Superintendent Wright reviews strategic-plan progress, launches 25-year master-plan effort

Superintendent Wright told the Nardonia Hills City School District Board of Education at a July 28 work session that the district completed its first-year strategic-plan deliverables and will begin an accelerated 25-year master-plan process to guide long-term facilities decisions. The work session, called at 6:02 p.m., was held ahead of the board’s regular 7 p.m. meeting at Northfield Elementary School.

Wright said the district “surveyed over a 100 people” during the strategic-plan development, formally adopted the plan and completed the community rollout. “I was really proud of that. I think, honestly, everybody set the standard of what a good strategic plan really looks like,” Wright said.

Why it matters: Wright said the strategic plan sets the district’s priorities for the next five years but said facility decisions require longer-term planning tied to levy cycles and building lifespans. He described the 25-year master plan as a kickoff for community-wide conversations about whether to consolidate or replace aging schools and in what order to address capital needs.

Wright proposed an aggressive timetable for the master plan: bring in outside expertise, gather public feedback, deliver a draft investor plan by January and seek board adoption in February. He said the master plan is intended to give residents a public timeline so the district can avoid campaigning for operations and capital simultaneously.

On communication and community engagement, Wright said the district will publish a communications calendar and convert the current postcard into a trifold mailer to reach residents with weak ties to the schools. He said monthly submissions to at least one news outlet and targeted, consistent building-level messaging are planned. “We’re going away from everybody making their own decisions,” Wright said of the district’s communication approach.

Instructional goals and professional learning were highlighted as central to Wright’s objectives. He emphasized consistent Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) across buildings to answer a core question: “What are adults going to do when kids aren’t learning?” Wright said district and building leadership teams have been trained and that he assigned the curriculum director to update PLC materials.

Board members and staff raised implementation questions about the district calendar and public event listings. One board member said the calendar needs easier filtering and more reliable entries: “I would love to see you go to our home page and then you click on a button in the calendar. Maybe you can sort it by school, by athletics, by whatever.” District staff member Misty explained the district maintains a master Google Calendar that she synchronizes with building calendars, though the sync is not live and can miss late changes.

Discussion versus action: board members verbally agreed that Wright met the reported goals for the 2024–25 year; no formal vote was recorded on the goals during the work session. At the end of the session a board member moved to go into executive session to consider the compensation of a public employee; another board member seconded the motion and the board later recorded yes votes to enter executive session (see actions).

What’s next: Wright said he will return with draft timelines and outreach plans for the 25-year master plan and the communication calendar. The district’s regular board meeting continued after the work session.