Dayton School Board meeting

DAYTON – The Dayton School District Directors held a meeting, using Zoom, on December 1, 2021, at 6 p.m.. All members of the board were present.

As the newly appointed board member, Zac Fabian participated in the board for the first time. Mr. Fabian joined the superintendent, Guy Strot, to take the oath of office.

The superintendent postponed discussing the strategic plan until the January meeting when the newly elected board members would join the board.

Strot walked the board through a presentation of charts and graphs showing the survey results from choice-out and home school parents. The survey, given to the parents, offered several reasons why students might have left Dayton schools and asked parents to answer “yes” or “no” as to whether each listed reason was a factor in their student leaving Dayton schools. Possible reasons for leaving listed were: academics, administration, athletics, bullying, discipline, safety, support staff, teachers, or other.

The most prevalent reason listed for leaving was the administration, with the next two most popular reasons being listed as teachers and other. Generally, most survey responses were not too far from a 50-50 split, with only “athletics” being an infrequently mentioned cause for leaving. As board chair, David Bailey mentioned the survey did not provide much information to show where the district should focus its efforts toward improvement.

Strot presented the district’s 90-Day Plan for December through February, which was also the main topic of his community meeting in the high school auditorium the night before. Strot emphasized teacher clarity: having teachers use a concrete plan on what they want their students to know before each lesson and developing a lesson plan to inculcate those learning goals into their students.

Strot talked at length about collecting data and feedback from students, teachers, parents, and other community members. Some audience members gave forceful comments during the community forum, saying that collecting feedback was not helpful if the superintendent just passed it on to the responsible person in the administration. Some in the community meeting felt that the superintendent must close the loop by checking back with the original submitter of the comment to ensure their concerns were appropriately addressed. Others in the community forum went further, describing a need to allow someone, such as a teacher, to submit negative feedback without fear of retribution. The superintendent was also criticized for not attempting to conduct in-person interviews with every departing staff member, particularly teachers, feeling that the district may be missing items of concern that may need to be addressed by not doing so.

Strot addressed the issues of infrastructure improvement and greater learning options for students and hurdles and plans for funding such initiatives.

The board approved the recommendation of Jeremy Trump as the community representative for the Dayton Waitsburg athletic combine committee. Mr. Trump is a parent who has been very active and forthright in his involvement with the Dayton-Waitsburg athletic combine and is well-known to most board members. His selection elicited comments of solid support from a few of the board members.

The meeting adjourned at 6:29 for an executive session to discuss the conduct of a public employee and procedures for conducting the board evaluation of the superintendent’s performance.