The last few weeks have been very busy for the Board of Education. Highlights are below.

New Committee Assignments

New BOE committees have been assigned. I have listed the committees and members below. Over the summer, the committees will be working on their goals. We'll have information available on the goals at our September meeting.

If you have any issues you would like to see considered by a committee, please either email the Board ( comments@madison.k12.wi.us) or contact the committee chair.

HUMAN RESOURCES
Johnny Winston Jr. (chair); Lawrie Kobza; Beth Moss

LONG RANGE PLANNING
Carol Carstensen (chair); Lucy Mathiak; Beth Moss

FINANCE and OPERATIONS
Lucy Mathiak (chair); Carol Carstensen; Maya Cole

PERFORMANCE and ACHIEVEMENT
Lawrie Kobza (chair); Maya Cole; Johnny Winston Jr.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Maya Cole (chair); Lucy Mathiak; Johnny Winston Jr.

COMMUNICATIONS
Beth Moss (chair); Carol Carstensen; Lawrie Kobza

Superintendent Search

This month we interviewed four consultant firms with which to work in the search for a new superintendent. We selected the company Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates of Glenview, IL (www.hyasupersearches.com). They are a nationally known company specializing in superintendent searches. I called a number of different school districts who have worked with this company as part of the reference check process. The results were very positive. Their interaction with the community was one of their strong points.

NEXT STEPS: The Board will meet with HYA on August 27 for the initial planning meeting. At this meeting we will set the timeline for the search. One of the initial steps in the search is the development of the Leadership Profile for the new superintendent. This will be developed based on input from the Board, staff and the community. More details on the community engagement process will be available after the August meeting.

Naming of the New School

At the June 18 Board meeting, we voted (7-0) to rename the new elementary school on the far West side. We voted 6-1 to reopen the process from the beginning and follow our Board policy 6700. This means that new names may be submitted. We will also consider the names submitted in the first process if they are resubmitted.

Our next meeting on this topic will be on July 9. At that meeting we will consider updating the current policy. For example, it has been suggested that if we are going to name a school after a person, the person should be deceased.

Referendum

Our first meeting to begin discussion on the possibility of an operating budget referendum will be on August 13. An agenda has not yet been worked out for this meeting.

BOE Priorities for 07-08

We met on June 20 to set the BOE priorities for the upcoming year. Information will be available once the priorities have been set. Committees will start meeting this summer with the goal of having committees report their priorities in September.

I hope you all enjoy your summer. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know — comments@madison.k12.wi.us