The Grapevine-Colleyville ISD board of trustees tabled discussion of the LEAD 2.0 goals until the Dec. 17 meeting after a motion to table the item was approved 4-3.
LEAD stands for Leading Excellence — Action Driven. The district describes LEAD as a plan that impacts every aspect of GCISD through core objectives and specific strategies.
After holding district surveys and in-person community input sessions, Deputy Superintendent Brad Schnautz informed the board four new goals have been developed by the staff, students and community.
The four identified new goals are:
- Actively identify and remove barriers that limit access to and opportunity for learning;
- Design learning environments that support social and emotional well-being;
- Create a culture that fosters learning environments that reflect student voice and promote student engagement; and
- Effectively communicate with targeted audiences.
Each of these goals is accompanied by a picture of success, detailing the end goal for students, parents, the district, and, where applicable, school structures.
Trustee Jorge Rodriguez made a motion to table the approval of these goals, as he said he wanted to know why these specific goals were chosen and said he would have preferred to see more ambitious and specific goals.
Trustee Becky St. John seconded the motion and said she wanted to see more specific objectives mentioned and that some phrasing needed to be tweaked, especially if this was guiding the district for the next 10 years.
Superintendent Robin Ryan addressed these concerns, saying LEAD 2.0 was not replacing LEAD 2021 but going deeper, and some of these goals could be implemented as soon as tomorrow.
"This is building on the foundation of LEAD 2021," Ryan said. "It's not supposed to be different. ... It's not a 10-year plan. This is not as big as LEAD 2021—this is making things deeper with the work that we’ve already done."
This caused trustee Jesse Rodriquez to question the purpose of LEAD 2.0 as well, as he was also under the impression this would replace LEAD 2021.
"I was under the impression that the committee was charged with what will LEAD 2021 look like moving forward," Rodriguez said. "If [LEAD 2.0 is deeper,] we as a board need to have some more conversations ourselves because there’s some disconnect right now."
Trustees Louie Sullins, Mindy McClure and Doug Noell sat on the LEAD 2.0 committee and tried to clarify the purpose of LEAD 2.0. Sullins described it as both a part of stepping into the next 10-year plan and continuing with the goals of LEAD 2021.
"This is the next step in that progression; you just don’t drop a strategic plan," Sullins said.
After much deliberation trustees voted to table approving the goals of LEAD 2.0 until the December meeting and to hold a workshop before then to gain clarification on the purpose of LEAD 2.0 for all trustees. Trustees Noell, Jorge Rodriguez, Jesse Rodriguez and St. John voted in favor of tabling, and Sullins, Pardo and McClure voted against.
"It was good conversation, but I’ve sat on this board for 14 years, and there was never such a lack of communication from the board and for [these concerns] to come down to this the night of; I’m really disappointed," Pardo said.
