Shared Decision Making Plan

• Each elementary school will have its own site-based team composed of three parents, three teachers, one administrator, three students, and one representative of all Hicksville UFSD employees in the building not represented by the previously-mentioned groups.  There will also be an alternate for the “other” representative in the event the member cannot attend a meeting.  If there are no volunteers from any constituent group, the site-based team will function without representation from that group.  If a volunteer comes forward, she/he will be able to join the team at any time.  An offer of membership will be made in writing to the bargaining unit heads, or designated providers of team members, and a declination in writing will be required.  If no response is received within seven working days, a declination will be presumed.
• The middle school and high school will each have a team composed of three parents, three teachers, three administrators from the building, one student per grade level, and three representatives of all Hicksville UFSD employees not represented by the previously mentioned groups.
• Administrators, teachers, and other employee-members of all teams will be selected by their bargaining units.  Parents will be selected by the building PTA’s/PTSA’s.  Students will be selected in each building through a process developed in cooperation with the building administrative team and site-based team.  Where no student government exists, the other members of the site-based team will meet for the sole purpose of determining the process for the selection of student members.  All selections will serve for a minimum of one year.
• The convener of each year’s organizational meeting will be the principal for site-based teams.  A central office administrator for curriculum and instruction will convene each year’s organizational meeting of the district’s shared decision-making committee.  The convener will set meeting dates for the coming year at the June meeting of site-based teams.

• Required ground rules for site-based teams:
  • Site-based teams will use consensus to reach decisions.
  • There must be one administrator, one teacher, one parent, one other employee, and one student to allow the team to meet.  If 3 of the 5 constituent groups are present at a regularly scheduled meeting, the meeting may be held, but no action may be taken.  The minutes of this meeting would be sent to all members, and any deferred action item(s) would be the first order of business at the next regularly-scheduled meeting.  If a quorum is not reached at a meeting, the meeting may be rescheduled by the principal before the next regularly-scheduled meeting.  After two consecutive meeting dates with no representation from a constituent group, the “no volunteers” procedure will be followed immediately after the second such date.
  • Minutes must be taken and posted on the district website.
  • Teams must meet at least once a month.
• The site-based teams will begin meeting within 30 days of the district plan's approval by the state.
• The district-wide committee will meet bi-monthly, unless a matter requires immediate attention, as determined by a consensus of the committee.

• Site-based teams are responsible for evaluating student achievement (outcomes) and identifying areas of strength and weakness, devising strategies to preserve strengths and ameliorate weaknesses, and allocating resources to achieve success.
• Proposals for curriculum revision may be made by site-based teams, district supervisors, teachers, parents, or students to the district’s curriculum council, which will approve, disapprove, or amend such proposals by consensus.
• The district curriculum council will be composed of up to three representatives from each elementary site-based team, four representatives from the middle school site-based team, four representatives from the high school site-based team, district curriculum supervisors, and central office administrators for curriculum and instruction.  All representatives would be expected to serve for one year.
• Site-based teams will review health and safety issues in each building and will include appropriate personnel when discussing these issues or may delegate responsibility to a health and safety sub-committee.

The Hicksville Public Schools, in its mission statement, outlines its desired educational outcomes.  In evaluating the achievement of these outcomes, the site-based teams and the district’s curriculum council will examine student performance utilizing the state’s curriculum frameworks, state examinations, standardized tests, and expanded measures of assessment.

• Members of the site-based teams will report back to and solidify input from their constituency groups at least quarterly.
• Each site-based team will be required to post minutes to the district-wide website.
• Each site-based team will submit its plan to the district-wide committee.
• At the end of each year, each site-based team will evaluate its plan and the implementation of the plan.
• There will be a written report of this evaluation submitted to the district -wide committee and distributed to the constituent groups.

Team members will brainstorm topics for discussion in order to establish agendas for the year.  The team will determine the strengths of its building, as well as areas for possible attention.  Information gathering techniques, i.e., surveys, interviews, data review, etc., may be used.  Team members will present the first draft of the agenda to each member of their group and report the group’s suggestions to the team.  The members will come to a consensus regarding the area(s) that the team will address.

Minutes will be taken at each meeting.  The responsibility for recording the minutes will rotate among team members.  Minutes will be posted to the district website.

Site-based teams will be specifically charged with responsibility for consensus-based decision-making in the following areas:

• Student instructional objectives:
  • Curriculum and program development at the program/building level
  • Textbook review
  • Student outcomes and means of assessing them 
  • Scheduling
• Staff Development
• Health and Safety
• Student Discipline
• Athletics/Co-Curriculum
• Community Outreach
• Student Feedback/Outreach

1. Allows all voices to be heard, information to be shared, and feelings to be expressed.
2. All members of the team have explicitly stated that even if they do not favor the decision, they can allow it to stand and will not deliberately work against its success.
3. Team members view the decision as fair and are therefore willing to support it.

Disputes in site-based teams will be resolved in the following ways:

• If consensus cannot be reached, the process or issue will be brought to the District Superintendent.
• If consensus cannot be reached, the process will be brought to the District Shared Decision-Making Team.
• Disputes not resolved at the District Shared Decision-Making Team level will be resolved in accordance with the provisions of law.

• Class Size
• Current purchase and maintenance contracts
• District calendar
• Employee contractual issues
• Employee discipline matters
• Employment, Dismissal, and Tenure
• Individual personnel matters
• Salaries
• Individual student matters
• Issues in conflict with other buildings
• Issues in conflict with policy and regulations of the School Board and/or the State Education Department
• Staff assignments
• Staffing

The District Shared Decision Making Team will submit a statement of success of the district plan in achieving its objectives.

• Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent
• 1 member from each building
• Parent Representatives
• Community Representatives
• Bargain Unit Representatives
• Student Representative