Beech Tree News Network

At April’s School Board meeting, held Tuesday, April 18th, Superintendent Tuck shared much information in his monthly report. 

On March 23rd, 2023, members from the BC Schools Deep Learning Team traveled to Cave City for the third UK Next Gen Portrait of a Graduate Training.  Superintendent Tuck explained that “the goal of having a portrait is to help districts guide their learner experiences to be more personally relevant, more engaging, and more reflective of the learning and career challenges faced by our students in a fast-paced, interconnected, tech-driven world.” At the training the Driving Question for the day was: How might we redesign the learner experience to ensure that ALL kids achieve Portrait of a Learner skills? 

The learning targets for the day were as follows: Participants will: Understand several forms of performance assessment aligned to Portrait of a Learner, explore performance assessment tools aligned to Portrait of a Learner, investigate professional learning to support district & school leaders and teachers in the implementation of Portrait of a Learner, and leverage team time to solidify plans for local Portrait of a Learner implementation. 

The team was also able, along with the aforementioned training, to study the Portrait of a Learner Community survey.   The electronic survey showed that the following characteristics were the top six desired for our graduates: character, responsibility, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and being a global citizen. 

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On March 28th and 29th, Superintendent Tuck attended the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents (KASS) Superintendent Academy for our area. 

Tuck described the academy as an event that “allowed superintendents to strengthen and cultivate stronger networks. The academy focused on:  

Leading Change –a reflective session where superintendents reflected and shared thoughts on key questions like “What are your big, audacious goals for the coming year?” “What’s moving you forward?” “What is holding you back?” “What are you next steps as you face conflict and uncertainty?”

Recruitment, Retention, and Hiring – This session focused on what are the hot topics associated with these areas and how are districts navigating to meet the demands these areas are placing on districts?

Leadership Development – This session centered on building the team around you.    

Human Resources Leadership – What are effective personnel practices?

Three Cs: Critical Collegial Conversations – This session focused on engaging stakeholders to interactively seek solutions and ideas.

If I Only Knew… - A look back at some superintendent decisions and how, in hindsight, superintendents might have handled situations differently.”

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On March 31 and April 10, Tuck met with the Butler County Schools Student Advisory Committee. The committee took time to choose who would participate in the student panel for the April 18th Strategic Leadership Planning Meeting.  

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On April 12, Tuck met with the BC Schools teacher advisory committee, receiving feedback and ideas for continued work in: curriculum/pacing/resources, Strategic Leadership Plan/Portrait of Graduate/Learner, G-Days/PD/PLC’s, and on-boarding new teachers. 

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Finally, on Monday April 17th, BC Schools sponsored another community partner meeting. Fifteen community partners were invited. Nine community groups were represented with twelve invited individuals in attendance. Mr. Tuck explained that “the goal of the meeting was to give an overview of our strategic plan and Portrait of a Learner work that has been done.  We also shared our work based learning program and how all of this work is interconnected to better prepare our students for life.”  Some of the points of interest from the meeting, according to Tuck were: 

“Partners were appreciative of the work we were doing in relation to the portrait of a learner.  They felt those skills are definitely needed to be successful in the workforce.  

Partners stressed interpersonal communication skills as one area they have seen a decline in as a result of COVID.  They have seen this in interviews, how they interact with fellow employees or lack thereof, and how they interact with customers.  Employers are having to spend as much time training interpersonal communication as they are with job specific training.  

Partners appreciated the work we have done to provide flexibility through our work based learning.  They felt like setting down and discussing helped them get a better idea of how they might be able to utilize the program as a way to grow their own employees.  Most seemed to not realize the flexibility they had in accessing potential student labor. 

Partners discussed ways COVID has impacted the workforce with more employees doing more job hopping than before COVID.  Attendance concerns seem to have evolved some.  Employers said they are seeing that punitive measures are not working because employees can just leave and find another job.  Therefore, employers are having to try to look and approach this from different angles.  Employees need a way to see advancement in the organization in order to keep employees in the competitive market we are in.”