HOLYROOD — Sixty-four patrons of the Central Plains USD 112 school district spent a little over two hours April 11 working on long range planning recommendations for the district.

The result was a set of common themes that will be presented to the board for consideration.

“We had the bond issue which failed and then the board had a lot of discussions on the way we should structure our district,” said Superintendent Greg Clark.“The board just really wanted to get some feedback from the community of what direction we should go.”

Clark said the results could lead to the development of a long-range planning committee that would meet and help guide the board.

“We’ll just see how tonight goes and work off of that,” he said. “If we come up with some great decisions tonight that we can share with the board, then we’ll head in that direction. If we still need to do some more work, we’ll get a group of these folks together and continue the process.”

Clark did not take an active role in the work session. That was left to moderator Gary Sechrist of the Kansas Association of School Boards.

“Our hope is to come up with common themes that will drive the direction of the district for the next several years,” Sechrist said. “Unfortunately, change is not as simple as moving a button one way or another and it’s going to happen. It’s a process. Tonight starts the change — but it definitely does not conclude the change. This may be the impetus for change.”

The patrons grouped themselves amongst the 16 tables set up in the school gym. Most sat with members of their own communities. All had the opportunity to share their thoughts on various aspects of the district through different questions posed by Sechrist.

Using yellow poster paper to collect their answers, Sechrist asked the patrons what they want USD 112 to become in three years. After several minutes of subdued discussion, patrons wrote their answers on yellow poster paper. Sechrist then asked patrons to define “continuous improvement.” Again, the answers were written on poster paper.

“It’s the board’s responsibility to figure out the what — what needs to happen,” he said.“They’re asking for your assistance tonight to give them some ideas. The administration’s ultimate responsibility is to figure out how to do the what.”

Sechrist eventually focused on the most important aspect of the change facing the district — the why.

“Why do we need to change,” he asked.“When everybody in your district agrees on the why, when the why is so compelling it shouldn’t matter how you get there because everybody is in agreement on what that destination needs to be.”

Sechrist said the USD 112 school board has responsibility for students, educational programs, the physical plant, personnel, and the communications and culture of the district.

Again, patrons were asked to write down their responses to the question of what they really value within the school district. The responses were posted on the walls of the gym, along with the answers to the prior questions posed by Sechrist.

As the evening entered the homestretch, Sechrist focused his questioning by using a SWOT analysis. He asked the patrons to write down what they thoughts were the four greatest Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the district.

Sechrist said he liked the patron interaction he saw at the tables.

“I think the public is well engaged within their groups,” he said.“I think they’re working hard to come up with a vision. By the end of this session we will have prioritized the common themes. I will be able to look at those and cull those down into three to five common themes.”

After a final opportunity to review information, patrons came up with the following common themes that will be brought forward in the future:

• Unification.

• Efficiency.

• Transparency.

• Teachers and staff that care.

• Communication.

• Inability to change.

“It’s been a different experience than what I had anticipated when I came here,” said Don Siemsen of Holyrood.“I didn’t realize that we were going to have to work. But it has been a good experience hearing what other people had to say. I realized many of their concerns were the same as my concerns.”

Siemsen said it was a good that change started with patrons.

“It’s a good idea to have the ideas coming from within the community and not just the board members,” he added.

“I come to these (meetings) occasionally and they are programed for an outcome by the people presenting them,” said Olen Svoboda of Holyrood.“It’s good to have the community come together and visit about it.”

Svoboda said when the school district built new schools years ago, directed by the administration, the best choices were not made.

“The perfect system will get the results they desire,” he said.

“I’m not sure it is addressing the grassroots problems — the lack of communications between communities,” said Mike Just of Wilson. “This meeting could be helpful if there’s going to be more discussion concerning the grassroots issues. We’ll see.”

Just said his biggest concern centers around his feeling that the school board doesn’t have the quality, detailed, financial information it needs to make decisions.

“I don’t know that they have a financial statement detailed on each building that’s involved in the district,” he said. “And without that, I don’t know how they can make decisions. So hopefully out of this we can get some better finances.”

“The meeting provided an opportunity of interaction for community members across the district,” said Mary Zorn of Wilson.“It was a positive way to provide feedback to the board.”