Peter Bang-Knudsen is about to eat and breathe three questions.
What’s working well?
What can be improved?
And what advice do you have for him as an “instructionally-focused superintendent”?
The school district’s head honcho, who stepped into Faith Chapel’s shoes this July, is conducting a listening tour per a pledge he made at a community forum last April.
“Even though I’ve been part of the community and worked for the district for six years, I really wanted to come in and take a look with fresh eyes and open ears,” he explained.
Bang-Knudsen will meet with every school’s staff and PTO, as well as students at both high schools, before he solicits input from the community. Student focus groups will be selected by each principal.
Bang-Knudsen’s goal is to hear from as many people as possible, which means he’ll let community members (and parents and students) do all the talking. “I’m not going to spend a lot of time responding to questions or ideas,” he said. “The purpose of the meetings is not to have a discussion.”
Instead, the meetings are an opportunity for the superintendent to listen. What information he collects will be synthesized and interpreted in a report, which he will submit to the school board in February.
“It will help us plan for the future of strategic direction in our school district improvement plan for the following school year,” Bang-Knudsen added.
Friday marked the first of many sessions, with Bang-Knudsen querying the Sonoji Sakai PTO. Bang-Knudsen didn’t draw any definitive conclusions – it’s too early, he said – but was encouraged by the testimony of new families. Three new parents showed up, he said, who had selected Bainbridge over Bellevue, Mercer and surrounding districts because of its reputation for quality education.
This week, the tour continued as Bang-Knudsen spoke with members of the district’s transportation department.
The community will have its turn to share comments and concerns in October and November. Bang-Knudsen will host three meetings: at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, he’ll be at the Bainbridge High School Library; at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, he’ll do a session at the Captain Charles Wilkes Library; and at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, his listening tour will take over the Waterfront Park Community Center.
The superintendent has also launched a weekly office hour from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. Fifteen minute appointments can be set up through administrative assistant Lani Chaffee (email lchaffee@bisd303.org, or call 206-780-1052).
Bang-Knudsen’s calendar might be busy, but he says the conversations are invigorating. “[I get to] rediscover all the great things of our school system,” he said.
As for negative commentary? It presents a fourth question, for which he will bear full responsibility.
Is there something we can do to remedy this?
