Addison school board holds MASB-guided workshop to develop board norms, responsibilities

ADDISON — When the Addison Community Schools Board of Education meets later today for its December regular meeting, it will be the board’s first meeting since holding a workshop Dec. 5, led by a consultant with the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB).

The workshop, which was attended by more than 20 staff members and the general public, centered on the roles, goals and performance expectations of a school board.

Addison’s board has seen its fair share of turnover within the last couple of years, as has its superintendent’s office.

Dan Bauer, former superintendent at Shelby Public Schools from 2012-18, was hired by the district in September and assumed the full-time superintendent duties Oct. 1.

More: Addison school board selects Dan Bauer as next superintendent

Since July 25, Addison had been operating with an interim superintendent, Julie Helber, who filled in the leadership role after Addison’s previous full-time superintendent, Daniel Patterson, announced earlier this summer he would be resigning after a little more than one year with the district. Helber was contracted with the district through Sept. 29.

Bauer, following the Dec. 5 workshop, said he is still getting his feet wet when it comes to understanding the nuances of Addison Community Schools.

Being new to the district is difficult, he said, because “there’s so much stuff that I don’t know.”

Most superintendents, when hired by a district will begin their work roughly around July 1, during the summer recess which provides them with time to get to know the community, the board and administrative team and to conduct workshops and other needed training before the start of the new school year.

“I jumped into a fast-moving river in October, because everything was already going,” he said.

Thus far, Bauer said he has been attempting to get to know each of the school board members, understand what’s going on in the district daily, handle transportation issues, get to know the building principals better, and meet with the community.

He said he would like to do what he can to “build a bridge” between the staff and the board.

“I think there’s been some disconnect there for a while,” he said.

From what he’s seen in his short time at Addison, the school board members are working towards the same goal of wanting what’s best for Addison’s students. The board also seems concerned about budget issues and policy, he said.

Penny Kentish McWilliams, the MASB consultant, guided the evening’s workshop which got off to a sluggish start when it was supposed to begin at 5 p.m.

However, when the clock read 5 p.m., only Bauer, board President Andrea Woodring, secretary Kim Ford and trustee Thomas Arnold were present. The board was unable to begin the workshop with just three members because it did not have a quorum of four or more members.

Vice President Jennifer Frost showed up to the meeting at 5:43 p.m., when it was finally able to start.

Trustees Lauren Bailey, Josh Perry and Scott Williams were all absent.

Woodring later clarified with The Daily Telegram the trustees' absences were due to illnesses or job commitments. She ruled out any chance of their absences being because of miscommunication.

Perry is an officer with the Adrian Police Department and was on duty that evening, Woodring said. Williams was absent because of an illness and Bailey, Addison’s newest school board member, was tending to an ill family member.

“It would have been better if everyone was here,” Woodring admitted. “We could have gotten more feedback and had been more productive.”

Bringing in McWilliams’ consultation was something Woodring said she, Ford and Frost thought would be a game-changer when it came to getting everyone on the same page, while enhancing their skills and fortifying their education on what roles and responsibilities they each have as school board members.

“We met Penny (McWilliams), a very dynamic speaker, and we realized since we have such turnover, if we have a protocol, if we had a set of guidelines, I could hand you a book and say, ‘this is where you start,’” she said. “All of us spent the first year figuring out what our job was; burning time with things we could have been getting done. Then, of course, we turned over superintendent after superintendent.”

Students are the future of the Addison community, Woodring said, and she believes each of the school board members wants what's best for the students at Addison to succeed.

“I think as a rule, we have a pretty unified team for the most part,” she said. “We are all basically (school board members) for the same reason. If we can bring all that home and put it on paper, we’ll be able move forward and have something more structured to operate off.”

McWilliams led the board in a review of school board norms and protocols. School boards and a superintendent form a governance team, she said, where both need to operate in tandem with each other.

She praised Addison schools for having its mission and vision statements easily accessible and visible for people to review. The statements are posted to the district’s website, addisonschools.org and can be seen throughout campus buildings.

The work of a school board, McWilliams said, is to adopt the work of the mission/vision statements, per the district’s strategic plan.

Strategic plans are generally set for 5-year periods, she said. Addison’s plan was updated in 2021, meaning the plan should be reviewed by the board come 2026.

One of the main reasons she disclosed as to why superintendents leave school districts is because of a lack of trust coming from the school board.

Professional development and training offered through the MASB, she said, can help superintendents and boards of education work out any concerns they might have.

“School board work can be hard,” McWilliams said. “But it can also be fun.”

Enrollment, finances, state/federal requirements and internal/external conflicts are some of the pressures that school boards deal with nearly constantly, she said.

By having board-approved protocol guiding and directing the governance body, districts should see success.

“We all believe in what we do,” Woodring said. “Many people in this community are wearing multiple hats. I think we all need to be on the same page.”

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Despite the workshop getting off to a slow start and having just enough members for a quorum, Bauer called the workshop “well-presented” and that it “flowed well and served as a good reminder of the board and superintendent’s responsibilities.”

“I think the most important thing is communication,” he said.

In addition to his work at Shelby schools, Bauer has served in administrative positions as interim superintendent, including most recently interim superintendent in Fremont. Previously, he was superintendent in Cheboygan and Saranac, and was principal in Farwell and Baldwin. He also taught for several years and was a business owner.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Addison school board works to develop norms, responsibilities of members