1. Atlanta Board of Education AdvancED/SACS “Required Actions” Project Team
January 26, 2011

2. Welcome and Introductions

3. Project Team
Project Core Team – Members of the Atlanta Board of Education
Stakeholder Engagement Committee – TBD
Project Staff
Dr. Alexis Kirijan – Chief Strategy and Development Officer / Project Facilitator
Ms. Sharron Pitts – Chief of Staff
Ms. Veleter Mazyck – General Counsel
Mr. Stephen Alford – Director of Communications
Mr. Keith Bromery – Director of Media Relations
Ms. Panya Yarber – Special Assistant to the Chief Strategy and Development Officer/ Project Assistant Facilitator
Dr. Howard Grant – Board Administrator
Facilitators – APS Strategy and Development Team Members (as needed)
Consultants, Mediator, Superintendent Search Firm, Policy Expert
Representative Stacey Abrams and Beth Beskins – Governor’s Liaisons
Dr. Mark Elgart or designees – SACS

4. Meeting Overview

5. Agenda Welcome and Introductions Meeting Overview Working Together
APS Project Management Framework
Break
Facilitated Discussions
Closing

6. Meeting Objectives By the end of tonight’s meeting
Objective 1 – The Board will set meeting norms for how the meetings will be conducted
Objective 2 – The Board will approve a high-level timeline for completing the work and develop a work schedule for moving forward
Objective 3 – The Board will approve AdvancED/SACS Required Actions Project Charter
Objective 4 – The Board will finalize the Stakeholder Engagement Committee
Objective 5 – The Board will establish timelines and actions to:
Secure a mediator/organization
Secure a superintendent search firm

7. Working Together

8. The whole is only as good as the sum of its parts.
S-y-n-e-r-g-y

9. Apollo 11 Space Mission (1969)

10. Secretariat 1973 Triple Crown Champion

11. Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

12. World Wide Web Available to Public (1991)

13. New Orleans Saints – Super Bowl Champions (2010)

14. What Success Looks Like

15. Fundamental Elements of Teams
Mission – gives team direction and purpose. Teams have a clear mission. It may be short-term or long-term. The team must mutually agree upon purpose and mission
Commitment – team members must be committed to the purpose and the mission. Commitment may occur immediately or develop over the course of the work.
Rules of Engagement – The are the norms that provide the team with guidelines and a common set of procedures by which to operate. To be successful the whole team needs to play by the rules agreed upon.

16. Fundamental Elements of Teams
Activity 1 – Setting the Working Norms
Activity 2 – Defining the Purpose

17. APS Project Management Framework

18. APS Framework for AdvancED/SACS “Required Actions”
GETTING STARTED
PLAN DO
CHECK
ACT
REPEAT CYCLE

19. High-Level Proposed Timeline (January 2011 – September 2011)
Board accepts and begins response to AdvancED report; Hire project manager and mediator
February
Work plan set and work commences; Communication Strategy developed; Status update at February Board meeting
March
Project Action Plans complete; Resources required to complete work secured; Formal presentation at March Board meeting
April
Formal presentation at April Board meeting; 1st progress report is submitted to AdvancED (by April 29)
May
Formal presentation at May Board meeting; Review feedback from AdvancED
June-July
Formal presentation at June & July Board meetings
August
All “Required Actions” complete by August 31; 2nd progress report submitted to AdvancED; Formal presentation at August Board meeting
September
AdvancED monitoring team site visit; Review feedback from AdvancED; Formal presentation at September Board meeting

20. APS Project Management Framework
Activity 3 – Draft Calendar Development
Activity 4 – Review and Approve Project Charter

21. Break

22. Facilitated Discussions

23. Building Effective Teams
What makes a successful team?
What are the characteristics of an effective team member?
What are the strengths on this team to get the work done?

24. Building Effective Teams
Why have a stakeholder engagement committee for this project?
to assure that the decision addresses as many different stakeholder interests as possible;
to increase the probability of a creative outcome;
to build broad-based support for the decision made by the board; and
to assist in communicating and facilitating implementation of the decisions.
Other-----

25. Disseminating information Other involvement---------
Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members
Appropriate level of engagement: What is the expectation of this committee?
Educating: board makes decisions and provides information to stakeholders about policies that affect them.
Soliciting Input: board generates strategies and gains input from stakeholder group in interactive work sessions.
Recommending: Stakeholder committees work independently and bring recommendations to the board to accept or reject.
Approving:
Disseminating information
Other involvement

26. Where will meetings be held? Times and dates? Type of meeting?
Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members
Establish meeting formats and locations for stakeholder engagement committee:
Where will meetings be held?
Times and dates?
Type of meeting?

27. Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee:
Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members
Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee:
What stakeholder groups should be represented on the committee?

28. Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members (3)
3. Decide on the composition of the stakeholder engagement committee:
What stakeholder groups should be represented on the committee?
Organizations:
Students
Parents
Employee
Community-at-Large
Non-Profit Community
Office of the Mayor of Atlanta
Office of the Governor of Georgia
Georgia State Board of Education
Georgia business Community
Atlanta Education Fund
Representative from the Georgia Higher Education Community (Colleges/Universities)
Other

29. Board Decisions Prior to Selecting Stakeholder Engagement Committee Members (4)
4. Characteristics of stakeholder engagement committee members:
Representatives
have support and confidence of their groups
are able to communicate effectively the work
and the decisions of the team to the stakeholders they represent.
have a proven record of working effectively with others who may
have different work styles and interests
can make time commitment to actively participate in the
entire process
are able to listen to and acknowledge the perspective of others.
are willing to acquire the information through the process that is required
for effective participation
are directly impacted by the decisions
have information, experience, insight that will be helpful in developing strategies
have influence to help implement strategies and support or block progress
Have a sincere vested interest in the work
have been champions or critics of your work in the past
Other criteria you think is important

30. Project Team
Activity 5 – Selecting a Stakeholder Engagement
Committee

31. Matrix
The stakeholder identification matrix helps to bring transparency and clarity to the process of identifying stakeholders
Step 1 – List potential stakeholder groups
Step 2 – Suggestions from Board members
Step 3 – Differentiate from the long list clusters that might be grouped as one
Step 4 – Review the rationale of why stakeholders are considered important
Step 5 – Determine relevant stakeholders that need to be considered:
Important to the project
the project directly affects them
Influence others and positively impact the project’s outcomes
influence is in fact the extent to which a stakeholder is able to communicate in a positive way the many variables that affect the project
Impacts the project’s outcomes positively
impact is resources the stakeholders bring to the table for success of the project
Step 6 – Finalize stakeholder committee
Step 7 – Personal contact to perspective stakeholder
Step 8 – Board resolution naming stakeholders
Step 9 – Introduction of stakeholders to the public
Step 10 – Invitation to stakeholder engagement committee kick-off meeting

32. Solicitation Process
Mediator/Organization and Superintendent Search Firm
Review solicitations
Timeline
Next Steps

33. Closing

34. Closing For the good of the order Review of action items Homework
Agenda building for next meeting
Meeting evaluation