Milan Board Seeks Clearer View of Student Goals, Spending

Milan school board members say they want families and community members to have a clearer view of how the district is tracking student progress, setting goals and spending public dollars.

The focus grew out of a May 6 self-assessment completed through the Michigan Association of School Boards. Trustees gave themselves high marks for working relationships and leadership, but lower scores in data-driven decision-making and academic accountability.

With Secretary Sara Meray absent, the board reviewed the results at its May 6 meeting. Thomas Faro, board president, said all seven trustees completed the online assessment.

The board’s highest score was in board and superintendent relations, which received a 4.83 on a 5-point scale. Its lowest score was data-driven decision-making at 3.95. Academic performance and accountability scored 4.14.

Faro said the lower data score points to work the board should focus on next.

“We need to ensure that we have the right data to make strategic decisions on behalf of the district,” Faro said. “Student performance data should be connected to defined district goals.”

Board members also pointed to the district scorecard, which is used to track goals and progress, as one place to sharpen that work.

Trustee Gabriel Burdette said it may be a good time to revisit the scorecard as Superintendent Ryan McMahon approaches his first year in the role. Burdette said the scorecard could help provide “a line of sight from the board to the staff” so employees understand the district’s goals.

Carrie Gutierrez, vice president, said the board’s academic accountability score and data-driven decision-making score are connected.

“To do that long-range planning and to think about what goes under the scorecard, I think we can only do that when we really have time to dive into the data,” Karvonen-Gutierrez said.

She said board members may need more time to review student performance results before discussing them publicly or making decisions based on them.

Gutierrez also said the district should think carefully about what information is most useful to families.

“I think it’s a point well taken that we might, as we’re rebuilding our scorecard, want to be really strategic about actively sharing out the type of information and data that will be important to families either here in the district or that might be looking at Milan,” she said.

The board also connected transparency to district spending, including the sinking fund, which pays for repairs and projects.

Trustee Cassie Prior said she would like the district to do more to show residents what sinking fund dollars are paying for, even when the work is not flashy.

“They may not be exciting, like fixing a wall or fixing a pipe, but I still would like the community to know,” Prior said. “I think it would be nice for them to see what the money is going to.”

McMahon said the district’s sinking fund committee recently met to review expenditures and begin longer-range planning. He said the district’s goal is to spend just over $1 million this year on repairs and projects.

Faro also said he had talked with McMahon about posting sinking fund updates on the district website.

Faro said communication has improved over the past year, but the self-assessment showed room to keep working on public information, citizen input and clearer communication about district finances.