Page 5 - FIS World

Shared Objectives
Inquisitive and inquiry-driven collaboration exists in all facets of FIS
Inquiry-driven action from the classroom to the boardroom
Articles in FIS World usually address the learning that is going on in our classrooms but this time I would like to take the opportunity to assure you that learning is also taking place in the FIS boardroom.
If I were to choose one of the attributes of the IB Learner Pro le that best describes my fellow Board members, it would be “inquisitive.” This is not to suggest that the elected and appointed leadership of your school is by any means uneducated. In fact, they are leaders in their professional elds and many are scholars in their own right. Yet, what de nes them as
a highly successful and capable team is their unquenchable thirst for knowledge to discover how we can better meet the needs of our students.
The persistent questioning and research that runs through all of FIS is also apparent in our Board Committee meetings. In these sessions, Board members, administrators, faculty, parents and outside experts work hard to ful ll their speci c committee objectives, all while comparing past practices with current research and hearing from specialists about future
trends. Their ndings and recommendations are then reported to the Board itself, where any ensuing strategic decisions can be made.
In all of our meetings, there is a guiding phrase our Board returns to again and again: “Diversity in discussion, unity in action.”The varied backgrounds of our Board members ensure that we avoid acting as a “rubber stamp” for the school administration. In fact, discussions can sometimes be quite animated as we each express and challenge our diverse opinions and passions related to education, and consider whether our Strategic Plan is indeed maximizing student potential for this and future generations at FIS. Yet, because we thoroughly debate and dissect important issues, when we arrive at a conclusion, we are able to be uni ed in our actions.
To ensure that our Board establishes clear markers for excellence that do not vary from one election to the next, we rely on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are key data points that measure both hard data, such as IB and MAP statistics related to academic performance, as well as soft data, such
as parent and student opinions gathered from community surveys. Like the students we serve, we roll up our sleeves and dive into our own “inquiry driven” pursuit of choosing a course of action that will allow the school’s ambitious mission to be realized.
Classroom or boardroom, FIS holds itself to high standards. And as our students learn from both their teachers and one another, I feel privileged to be part of a team that shows such enthusiasm in its collaborative work with faculty, administration and peers. Whether I am listening to one of our Board members with a science background questioning our curriculum, or another with a business background reviewing our balance sheet, or a third Board member, who is an FIS alum, reminding us of school history, I am pleased to be counted among the ranks of learners at FIS.
Jonathan Clenshaw Chair Board of Trustees
May 2017 FIS World 3