The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees met Tuesday for a retreat with new superintendent Mark Flatau to define each other’s role and expectations for the upcoming school year.

Part of setting the stage for a new year was reviewing two mission statements, one for the board and one for the district. 

“Does this state what we, as a leadership team, want to communicate?” Flatau asked about the current wording.

Trustee Anne Marie Bailey estimated it was about six years ago when the statements were written. Flatau and trustees agreed that a little revision was in order.

Trustee Don Murray said he thought it was a little redundant to have two missions. Bailey agreed and said they ought to keep it simple and stick to a district mission only.

The board mission statement is as follows:

“The mission of this Board of Trustees is to champion the cause of students in public education by establishing the framework through which all educational resources are maximized.”

And the district mission is defined as follows:

“Kalispell Public Schools will provide diverse educational opportunities and challenges that engage students, meet the unique needs of all students and prepare students for the future.”

“We’ll certainly have the beginning discussion with principals,” Flatau said as retreat participants discussed the process for staff input.

Flatau also proposed setting a tentative schedule to make it easy for trustees to visit classrooms on a regular basis.

“It’s important for all of us to observe, first hand, learning in action,” Flatau said. “I believe the more information you have — the more you can observe our principals in action, our teachers in action — the more confident you will become in making decisions.” 

The next step would be to create opportunities for the public to visit classrooms, Flatau said.

“I certainly want to talk with building principals as to how best that may be accomplished,” Flatau said.

A summary of a board questionnaire was also discussed during the retreat. Trustees had cited that what was going well in the district were solid, curricular programs and a staff of good teachers. What was listed under “concerns” or “needs improvement” were concerns about too high a level of autonomy among building administrators and proper funding for technology.

Trustees also discussed student learning, replacing the superintendent evaluation tool and what they would like to learn more about in future work sessions.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.