"Congratulations on creating and conducting an open, well-publicized forum for focusing on our school's future!" (You're welcome and thank you for participating.)  "In moving to the crucial Stage Two, converting discussions to a usable document, the concern of many is that the final product be in fact a usable document. The existing one inclines towards unexceptional vagueness, goals and objectives feel too similar, and both can seem somewhat self-fulfilling." 

I am comfortable in assuring Gordon and the unnamed "many" that we will not be reproducing the previous format of our Goals and Objectives, even though I disagree with their lackluster description above. Because we do strive to produce Board documents that reflect the consensus of all seven Board members, the prose of such documents may reflect some of the bumpiness of the road to consensus. In our discussion at last Wednesday's Board meeting, we realized that it will take us as a Board more than one or two meetings to distill the input from the workshops, combine it with our own ideas and ideals and those of the superintendent, and reach consensus for moving forward.  By mutual agreement, our forward direction will assuredly be stated at least more succinctly than in the past and will be as measurable as possible. 

More comments welcome, Anita