Davenport school board workshop moves toward a concise “plan on a page” for district strategy

Davenport Community School District board members spent a workshop session with superintendent TJ and consultants from the Iowa Association of School Boards reviewing district plans and asking staff to produce a concise “plan on a page” to communicate priorities to the community and guide regular progress reporting.

The session, presented by Sarah and TJ with facilitation by IASB trainers Harry Hollingenthal and Tammy Drawbaugh, combined the district’s existing “Growing Excellence” goals, the long-range facility plan and work on the Portrait of a Graduate into four proposed strategic pillars: academic success; student supports; community engagement; and effective resource management. "What we hope and anticipate will come after tonight's learning and conversation time is what Tammy and I describe as a plan on a page," Sarah said during the presentation.

Board members pressed staff on measures, timelines and public messaging. Several said they wanted the final external-facing product to use plain language rather than education jargon. Director Kent Barnes asked whether lagging targets such as graduation rates remain appropriate or should be supplemented by leading indicators; Sarah and TJ said the district tracks leading indicators internally (for example, ninth-grade credits as an early predictor of graduated cohorts) and will link those to the shorter, public plan.

Board discussion highlighted several specific priorities and clarifications. Members urged the plan to: include a clear metric for graduation or on-track-to-graduate progress (a board member suggested adding graduation-rate measures to the academic pillar); treat early-childhood access (increasing preschool availability) as a prominent district priority; and define community engagement goals such as volunteer recruitment and an alumni/ business‑partner program. TJ said staff will synthesize the board’s feedback into a draft the board can review. "We're gonna propose that we combine a couple of them and maybe add one," TJ said about proposed refinements to the goals.

Staff and board also discussed how the plan would be used: as an internal management tool with leading indicators and as an external communications piece the public can easily understand. Sarah said the plan would be paired with a regular cadence of progress reports to the board and the community. Board members recommended numeric short‑term objectives (for example, volunteer targets for elementary schools) as well as aspirational, longer-term outcomes.

The board and staff reviewed existing workstreams that will feed into the plan: implementation of new curriculum and a high‑school schedule, rollout of multi‑tiered systems of support (MTSS) and tier‑2 interventions, social‑emotional learning curriculum (Character Strong), and continued execution of the district’s long-range facility plan. TJ and Sarah emphasized that the new one‑page product is intended to align and summarize — not replace — the detailed plans and data dashboards staff will continue to maintain.

Next steps recorded in the meeting included staff returning a draft plan-on-a-page for board review and establishing a recurring reporting cadence. Board members also asked staff to present the underlying DSAT (district school action team) leading indicators and implementation data (walkthroughs, coaching, MTSS monitoring) so trustees can see the evidence behind any headline metrics.

The meeting concluded with the motion to adjourn, which was moved and seconded; the chair called for aye and the meeting was adjourned.