Flandreau School Board members have identified three goals they will work on to improve local education.
Communication, student behavior and teacher retention were identified last week as top areas to work on in this coming year. The goals were identified in a school board strategic planning session led by Jim Holbeck with Associated School Boards of South Dakota and were determined to be the top issues by the board.
Superintendent Rick Weber said the district hired Holbeck to help with strategic planning at a time when the school has seen big changes in its student population and behavior issues. The district has already taken some steps to address those top needs, including a positive rewards system implemented at all grades this year. The district also has started to communicate with parents and the community in more ways than before and has come up with a plan to help retain teachers. The goals can be part of Weber’s yearly evaluation.
Holbeck said communications, for most schools, is the top issue that continually needs addressing. Districts can work hard to communicate in numerous ways with various populations and still find out they have missed something, he said.
He suggested that the district narrow its large list of objectives down to a few and really work on those.” It’s a little bit about trying to eat an elephant. You’ve got a lot of things here. I’m not used to seeing as many objectives,” he said of the districts formal list of items it is working on. “I think I counted 48 things here.”
Board member Kari Burggraff said strategic planning is valuable so the district can plan for growth and find ways to improve the school.

“Some issues we’ve had, we’re chasing behind. We need to look at the future and move forward and plan,” she said.
Board member Jamie Hemmer said the board has new needs to address and a unique demographic. “Things have changed it seems pretty drastically in the past recent years.”
Specific areas inside of the three goals will be defined by Weber with Holbeck’s help, and Weber will bring that back to the board. When it comes to communication, for example, there are multiple areas to look at, internally and externally.
Positive communication directed to the community could be improved, as well as informational communication, said Board President Tom Stenger. “We have so many good things happen. We have so many kids with so many talents. We forget about those things,” he said.
With teacher retention, a committee focused on keeping teachers longer has found that Flandreau is competitive in pay for new teachers, but behavior problems sometimes cause staff to leave, said Brian “Pedro” Johnson, board member. In addition, for new teachers there is a lack of housing, a lack of social activities and a lack of connection to the community overall.
With the discipline goal, the district has seen an escalation of behavior problems, particularly at the elementary. Flandreau has hired a behavior intervention specialist and additional counselors in the last two years and tried new approaches, Weber said.
“We have really changed in the last two years. It has just really blown up,” he said. “We’re having kids (become issues) that weren’t issues before.”
At the same time, the district has seen its special education numbers skyrocket and is enrolling more students who speak another language besides English as their first language, he said.
Hemmer said she is concerned that behavioral issues mean the district is underserving those who do not have behavior problems, while Tammy Lunday, board member, asked what are some solutions that would benefit everybody.
Holbeck said the board should look at making progress and then evaluate where the district has come after a year.
“I see you more engaged than most boards I’ve ever seen,” he said. “That’s good that you guys are all focused on how to make these things better.”
It’s an ongoing process, he said. “This is not a process that is ever done. It’s continual. It evolves and it changes.”