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School district collaborating about collaboration

Sometimes it's the journey, not the destination. And that's how School District 71 trustees and senior management are looking at a report by facilitator Stacey Holloway on collaboration and working climate.

Sometimes it's the journey, not the destination.

And that's how School District 71 trustees and senior management are looking at a report by facilitator Stacey Holloway on collaboration and working climate.

Since last spring, trustees and district senior staff have been working on and off with Holloway, a facilitator with Holloway Zaiser, to improve their working relationship.

They recently released Holloway's report to the public, and staff and trustees now plan to talk further about sections of the 43-page report before the current school board's term ends in November.

The board obtained neutral third-party advice about district operations from Sprott Consulting through an Operational Review, which was released to the public in April 2010. One of Sprott Consulting's recommendations was that trustees and senior staff engage in activities that improve collaboration, teamwork and confidence in reports, according to a press release that accompanies Holloway's report.

The report and press release are posted on the school district's website at www.sd71.bc.ca, and the public is invited to submit feedback.

The report is essentially a compilation of recommendations from a professional facilitator for best practices around system organizations and around how best to effectively interact with each other, explained superintendent Sherry Elwood.

"There are some initial personalized pieces about the work here in the Comox Valley and an addendum, which has some very good resources for us to look at and to draw from those things that we might feel are appropriate, but also for any other organization," she said. "We are looking at this document as a tool to draw from, to identify some things we'd like to work together on and perhaps use some of the resources she has provided."

In the report, Holloway recommends undergoing a strategic planning process and adopting a set of operation principles, a code of conduct and norms of interaction. She also encourages trustees to participation in early initiation and ongoing professional development.

In relation to the Operational Review, a process which has raised questions and concerns in the public, Holloway recommends that a full and independent review is undertaken to examine the conduct of trustees in the development and carrying out of the Operational Review and that the final report and any recommendations be made public.

In her report, Holloway notes that "challenge from members of the public with respect to the conduct of SD71 trustees with regard to the SD71 Operational Review has been long-standing and is ongoing," and that her recommendation is based on the pursuit of transparency and accountability and adherence to an ethical standard of trustworthiness in stewardship.

If issues related to the current climate and working relationships are unable to be resolved, Holloway would recommend that the board and senior management request that an Official Trustee to the School District be appointed to conduct the district's affairs and that a Special Advisor be appointed.

Trustees will pick out certain parts of the report that they would like to tackle before their term ends in November.

"You can't digest a big report like this in four months, so we thought we might talk about one or two sections or one or two topics and then it would be good information for the next board to consider," said board chair Susan Barr.

Elwood estimates Holloway's work and this final report cost the district roughly $30,000, and both Barr and Elwood believe it is worth the money.

"I think we get some good tips, we get a good set of best practices; we have some more information to go on and kind of a framework to try to have discussions," said Barr.

Neither senior staff nor the board would engage in a process like this, being aware that there are costs attached to it, if they didn't feel it was important, noted Elwood.

"To be fair to the board, senior staff pushed for the facilitator," she said. "There are tight dollars all the way around, but if you're going to be trying to move toward an efficient organization that works effectively together, you save money when you work effectively together. For us, it was a good process, and we believe we're farther down the road in many areas than we were when we started."

writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com