Superintendent Meets With Advisory Team

Washington School District Superintendent Dr. Lori VanLeer met with her community advisory team earlier last week The topic is 21st century schools and technology.

“The meeting went very well,” VanLeer told The Missourian.

“I discussed the work Focus Group 3 has been doing in regard to technology, including the iPad demonstration and another planned on laptops,” she said. “We talked about what a 21st century school looks like and how it evolves because it will change.”

The superintendent advisory team’s purpose is to gain awareness and knowledge about the school district and public school education in general, and then to advise the administration on educational issues affecting the school community.

VanLeer formed the group, along with a staff advisory team, at the beginning of the school year. Typically both groups follow the same agenda.

Topics in the past have included common core standards, bond and legislative issues.

Several of the community members have shifted their responsibilities and are now serving on the Citizens for Great Schools Committee, which is promoting passage of the district’s $49 million issue that’s on the April 3 ballot.

VanLeer said the advisory teams are another way for the district to keep the lines of communication open. The community team is open to parents, business leaders and patrons.

“It is important for us to develop awareness about our district as it exists today, just as it is important to discuss the direction in which we wish to go in the future,” VanLeer said when she first announced the formation of the teams.