Midyear strategic-plan review: district leaders report progress on instruction, communications, safety and special education

On Feb. 26 the Snohomish School District Board of Directors heard a midyear strategic-plan review from district cabinet members covering school leadership, family communication, advertising policy implementation, emergency response and progress in special education and literacy.

Sean (staff member, Snohomish School District) described new principal "studios" that place principals in recurring small cohorts to observe one another’s buildings, share strategies and plan six- to eight-week implementation cycles. "It's been very powerful so far," Sean said, adding principals have reported useful classroom visits and cross-school calibration.

Kristen (staff member, Snohomish School District) said the district is expanding use of ParentSquare for family communications, including conference and volunteer scheduling and signups. She said early results show fewer missed emergency notices during recent snow closures.

Tom (staff member, Snohomish School District) briefed the board that an advertising policy intended to clarify permissible fundraising and use of district property passed the board on Jan. 22. The policy restricts certain practices such as selling or auctioning district property and aims to preserve booster and parent-group activities where allowable; principals will communicate specifics to parent organizations.

Dave (staff member, Snohomish School District) and Jeff (staff member, Snohomish School District) reviewed districtwide safety work. Dave said the district produced an administrator emergency-response guide with standardized language and scenario-based training for principals, and that the guide and drills were vetted by school resource officers and law enforcement. The district is piloting a reunification exercise on March 14 with St. Thomas Community Church and continues after-action reviews after significant incidents.

Wendy (staff member, Snohomish School District) summarized special-education compliance work: before current leadership the district had 72 compliance cases that cost about $170,000 in a year. Last year the district reduced out-of-compliance cases to 20 (about $22,000), and with roughly three and a half months remaining in the current year reported seven cases out of compliance (about $8,000). She described training, monthly administrator reminders and district office coaching intended to sustain improvements.

Monica (staff member, Snohomish School District) outlined targeted literacy work across K–12: the district has consolidated supplemental programs and rolled out Lexia diagnostics and interventions, along with curriculum-mapping and professional development. Monica said winter-to-fall STAR and initial Lexia results indicate positive student growth, and that students who meet usage expectations show larger gains.

Daryl Barnett (staff member, Snohomish School District) reported operational improvements from digitizing forms and integrating systems (Frontline and Skyward), noting time savings for HR and payroll and newly automated reminders for contractual dates and record-keeping. He said retirement/resignation forms and two other automated forms were launched since the board last received an update.

Board members asked clarifying questions about principal studio examples, implementation timelines for literacy programs, the reunification drill at St. Thomas Community Church and whether Lexia usage targets are communicated to families; staff said they would follow up where specifics were not provided in the presentation.

No formal board actions were taken on these informational items during the Feb. 26 meeting.