NASB forum 'goes well,' Lewis says

Kimball Superintendent Marshall Lewis said the community forum held last week was "idea generating."

The forum held last Wednesday night invited members of the community to discuss the school's future as a means to broaden community involvement in the state of education in Nebraska initiative. The forum discussed a broader set of issues including the relationship between the community educational system and the future.

The meeting was led by Cindy Wofford, a leadership specialist, and Marcia Herring, the director of board development with the Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB). The Nebraska Educational Television crew was also present during the meeting to film the project for later viewing in other communities.

"I was happy with the turn out (last Wednesday night)," said Lewis. "I thought it was really good."

More than 45 members of the public attended the meeting, with an additional 15 staff and school board members present. According to Herring, Kimball was only the second school in the state to receive the sponsored meeting.

The public and board members alike were encouraged to work in groups and share ideas on four questions that were presented by the NASB. After each question was discussed by the individual groups, each group designated a speaker to present their group in explaining their conclusion to the rest of the groups. In doing so, it gave everyone an opportunity to express their own views on the school issues and some of the solutions they then had for any of the groups' concerns. The questions ranged from identifying issues that the district might face in the next three to five years to what individuals can bring to education in the community.

After listening to all of the concerns stated at the meeting, Kimball's superintendent said he felt there is a lot of "perception versus reality" when it comes to the schools and the operation of the schools, and believes that maybe a lack of information from the schools to the public may be the issue.

Earlier in the day, Wofford and Herring questioned several students in the same fashion. The students were chosen by Principal Eugene Hanks and were tasked to provide a broad spectrum of different types of students from each grade to participate in the morning event. Wofford shared with the adult group the questions posed to the students and their responses to those questions earlier that day. One of these questions concerned whether or not our students will return to Kimball after pursuing a higher education. Most replied, "no."

"They are not seeing themselves as the individuals who could come back to their communities and bring back the opportunities," said Herring. "It's all about changing the conversation."