Agenda - 04-26-2004- 6 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Meeting Discussions The six group members nret on 1/l7/DA will: the desired outcome of "defining collabor°atiorr and irrdieator-s of success to be used when the hvo school systems continue collaboration beyond today, " Each shared personal thoughts on how satisfied he or she is with current state of collaboration across the two school districts, including what he or slre means by collaboration. Mr. Cook said that collaboration across the school districts is not where he wants it to be. He wants the districts to do a better job. He said that collaboration includes equality across the participants, free choice ("not ramming something down someone's tlu-oat"), and achieving an outcome that benefits the children in both school districts. He added that he appreciated the BOCC convening today's "meeting of the minds" because he recognized that efforts at collaborating were off track for a variety of reasons. He said he wanted to work on what can be accomplished in the short term, He said that for some of the ideas that have been raised for collaboration across the districts there were financial constraints, scheduling constraints, and constraints set by the numbers of children interested in participating in cross-district programming. He said that he hopes that this meeting will lead to a meeting of the two full Boards of Education to establish the Boards' connnitment to collaboration. Ms. Carter said that the two districts are collaborating and would need clarification from the Board of County Commissioners on what more it wants from the districts' collaboration. She said that collaboration includes open communication and joint work across district lines. She added that some areas in which the districts are collaborating "do not count" to the BOCC, such as transportation. Co-housing central office staff is not feasible, she said, She identified an altenrative school as a possible area for collaboration, and said that the two administrators should take the next step if this were a good idea, She wonders if funding is available for such ideas as opening City School's AP Honors courses to County students, or opening County vocational courses to City students. She said that collaboration camrot supplant merger. Dr. Carraway said that the two districts are talking aboutjoint opportunities, but have not done anything to realize those opportunities. Collaboration includes communication and working together, Uut it also needs to be evident; one should be able to show that collaboration is taking place. The districts have made a list of potential collaborations, "but every item bas a price tag." Collaboration should produce benefits for children in both districts, she said. 2