Comments on: Top OUSD leaders retreat in Tomales Bay, then Napa

By: alison

alison — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 23:54:29 +0000

The practice of staff retreats (boards, management, school faculty and staff) goes back several
years prior to Chaconas’ time. I remember retreats in Napa during Joe Coto’s years. I
agree with Jake and Turner about the purposes of the retreats. However, I do recall that
there was a lot of media attention brought on by a retreat that brought administrators
(central office and school site), teachers, support staff, students, parents and other repre-
sentatives from stakeholder groups at Asilomar. The retreat was an approved activity in a
grant paid for by outside sources, but some people who had other motives used this as
an opportunity to attempt to distort this time of reflection and planning to one of fun and
games. I guess whether or not one thinks retreats are valuable depends on who is doing
the thinking.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:18:48 +0000

The practice goes back at least to Chaconas’ time. I assisted with materials preparation for the 2003 retreat, which was Ward’s first, and there were discussions about previous summer planning retreats at Asilomar, Westerbeke, etc. I gather that the group has changed sizes over the years, sometimes including the network executives, sometimes all the department heads, sometimes even the principals of the comprehensive high-schools (when there were only 6 of them).

By: Turner

Turner — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:01:01 +0000

They do a lot of work during the school year. But they need some time to make sure everybody is on the same page for the next school year. They go through many of the successes and failures of the year with a view to maintaining the successes and improving on the failures. This goes on without the constant interruption of the normal work routine. Many of those managers put in more than 10 hours a day running their own sections. That is why they have to leave.

By: James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc.

James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc. — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:56:47 +0000

Richard,

That makes sense. If it’s Grant money specifically for planning then I can’t see any problem with it.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:34:38 +0000

These retreats are paid for by grant money from private groups (e.g. Bill and Melinda Gates, Eli Broad Foundation). The money is specifically for planning, nothing else. The retreats to places like the Marconi center (no cell service, no distractions) is exactly what people being pulled in 1,000 directions need: being forced to focus and solve problems together. It’s not a luxury resort. Believe me, the days of milk and honey are over in OUSD.

By: Debora Rinehart

Debora Rinehart — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:30:27 +0000

An inner-city dynamic is one where there is crime without an identified plan of a solution, where the city officials, school district, utility district, police, fire fighters, neighborhoods, community retail establishments and citizens are not focused on a central vision for the city. It is a city in which there is a high school drop out rate in excess of 25%. Where there is rampant teen pregnancy without the financial, educational, moral, or social network to raise healthy productive citizens. It is a community without a financial and retail base for taxes to support the needed services for the community. The majority of the citizens do not vote, know their elected officials or champion the causes to make life better. Young people cannot see a vision of a happy, successful, productive life. And people feel that things are not getting better, they see things are not getting better and they don’t know or can’t fix it for reasons unknown to them.

An example of an inner-city dynamic for a smaller community is Paradise, California. My mother lives there, my niece attended school there. The high school drop out rate is high; nearly 50% of the young women are mothers before age 21. There is no social network to escape the life and it continues generation after generation. There is no tax base, a great number of people collect money illegally or from “under the table” work. Paradise CA, population 60,000 also operates as an inner-city dynamic.

By: James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc.

James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc. — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:21:00 +0000

How does leaving the city with is the focus of your intensive planning help the planning process? And if the only way to focus 100% is to leave the city, then what are they doing during the School Year?

By: James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc.

James Jones, Jr., Parent, etc. — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:13:49 +0000

Debora,

Let’s talk plainly. What exactly do you mean by “Inner City dynamic” ?

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:22:23 +0000

For all I know, it's still as intensive this year. Maybe one of the participants will tell us about it when they return.

By: Turner Dodge

Turner Dodge — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:55:36 +0000

It all started during Dr. Ward’s tenure. The top management would go on a retreat and plan for the upcoming school year. The idea was to take the managers out of their normal work situation and have them focus 100% on how to improve the district. It was a very intense session. It would start at 8 o’clock and end sometimes past 10 in the evening.

Dr.Ward ran it like a boot camp. I don’t know if it is still the same. It sounds like it is just a fun trip now for the top management. Does anyone know what they are doing?