萝卜AV视频

President's Corner

My first day as superintendent in Minnetonka was Tuesday, July 1, 2014. Beginning a new job on a day that many in the district took as part of a holiday week seemed unusual, but taking my first day on the job as a vacation day seemed just as odd.

Plus, I had work to do. One of the most pressing things I had to wrap my head around that week was the upcoming board of education retreat. Typically held on the third Saturday in July, the retreat brought together all members of the school board and the superintendent鈥檚 cabinet to spend a day reviewing the district鈥檚 progress and planning actions for the upcoming school year.

I sought perspectives from both groups and learned that the cabinet members felt like nothing they presented at the retreat was considered 鈥済ood enough鈥� for the board. The board members felt as though they were not part of the decision-making process and that all the important decisions had been made before the meeting 鈥� that the retreat was a meaningless exercise.

One cabinet member offered a fairly pointed request: 鈥淒on鈥檛 hold a full-day event on a Saturday in Minnesota. We have so few beautiful weekends and spending this one in the basement conference room of a local hotel is miserable.鈥�

Making this full-day event productive for everyone seemed a monumental task.

I don鈥檛 remember much about the actual retreat that first year. After the meeting, I was walking around the empty room, cleaning up supplies, when I found a note one of the cabinet members had written to her colleague. It said, 鈥淚t feels like he is really listening to us and the board.鈥�

I left that meeting feeling like I had won a small victory. We all know that when people feel included, they are much more likely to lean into the work. With this in mind, I set out to reimagine school district planning.

The next year, our planning session was held the second weekend in January. That was my first win. The cabinet and board members appreciated the change, as only the hardiest of souls want to be outside for any length of time during a Minnesota winter.

Ahead of the retreat, I held a pre-meeting with the cabinet. During this three-hour off-site session, each member identified up to five activities that were going well and five areas that needed improvement. From this simple activity, we identified about 20 areas of focus across the district. Work in some of these areas already was underway; some initiatives were dreams for the future.

On the day of the retreat, we broke into groups of three 鈥� two cabinet members and a board member 鈥� and did the same activity. Amazingly, the list of 20 or so priorities was almost identical. The day ended with much greater cohesion between the board and cabinet, as well as clear priorities for the district to act on.

The following year, we moved the process to November after cabinet members shared that the January planning did not provide adequate time to enact everything during the busy registration, enrollment and staffing months.

Leading change requires that all voices be part of the process. For the past 10 years, we have used this inclusive strategy to identify the greatest needs in our system, often using student data, community surveys and staff input to inform prioritization. Overall, the process has brought clarity to the mission and vision, has cultivated a sense of ownership in the decision making and has led to significant improvements in all systems districtwide.

David Law is 萝卜AV视频president for 2025-26.