A substantial adjustment to the weekly schedule and faculty collaboration opportunities was the central discussion topic for the Columbia School Board this month, though board members also introduced a change to the district’s leadership positions and touched on the continuing high school renovation.

A sizable presentation began as an explanation for the first action item on the agenda concerning the approval of “Early Release Wednesday.”

This largely served as Columbia Assistant Superintendent of Schools Amanda Ganey’s report for the month, which she began by commending each of the district’s principals for what they bring to the table for administrative discussions.

Ganey and the principals each took time to speak during the presentation, Ganey getting things started by emphasizing the need for a consistent schedule allowing for teacher collaboration.

“Students deserve best practices, and by giving our teachers set time every week, we guarantee regular, consistent reflection on best practices,” Ganey said.

The group spoke about providing time for building administration teams, building guiding coalitions and district teams to meet on a regular basis, ensuring goals are aligned throughout the district.

This would take the form of early dismissals on a weekly basis, every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Following the meeting, Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode explained the district in recent years has provided this collaboration time in a different way, conducting a half day the last Friday of every month.

Grode further noted that the school previously had these Early Release Wednesdays, though district leadership hopes to improve them this time around, particularly by providing faculty and administration with even more time together every week.

A similar sentiment was expressed during the presentation. It was brought up that past early dismissals took place at 2 p.m. which left teachers with notably less time to come together after wrapping up the school day.

The matter of childcare was brought up at one point given the impact this schedule change could have on students’ and parents’ after-school plans. It was noted additional space seems to be available in the Eagle Zone After-School Program, and district administration is continuing to look into creative solutions pertaining to transportation and other means of accommodating the change for families.

It was further explained that the early dismissal time would emphasize a focus on learning as teachers look at assessments, teacher collaboration and results orientation as teachers use data to consider what is and isn’t working in the district.

Parkview Elementary Principal Robert Dugan spoke particularly about the collaboration focus.

“Teachers just feel like they don’t have time to come together and talk and collaborate,” Dugan said. “I think back to our time when we had even just that one hour. I felt closer to the teachers. I felt like I knew more what was going on.”

The presentation also touched on four key questions faculty and administration plan to look at during this time: what students should know and be able to do, how the school will know if they’ve learned it, what will be done if they don’t learn it and what will be done if they already know it.

This change to the district’s collaborative approach is part of what was described as a cultural shift, turning attention from teaching to learning, summative assessments to common assessments, one method to many methods, isolation to collaboration, external focus to internal focus and learning by listening to learning by doing.

Toward the end of the presentation, emphasis was again placed on simply providing teachers more time to work together to ensure goals are aligned with each school and the district as a whole.

Columbia Middle School Principal Dawn Mueller spoke up on this matter.

“Multiple teachers have said throughout my survey that they just need more time,” Mueller said. “They need more time to be able to collaborate together, and not just in a grade level but departmentally. This will ultimately give them more time, and the students will benefit in the long run because they are collaborating and making decisions that are gonna make the students grow individually and as a whole.”

A number of teachers were present at the meeting to speak in favor of Early Release Wednesdays, including CMS language arts teacher Nicole Avise-Rouse.

“Our teams were much closer,” Avise-Rouse said. “We understood what was going on departmentally when we had the early-out Wednesdays. I really liked it and was sad that it ended, and I think that we’ve lost something by not having that… There was a big advantage to that, and we’ve lost that glue that we had. I think it will help.”

The board ultimately approved the adoption of Early Release Wednesdays for next school year.

The only other action item on the agenda concerned the approval of a job description for curriculum director.

Board member Adam Hemken chimed in to clarify this additional administrative role, explaining it is intended to replace the position of assistant superintendent later this year as Grode departs and Ganey steps up as superintendent.

Grode and Ganey spoke further following the meeting to reiterate that this role is meant to allow for greater departmentalization. Where Ganey’s focuses have often been split as assistant superintendent, this new role is meant to focus chiefly on district curriculum development while other directors such as athletics, special education and operations likewise stay in their own lanes.

“We just want our team to departmentalize as far as their focus areas so the superintendent will be able to be visionary and help with strategic plans across the district and provide oversight in all those areas with efficient and effective management,” Ganey said.

With approval of the curriculum director position, the board also welcomed Laura Yarber as its new curriculum director.

Later in the meeting, discussion turned to the renovations at Columbia High School and the progress being made toward the new auditorium.

Board President Greg Meyer commended CHS Principal Brian Reeves and Grode for their attention to detail during the construction process and further spoke on the work currently being done.

“Especially the auditorium, this is just a massive project, and there are so many working parts,” Meyer said. “Our Thursdays are dedicated to nothing but the project and line item and line item going through. What’s really neat is this auditorium is gonna be just such a huge jewel for this district. When you walk backstage and you see the rigging that’s going up and all the curtains and the future expansion… I’ve been involved from day one and approved all the plans and seen everything, but really seeing it come together, it is just such an amazing project and something the community should be really proud of.”

At the top of the meeting, Monroe County Treasurer Kevin Koenigstein approached the board offering public comment, noting the district’s tax rate has gone down over the past 10 years even as the amount levied has increased.

Koenigstein further remarked that taxes for the district have increased about 35 percent over the past decade, amounting to about a 3.5 percent each year, within the limit for a taxing body which must abide by the Property Tax Extension Law Limit – which the Columbia School District is not subject to.

“You’re staying well under that level even though you’re not a PTELL-limited taxing body,” Koenigstein said. “I appreciate that you are not over-taxing the citizens of the Columbia School District.”

At the end of the meeting, Meyer spoke again to introduce the idea of adding solar panels to the district, saying the lack of land on district property means roof panels would be necessary for such an endeavor – likely at CMS, as it has one of the district’s newer roofs.

Meyer said solar talks are still in the early stages, though the district does have some working cash available for such a project and is interested in taking advantage of some of the solar incentives that are still available but fading in the near future.