Saline Board of Ed Awards High Marks to Superintendent Laatsch

Saline Area Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Laatsch, completing his first calendar year as the top administrator in the district, received high marks from the Saline Board of Education.

The board conducted its evaluation of Laatsch during closed session at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting. The closed session began at 8:46 p.m., with Board President Jennifer Steben saying she expected it would take an hour. Instead, the board did not resume open session until 11:26 p.m.

The lengthy review didn't stop the board from granting high marks to the superintendent, hired earlier this year to replace long-time Superintendent Scot Graden, who retired in January.

Overall, using the Michigan Association of School Board's evaluation tool, the board gave Laatsch a rating of 3.658 out of 4, or 91 percent.

Half of Laatsch's rating is from professional practice, which includes government and board relations, community relations, staff relations, business and finance, instructional leadership and school improvement.

40 percent of the assessment is based on student growth and 10 percent is based on meeting district-wide goals.

Here are the Ratings

Professional Practice (50 percent)

The following categories are subsets of professional practice

A Governance/Board Relations (20 percent) - 3.5

• Policy Involvement 3.0
• Goal development 3.5
• Information 4,0
• Materials and Background 3.5
• Board questions 3.5
• Board development 3.5

Community Relations (15 percent) - 3.58

• Parent feedback 3
• Communication 3.5
• Community feedback 3.5
• Media relations 3.5
• District image 4.0
• Approachability 4

Staff Relations (15 percent) - 3.57

• Staff feedback 3.5
• Staff communication 4.0
• Personnel matters 3.0
• Delegation of duties 4.0
• Recruitment 3.0
• Labor relations and bargaining 3.5
• Visibility in the district 4.0

Business and Finance (20 percent) - 3.8

• Budget development and management 3.5
• Budget reports 3.5
• Financial controls 4
• Facility management 4
• Resource allocation 4

Instructional Leadership (30 percent) - 3.75

• Performance evaluation system 3.5
• Building level leadership 4
• Staff development 4
• School improvement 3
• Curriculum 4
• Instruction 4
• Student feedback 3.5
• Student attendance 4
• Support for students 3.5
• Professional knowledge 4.0

Student Growth  (40 percent) - 3.0

Progress Toward District-wide Goals  (10 percent) - 4.0

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