Competency 2 - Political Influence and Governance
As a leader within my district, I was given several opportunities to exercise my knowledge of state, local, and district policy and law. In the 2015-16 legislative session, I was responsible for creating and implementing a district advocacy plan for the flexible learning year initiative. The school in which I lead utilizes a 4-day weekly schedule for students. This schedule was originally implemented in order to preserve the district financially. Nearly a decade later, the stakeholders within the district have adopted it as a part of the culture and climate. There is now a generation of students that know nothing else. As part of the process, each district is required to reapply for authorization to utilize a flexible learning year. The commissioner of education and the Governor of Minnesota, had made it very clear that they were not in favor of such practices by categorically denying all applications in the previous year. Stakeholders within my district knew how important it was to create both a solid application and plan to advocate for retaining the flexible learning year to both the house and senate education committees in Minnesota. I was in charge of leading and creating both initiatives. Proudly, as stated by Darren Korte, Assistant to the Commissioner of Education, the application I created was the strongest and our advocacy plan provided evidence to suggest that what we were implementing in our district was working for our students. I firmly believe that without my knowledge of educational policy and law, these initiatives would not have been so successful. As a result of my work, and the work of my team, schools across the state of Minnesota having already implemented flexible learning years have been grandfathered and will be allowed to continue for a further 5 years. I am extremely proud of this experience.
As a leader within my district, I was given several opportunities to exercise my knowledge of state, local, and district policy and law. In the 2015-16 legislative session, I was responsible for creating and implementing a district advocacy plan for the flexible learning year initiative. The school in which I lead utilizes a 4-day weekly schedule for students. This schedule was originally implemented in order to preserve the district financially. Nearly a decade later, the stakeholders within the district have adopted it as a part of the culture and climate. There is now a generation of students that know nothing else. As part of the process, each district is required to reapply for authorization to utilize a flexible learning year. The commissioner of education and the Governor of Minnesota, had made it very clear that they were not in favor of such practices by categorically denying all applications in the previous year. Stakeholders within my district knew how important it was to create both a solid application and plan to advocate for retaining the flexible learning year to both the house and senate education committees in Minnesota. I was in charge of leading and creating both initiatives. Proudly, as stated by Darren Korte, Assistant to the Commissioner of Education, the application I created was the strongest and our advocacy plan provided evidence to suggest that what we were implementing in our district was working for our students. I firmly believe that without my knowledge of educational policy and law, these initiatives would not have been so successful. As a result of my work, and the work of my team, schools across the state of Minnesota having already implemented flexible learning years have been grandfathered and will be allowed to continue for a further 5 years. I am extremely proud of this experience.
Advocacy Plan | |
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