Goal Area 1: Teaching and Learning

School Board Professional Development 

In order to lead a district dedicated to equity and innovation, school board members must constantly evolve in their understanding of educational issues impacting our scholars. School board members will engage in individual and collective professional development throughout the school year. 

Key Actions

• School board members will increase their understanding of how restorative practices and personalized learning are being implemented and evaluated in the district through workshop presentations, data sharing and metrics or student success.
• School board members will learn about best/next practices in innovative, equitable, and anti-racist educational practices locally and nationally, and how we can specifically apply these in Hopkins. An awareness of community needs is essential to be productive instead of reactive.
• School board members will share their learning with the community during workshops and board member reports. 

Goal Area 2: School District and Culture

Community Presence 

As representatives of the community, it is important that school board members engage with scholars, staff, parents/caregivers, and community members to understand their priorities and how the School Board’s decisions impact them. 

Key Actions

• School board members will pair up with schools to visit throughout the year, participate in events, and intentionally engage with scholars, staff, and leaders. 
• School board members will be present at district events when possible. 
• School board members will hold engagement sessions about School Board decisions related to Vision 2031 implementation, policy, and budgeting.
• School Board members will  actively seek engagement of caregivers in Board committee work and advocacy where caregiver input is critical.
• School board members will collaborate with student board representatives to better understand and communicate the experiences, needs, and goals of our high school scholars. Student Board representatives will continue to serve on committees of the School Board.

Board Culture 

We will intentionally onboard and fully support new members while co-creating an inclusive and effective board culture.

Key Actions

• The School Board will host a culture-building retreat.
• School board members will identify governance laws vs. culture, engage in conversations about what we want our collective board culture to be, and implement new practices to support it.  
• The Chair and Vice Chair will implement a holistic new board member onboarding process in collaboration with district leaders and the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA). This includes updating the interactive guidebook for new board members.

Goal Area 3: Operations

Fiscal Transparency and Understanding

The Hopkins School Board is responsible for using tax-payer dollars responsibly by adopting a balanced budget that supports the operationalization of Vision 2031. Public school finance and budgeting are complex processes that can lead to confusion. It is essential that these processes be transparent and understandable to our community.   

Key Actions

• School board members will partner with the Superintendent and Director of Business Services to hold budget education and engagement sessions with community members. 
• School board members will collaborate with the Citizen’s Financial Advisory Committee and Hopkins Legislative Action Coalition to educate community members about statewide public education funding issues and invite them to participate in advocacy. 
• School district budget information will be communicated in an accessible way (language translation, etc.).
• Board members will acquire an understanding of mechanisms of privatization and its impact on public school funding and share that with the community.

Policy Transparency and Understanding

The Hopkins School Board is responsible for creating district-level policies that support the operationalization of Vision 2031. This work is done in partnership with scholars, staff, and community members who are most impacted by these policies. It is essential that the policy creation process be transparent and understandable to our community.   

Key Actions

• The School Board will hold a workshop on upcoming policy revisions based on legislative changes. 
• School board members on the Monitoring Committee will partner with the Assistant Superintendent to hold policy education and engagement sessions with community members on new and revised policies. 
• The Monitoring Committee will gather and respond to student voice through student board representation on the committee and student survey responses.