Atlanta Board of Education AdvancED/SACS “Required Actions” Project Team January 26, 2011

Welcome and Introductions

Project Team Project Core Team – Members of the Atlanta Board of Education Stakeholder Engagement Committee – TBD Project Staff Dr. Alexis Kirijan – Chief Strategy and Development Officer / Project Facilitator Ms. Sharron Pitts – Chief of Staff Ms. Veleter Mazyck – General Counsel Mr. Stephen Alford – Director of Communications Mr. Keith Bromery – Director of Media Relations Ms. Panya Yarber – Special Assistant to the Chief Strategy and Development Officer/ Project Assistant Facilitator Dr. Howard Grant – Board Administrator Facilitators – APS Strategy and Development Team Members (as needed) Consultants, Mediator, Superintendent Search Firm, Policy Expert Representative Stacey Abrams and Beth Beskins – Governor’s Liaisons Dr. Mark Elgart or designees – SACS

Meeting Overview

Agenda Welcome and Introductions Meeting Overview Working Together APS Project Management Framework Break Facilitated Discussions Closing

Meeting Objectives By the end of tonight’s meeting Objective 1 – The Board will set meeting norms for how the meetings will be conducted Objective 2 – The Board will approve a high-level timeline for completing the work and develop a work schedule for moving forward Objective 3 – The Board will approve AdvancED/SACS Required Actions Project Charter Objective 4 – The Board will finalize the Stakeholder Engagement Committee Objective 5 – The Board will establish timelines and actions to: Secure a mediator/organization Secure a superintendent search firm

Working Together

The whole is only as good as the sum of its parts. S-y-n-e-r-g-y

Apollo 11 Space Mission (1969)

Secretariat 1973 Triple Crown Champion

Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

World Wide Web Available to Public (1991)

New Orleans Saints – Super Bowl Champions (2010)

What Success Looks Like

Fundamental Elements of Teams Mission – gives team direction and purpose. Teams have a clear mission. It may be short-term or long-term. The team must mutually agree upon purpose and mission Commitment – team members must be committed to the purpose and the mission. Commitment may occur immediately or develop over the course of the work. Rules of Engagement – The are the norms that provide the team with guidelines and a common set of procedures by which to operate. To be successful the whole team needs to play by the rules agreed upon.

Fundamental Elements of Teams Activity 1 – Setting the Working Norms Activity 2 – Defining the Purpose

APS Project Management Framework

APS Framework for AdvancED/SACS “Required Actions” GETTING STARTED PLAN DO CHECK ACT REPEAT CYCLE

High-Level Proposed Timeline (January 2011 – September 2011) Board accepts and begins response to AdvancED report; Hire project manager and mediator February Work plan set and work commences; Communication Strategy developed; Status update at February Board meeting March Project Action Plans complete; Resources required to complete work secured; Formal presentation at March Board meeting April Formal presentation at April Board meeting; 1st progress report is submitted to AdvancED (by April 29) May Formal presentation at May Board meeting; Review feedback from AdvancED June-July Formal presentation at June & July Board meetings August All “Required Actions” complete by August 31; 2nd progress report submitted to AdvancED; Formal presentation at August Board meeting September AdvancED monitoring team site visit; Review feedback from AdvancED; Formal presentation at September Board meeting

APS Project Management Framework Activity 3 – Draft Calendar Development Activity 4 – Review and Approve Project Charter

Break

Facilitated Discussions

Building Effective Teams What makes a successful team? What are the characteristics of an effective team member? What are the strengths on this team to get the work done?

Building Effective Teams Why have a stakeholder engagement committee for this project? to assure that the decision addresses as many different stakeholder interests as possible; to increase the probability of a creative outcome; to build broad-based support for the decision made by the board; and to assist in communicating and facilitating implementation of the decisions. Other-----

Disseminating information Other involvement--------- Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members Appropriate level of engagement: What is the expectation of this committee? Educating: board makes decisions and provides information to stakeholders about policies that affect them. Soliciting Input: board generates strategies and gains input from stakeholder group in interactive work sessions. Recommending: Stakeholder committees work independently and bring recommendations to the board to accept or reject. Approving: Disseminating information Other involvement---------

Where will meetings be held? Times and dates? Type of meeting? Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members Establish meeting formats and locations for stakeholder engagement committee: Where will meetings be held? Times and dates? Type of meeting?

Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee: Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee: What stakeholder groups should be represented on the committee?

Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members (3) 3. Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee: What stakeholder groups should be represented on the committee? Organizations: Students Parents Employee Community-at-Large Non-Profit Community Office of the Mayor of Atlanta Office of the Governor of Georgia Georgia State Board of Education Georgia business Community Atlanta Education Fund Representative from the Georgia Higher Education Community (Colleges/Universities) Other

Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members (4) 4. Characteristics of stakeholder engagement committee members: Representatives have support and confidence of their groups are able to communicate effectively the work and the decisions of the team to the stakeholders they represent. have a proven record of working effectively with others who may have different work styles and interests can make time commitment to actively participate in the entire process are able to listen to and acknowledge the perspective of others. are willing to acquire the information through the process that is required for effective participation are directly impacted by the decisions have information, experience, insight that will be helpful in developing strategies have influence to help implement strategies and support or block progress Have a sincere vested interest in the work have been champions or critics of your work in the past Other criteria you think is important--------

Project Team Activity 5 – Selecting a Stakeholder Engagement Committee

Matrix The stakeholder identification matrix helps to bring transparency and clarity to the process of identifying stakeholders Step 1 – List potential stakeholder groups Step 2 – Suggestions from Board members Step 3 – Differentiate from the long list clusters that might be grouped as one Step 4 – Review the rationale of why stakeholders are considered important Step 5 – Determine relevant stakeholders that need to be considered: Important to the project the project directly affects them Influence others and positively impact the project’s outcomes influence is in fact the extent to which a stakeholder is able to communicate in a positive way the many variables that affect the project Impacts the project’s outcomes positively impact is resources the stakeholders bring to the table for success of the project Step 6 – Finalize stakeholder committee Step 7 – Personal contact to perspective stakeholder Step 8 – Board resolution naming stakeholders Step 9 – Introduction of stakeholders to the public Step 10 – Invitation to stakeholder engagement committee kick-off meeting

Solicitation Process Mediator/Organization and Superintendent Search Firm Review solicitations Timeline Next Steps

Closing

Closing For the good of the order Review of action items Homework Agenda building for next meeting Meeting evaluation