Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class Norfolk Public Schools • on the journey to world class

School Board of the City of Norfolk
Murray Center
455 E. Brambleton Avenue
Norfolk, VA 23510
January 19, 2007

School Board Retreat - Draft Agenda

(Note: All times are approximate)

8:30 a.m. Welcome - Barry Bishop, Ursula Rhodes

A. What is public engagement? Why is it important?
  1. What do we mean by public engagement?
  2. Using the questions on page 2 of Communities Count: A school board guide to public engagement, how engaged is the public in NPS's journey to world class? What are the implications of current levels of engagement for how we need to proceed at this time?
B. What is the board's role in NPS's public engagement strategy?
  1. Advocacy?
  2. Listening?
  3. Communicating the message?
  4. Others?
C. What are our objectives for increasing public engagement? What are we seeking to accomplish?
  1. Are we aiming to inform? Convince? Build support? Take the pulse? Create more advocates? Validate our assumptions and our current course? What are the implications that flow from how we answer this question?
  2. What , among the four targets of world class, are the most important to focus public attention on during the next six months?

11:30 a.m. Lunch

12:15 p.m. Return to Conference Room

D. What are the most appropriate public engagement strategies to pursue during the next six months…
  1. Given the NPS "revolutionary journey to world-class and "all means all?"
  2. Given some challenging upcoming city budget dialogues?
  3. Given our past experiences, positive and negative, in public engagement?
E. What tools do we need in order to accomplish our work during the next six months?
  1. Data, publications
  2. Opportunities to engage the public
  3. Others?
F. What do we need to know, and be able to do, in order to pursue public engagement successfully during the next six months?

G. Have we been true to the Board's role in the actions and suggestions we have developed for the next six months?

H. How can the Board's role most effectively combine with the roles of others (e.g., administration, Guiding Coalition)?

3:45 p.m. Feedback on the retreat and next steps.

Materials