September, October 2019

Here are the events of the last month or so (continuing from when I last posted). A reminder: you can see my events, past or future, at any time by viewing my official online calendar at this link: https://craigwilsonfairfieldsuisunschoolboard.com/calendar/

During the district-wide open houses (officially called “Back to School Nights) I visited Oakbrook Academy of the Arts on Tuesday, September 10, then Crystal Middle School Wednesday, September 10, then Sem Yeto (at Fairfield High School) and Sem Yeto Satellite (at Armijo High School) on Thursday, September 11th. I enjoyed each of these visits, visited with some teachers and staff at each, and learned.

The next event was the monthly Governance Subcommittee meeting Friday September 13th at noon (for which I took an unpaid day off work). We reviewed 21 various written policies in need of updates due to changes in state laws or regulations. You can see all of the details at this link (or in one of the folders below that link). If you’d like to follow the governance subcommittee, its materials are always posted here.

The following Monday (September 16th) I met with a handful of board members from other school districts in Solano County for a monthly planning session of the Solano County School Boards Association. We are preparing for the next quarterly dinner meeting November 18th at Dixon High School, to which all 58 school board members and superintendents in Solano County are invited. (I can’t yet provide a link. We are currently working on getting a web page for the group.)

The following Friday I took another unpaid day off work for a two-day (September 20th and 21st) board member training conference in Santa Rosa, called “Masters in Governance.” These were the first two of a five part series of board member basics that most school board members in California participate in. This was a powerful learning experience, with more than a hundred other mostly new board members throughout northern California, held at the Sonoma County Office of Education training facility. I stayed Thursday and Friday nights in a motel in Santa Rosa for that and later wrote a report about the training. It is included in the agenda materials from our October 10th meeting, available (along with materials from all full board meetings) from this page.

The following Thursday, September 26th, was our regular board business meeting (most months we hold two). You can see the “summary notes” of that meeting (and all meetings) at this link.

Our first regular business meeting for October was the 10th.

Yesterday, October 15th was the monthly Facilities Subcommittee meeting. (See the materials here.) We received updates on constructions projects and deliberated how best to proceed with the Tolenas kitchen cafeteria expansion. Those minutes will be posted soon at the above link.

The last regular business meeting for October will be next Thursday, October 24th.

On another note, plans are firming up for the annual training conference in December, the “CSBA AEC” which all board members usually attend. Last year it was held in San Francisco; this year will be in San Diego. The district purchased an airline ticket for me, and I purchased a separate one for my wife, Gayla – it’s a three-day event, and she’ll enjoy tagging along as much as she can. See my calendar for exact dates, and I’ll be writing about that before too long.

Craig