the mission and vision documented here are meant to apply to the whole EMID program, including the schools.
Mission Statement
Educational Opportunity and Excellence for ALL Students in the East Metro Area. Ready for Learning, Ready for Life.Vision – 2016
To be a Center of Excellence in the East Metro area for high levels of intellectual performance from ALL students and equity leadership from member district’s classrooms and boardrooms.
Unfortunately, this mission and vision statement says nothing at all distinctive about EMID. It could be equally applied to any member district. This version of a mission and vision statement does not recognize what has been at the core of EMID’s mission since its founding: the value of true integration. The depth of this commitment and importance of this value were stressed by families, students, and staff again and again in testimony during the bitter hearings on possible school closures last year. Here, as a contrast, is EMID’s current mission and vision statement, drawn from the most recent EMID annual report on the new website:
District Vision
EMID’s vision is to create integrated communities in which all learners have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for success in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world.District Mission
EMID’s mission is to provide and promote integrated opportunities for students, families, and staff that expand cultural understanding and support academic achievement.
And the front page of the new website includes a similarly inspirational statement:
EMID is a community of learners whose achievement and well-being are enhanced by diversity, which is valued and celebrated.
If you believe there is something distinctive about EMID that should be validated in our mission and vision statement, please join us at the next board meeting. If you want to call on the board and the Superintendent to include families in the strategic planning process, and recognize the importance of our schools to EMID’s future roadmap, please join us at the board meeting.
While the board does not intend to take any actions at next week’s meeting, they will be discussing these issues. Let’s make sure that they are holding this discussion in a public forum with all our ears listening carefully and our offer of assistance with the difficult tasks ahead clearly present.