By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

During the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education meeting on Dec. 16, Superintendent Ben Kirby provided board members with his list of goals, the first step in the district’s superintendent evaluation.

The district’s superintendent evaluation process is done in a series of steps that take place throughout the school year. In December, the superintendent evaluation committee and superintendent set goals for the upcoming year and agree on calendar checkpoints.

In February, the evaluation committee and superintendent will have an informal check-in to discuss progress and consider relevant evidence.

In April, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources will distribute an “evaluation instrument” for board members to complete. This essentially allows board members to evaluate Kirby and rate the superintenent’s performance on certain criteria.

In May, the superintendent will provide the board with evidence of completion or progress for each evaluation criteria in a closed session.

Board members will then complete their own individual evaluation ratings and board members will reach a consensus on evaluation results in a closed session during the second board meeting in May.

Evaluation results will be presented to the superintendent in a closed session during the first board meeting in June, and in the second board meeting in June the results will be presented and adopted.

This is Kirby’s first year in the school district and also the first time many board members have done a superintendent evaluation.

The past “couple of years” under former Supt. Marion Ginopolis, the board of education did not go through this process, said Treasurer Jake Singer.

Due to the nature of the school year, the short is relatively smaller than what the board is typically accustomed to, board President Jim Wiedman said.

“This lack of specificity was driven in part by the nature of what we’re going through this year,” said Wiedman. “It was an abbreviated forum that would be expanded as we go into the next year.”

Kirby’s goals for the year are as follows:

Student achievement: Create and maintain safe learning environments to meet curriculum and demographic needs.

In order to achieve this, his objectives are to work with the district’s leadership team to develop and implement plans and protocols to educate students, as well as develop and implement plans to feed and support the non-academic needs of students during the 2020-2021 school year; and use technology to enhance instruction and student achievement.

Communications: Provide internal and external communications to provide community information and district accomplishments.

To achieve this, Kirby hopes to provide regular communication to the community about the school district and provide systematic communication to the board of education, cabinet, leadership team, staff and community.

Finance: Ensure fiscal responsibility, stability, and utilization of resources that support the District’s mission.

Kirby’s objective is to maximize the acquisition, compliance and use of federal Cares Relief Funds (CRF) from all sources.

The Lake Orion Board of Education is expected to hold their first meeting of 2021 on Jan. 13.