Parkers Prairie ISD 547

Superintendent Saga

November 10, 2022 

Day 86 in District

Brene Brown says, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of all innovation, creativity, and change.”

ELECTION RESULTS

Congratulations to re-elected School Board members Steve Inwards, Judy Moeller, Christy Hart, and newly elected member Brad Ost.

Thank you for your support of the renewal of the Operating Capital Referendum with a 67.43% “Yes” vote. I believe the board remains committed to finding ways to protect the educational priorities of the district and to make the most of every single dollar invested by residents in their schools. We need to continue raising the bar for what our schools and our students can achieve.

Election results will be certified at the Board meeting on November 17th.

Strategic Planning

We  Put First Things First with our Visioning and Strategic Planning process by beginning to gather input from District stakeholders. Board members and a few members of the community were able to attend the listening session on Thursday, November 3, 2022. After viewing the documentary Most Likely to Succeed, there was a brain writing activity using the prompt: Learning in Parkers Prairie should be…

Teachers viewed the documentary in the morning on Friday, November 4. We also did the brain writing activity using the prompt: Learning in Parkers Prairie should be…   Additionally teachers participated in a four step exercise: Back to the Future to begin to build the vision for a learning organization. The first step was to Flash Forward five to ten years to what learning looks like in Parkers Prairie. The second step was to Think Back to what learning looks like now.

The third step was to Connect the future vision to the past by answering HOW you moved Parkers Prairie from the past to the projected future. Teachers were asked to describe the things that were done to move the organization from the past to the projected future,  including what was done, who did it, and resources that were required to get there.

The fourth step was to Identify the Challenges and obstacles that had to be overcome in order to achieve the projected future, being as honest and as specific as possible.

What’s next? We will be recruiting for a District Vision Team – students, parents, community members, staff and leadership. This District Vision Team will then continue a strategic planning process while seeking input from all stakeholders.  

Tentative first District Vision Team meetings are scheduled for November 29 and December 12.

Peter E. Haapala, Interim Superintendent

“If we create a culture where every teacher (employee) believes they need to improve, not because they are not good enough but because they can be even better, there is no limit to what we can achieve.” —Dylan Wiliam