The Westbrook Board of Education was presented with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) Leadership Award during the annual CABE / CAPSS (Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents) Convention held at the Mystic Marriott. “CABE believes that Boards of Education which exhibit the most effective leadership are characterized by their ability to work together as teams.” The CABE Board of Education Leadership Awards are designed to recognize boards which work effectively in this manner. In order to be considered for this award, boards had to fulfill 22 of 30 criteria in four areas; community relations, board operations, policy and board member professional development. A minimum of three criteria in each area had to be met in order to receive the award.
As part of the nomination and application process, the Westbrook Board of Education reflected on their collaborative work over the last few years to develop a shared, community vision of educational priorities and Westbrook Board of Education goals to support all students, working closely with district and school leadership, school community stakeholders, and Westbrook Town leadership. The Westbrook Board of Education has developed goals focused on: teaching and learning; communication and community relations; leadership and professional growth; and budget development and fiscal management. The Westbrook Board of Education has actively participated in professional development opportunities and created a structure to support the achievement of these important goals: “The BOE has become more effective because of our response to public input, collaboration on shared and district goals, increasing participation in BOE member professional development, and reorganizing the Board subcommittee structure (including adding new subcommittees-BOE Teaching and Learning and BOE Budget and Fiscal Committee and restarting the BOE Communications and Marketing Committee).”
