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Item D1 on the upcoming 14 Jan 2021 Called Board Meeting agenda is, “Approval of the RRISD Representative to the Round Rock Chamber Board of Directors.” The background info portion of the agenda item cites this line from the Round Rock Chamber by-laws, “One (1) Director appointed for a term of one (1) fiscal year by the board of Trustees of the Round Rock Independent School District and approved by the Board by the last regular meeting in the third (3rd) quarter of the fiscal year. Such designee shall be a Trustee or the Superintendent of Schools.”
Furthermore, I see this on the chamber’s website which is helpful for all of us to understand what the chamber does: “The Round Rock Chamber is the economic-generation leader for Round Rock. We are dedicated to ensuring the city reaches its potential through collaboration with community and business leaders to establish programs that support business growth. With our investors in mind, we work every day to provide significant value by producing meaningful and measurable results.”
Before we render a decision on this representative appointment, I would appreciate some relevant information. What does RRISD gain by having a rep/member on the RR Chamber BoD? How do our students benefit? Is there an annual fee RRISD pays for this membership and if so, how much is it? Does RRISD pay other fees to the RR Chamber…luncheon fees, fees for additional RRISD staff to attend luncheons or other events? How many hours of our staff members time is taken up (away from their official worksites) to participate (as “guests” of our representative) in RR Chamber events? How do we measure the ROI of such investments of time and money? Is it typical for a school district to have a representative on the local chamber…are there other examples of this in our area?
I would appreciate the following in advance of our meeting:
1. All expenses/fees etc paid to the Round Rock Chamber over the last three years from RRISD and what these expenditures were for. I’m mostly interested in 2018 and 2019 since 2020 was an unusual year obviously.
2. Who on RRISD staff attended chamber events and how frequently as I’d like to quantify the time away from work in those three years.
3. Lastly, I am aware that our former superintendent was RRISD’s chamber rep for the last few years. How was/is ROI on the time and money investments in the chamber measured?During the 2020 RRISD trustee elections, I believe the Round Rock Chamber reached out to all of the candidates. I personally had a great meeting with them and got the impression that they are eager to partner, leverage resources and have open lines of communication to all RRISD leaders. Also, I have regularly seen and met chamber members at school board meetings over the years and sat next to them in the audience from time to time. I never got the sense that we would need to appoint a representative to their BoD in order to have a fruitful relationship with the chamber.
We employ many CTE staff from the campus level all the way to the administration headquarters in RRISD. These employees do great work and communicate and collaborate as needed with the Round Rock Chamber. My impression is that these relationships do not hinge on RRISD having a representative on the chamber BoD.
I look forward to getting the data I’ve requested here so we can all grow our understanding and make informed decisions.
Thank you, Trustee Weston, for bringing up this question.
I am 100% in support of investing in and aligning our CTE programs to the needs of the local labor markets. It should be a top priority of our district to increase student participation at our secondary schools in exciting “hands-on” career pathway learning opportunities. To this end, we need strong partnerships with local businesses and industries; I very much welcome Chamber representatives on district CTE Advisory Committee if there is one.
On the other hand, however, actions by certain RR chamber individuals in board meetings, candidate campaigns, and bond elections, are alarming, to say the least, to ordinary citizens like me. They have little to do with improving student outcomes. A healthy relationship with the RR Chamber does not require an RRISD Representative to the Round Rock Chamber Board of Directors; I agree with Trustee Weston.
I agree Trustee Xiao. Perhaps the answer here is to decline to appoint someone to the RR Chamber Board for 2021 and see how it goes. In Jan 2022, if a negative impact on RRISD students can be demonstrated as a result of this, I would be amenable to considering appointing someone at that time.
I have been a member of the Chamber’s Entrepreneurship Council for 2 years. As a CTE Teacher I found the partnership with the Chamber to be incredibly beneficial for our CTE programs and beyond. I think it is important to have a representative but I also believe that it is important to have the right representative.
I know that there are opportunities for engaging The Chamber and its business and community resources in supporting multiple facets of our district. I am particularly interested in ways that we might encourage members of the Chamber to support schools with underfunded PTAs with time, talent and treasure.
We have fractured relationships in our community. There is also an intense air of mistrust with the Chamber and for some, the Council of PTAs. We could ignore these institutions or we can work to repair those fractures and build back strong relationships in the service of students and community.
I, for one, would like to act as the bridge builder and do hope that you all would consider me for the Chamber Board representative. The RR Chamber could also benefit from the multiple areas of diversity that I would bring.
Thank you so much Trustee Harrison for adding your comments here. This helps me look at this differently and provides hope that a direct connection to meeting the needs of students could come from having a RRISD rep on the Chamber BoD. I am grateful that you are willing to take this on and have a firm understanding of where the opportunities are. I support you as our rep on the Chamber for 2021 and am hopeful that a year from now or so, you can brief us on progress that was made and share your thoughts and observations.
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