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Board reviews needs assessment: special-needs index, mobility, extended-year programs and transportation challenges
Summary
Board members spent substantial time on the district needs assessment. Staff explained the district's Special Needs Index (SNI), discussed mobility and homelessness, reviewed evidence-based school improvement practices and reported early signs of growth from extended-year and summer programs.
District staff presented part two of the needs assessment and fielded detailed questions about how the district measures need, tracks interventions and responds to student mobility and transportation barriers.
Miss Kramer introduced the part-two presentation and asked whether board members had questions. Dr. Kipp explained key metrics, saying, "SES just ranges from 0 to a 100%. And as a district, we're about 75% low SES," and describing the Special Needs Index as "an amalgamation of homelessness, socioeconomic status, ELL, special ed, mobility" used to guide resource allocation.
Staff explained that the Special Needs Index (SNI) is additive and typically ranges from 0 to 2; schools with higher SNI receive more district resources, staff said. Schools use the needs assessment to produce school-improvement plans, which staff said are documented in the district's Kansas Star system and include SMART goals, parent-engagement plans and after-school programming.
Board members pressed staff on whether the district tracks the effectiveness of strategies built into school plans. Miss Wallace said schools maintain improvement plans and track student achievement; staff acknowledged it can be difficult to isolate the quantitative effect of one program but said they are working to identify which strategies yield the most growth. Dr. Kipp emphasized the district tracks growth as well as achievement, noting that some high-poverty schools show strong year-to-year MAP growth even where overall proficiency remains below state targets.
Transportation and student mobility featured prominently. District staff said mobility tends to follow poverty patterns and gave an example in which closure of an apartment complex forced about 60 children to move and re-enroll. The district described exceptions processes to keep students enrolled at their original schools when capacity allows; Chief of Transportation explained rules for daycare or babysitter drop-off and routing criteria.
Chief of Transportation told the board, "Now you should know this year already. We have 50 homeless students, living at the shelter, as of today already," and said the district uses McKinney-Vento protections where applicable to maintain school stability for homeless students.
Board members asked about the district's extended-year and summer programs for its lowest-performing schools. Staff reported increased staff retention for summer programs, higher student attendance in extended-year offerings and early MAP/CAP growth signals; CAP data was noted as not yet released. Staff said the district will evaluate multi-year trends to assess impact more fully.
Several board members asked for deeper discussion at a future retreat or work session focused on the needs assessment, SNI methodology and chronic absenteeism. Staff and board agreed to consider a targeted follow-up session to review the SNI and growth-versus-achievement metrics in greater depth.
