UPDATED, 12/1- Observations for small, but positive changes at LWSD

UPDATE, 9/29 - It's been a little more than a week since I visited the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) headquarters in Redmond.  I attended the Work Session on Levy & Bond Planning and participated in the Board Meeting during "Public Comments".  I learned a lot about District governance and process, met some friendly and informative staff, including Kathryn Reith, Director of Communications.  Kathryn sent press releases last school year for the Blog.  I feel I have a good relationship with this organization and they actively listen to my ideas. 

I want to list some incremental progress we've already made to create positive changes in the District. 

1.  Printing Problem:   When printing from LWSD website pages, content is usually truncated on the right margin. Important information is lost.  For example:  It couldn't be discerned from the Board printouts that Ravi Shahani is the sole Board Member identified as representing Einstein.  In addition, lots of time and paper is wasted trying to print pages correctly.  For example:  each page has to be shrinked by 85%.

Solution:  Printable pages are now available on the LWSD website!  Look for this printer icon   The "printable page" icon will  improve productivity and convenience for staff and citizens using the site.  Thanks to John Vaille, Chief Technology Officer for getting this job done and for Ms. Reith's communications.   Chip Kimball, Superientent, has a technology background, which doesn't hurt.

2.)   "Work Session Meeting" process:   According to Ms. Reith, the District is not posting Work Session Minutes on the Web site.   However, this Fall they will start posting Session meetings along with Board meetings.  Update: 12/1/09  The "Minutes" are one sentence topics of no value.

3)    "Public Records".   When a citizen presents at Board Meetings, their documents "for the Record", are submitted to the Executive Administrator (Dianne Jenkins) who sits on the Dias with the Board and Superintendent.  According to Ms. Reith, the Records are put in a date-marked file and stored in the Superintendent's office.  Update: 12/1:  The Executive Secretary's technical title is "administrative assistant" yet she takes Minutes, files Public Records, prepares the "Packet" and is the "Executive Secretary"  for the Superintendent.  She informs the public about the website and promotes the Superintendent's policies. She is a key employee.   The District has not included Ms. Jenkins in the "Administrative Directory" so it's difficult to identify and contact her.   Currently, you have to know her name to search for her email. 

4.)  "Agenda".   ADA (hearing impaired) guidelines are not printed on the electronic agenda.  Of course, ADA is a tremendously important priority in schools, so I assume an electronic version of the ADA advisory will be published on the website Agenda. It is not. (12/1).  An electronic advisory will help individuals with disabilities "contact the superintendents' office as soon as possible in advance of the meeting..."

6)  The Superintendent doesn't verbally announce the topic of Executive Sessions.  Though it's in writing someplace the public isn't likely to find it. 12/1.    

5)  Ms. Reith says a group picture of the Board will be taken and posted on the website.  In the meanitme, I'm posting my photo of the Board.  12/1 a photo was never taken by LWSD.  I assume they decided mine was good enough for them.

by Bob Yoder
revised: 12/1/09

CC:  LWSD Administration

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