OXFORD — Beginning this year, projects and programs floated by executive staff at Oxford Hills School District will be assessed by a set of standards laid out by Superintendent Rick Colpitts at the school board meeting Tuesday evening. 

Colpitts told board members that the decision whether or not to OK certain projects would be made in the context of seven assumptions he had drawn up. 

The goal is to give staff a clear idea of what is expected from the proposals they put forward to himself and the board, Colpitts said.

“I wanted to be very clear as to when I would be approving things, what things take priority in my mind,” Colpitts told board members. 

The list circulated by Colpitts includes conditions that projects need to have the highest impact on classroom instruction at the most efficient cost; engage students and teachers in learning successfully, and uses “green” standards to promote healthy learning environments through local sources wherever practical.

Proposals should also honor and build community, scaffold professional development around “bright spots” and assume all teachers are “competent professionals interested in learning and professional growth.”

Finally, projects should develop relational and focused services that are transparent, honest and direct, and are anticipated and budgeted. 

Colpitts said not all projects or programs need to encompass all of the criteria, but preference would be given to proposals that fill the most categories. 

“The goal isn’t that you meet all seven of them,” Colpitts said, “but the more of the seven that you meet, the more likely it is I will approve a decision or approve a program.”