Sheboygan Area School District adopts 2025–26 strategic long-range plan with focus on literacy, AI tools and infrastructure

The Sheboygan Area School District Board of Education approved the district's updated strategic long-range plan for the 2025–26 school year after a presentation by district administrators that reviewed academic goals, technology investments, student supports and capital projects.

Dr. Conrad told the board the plan reflects multi-year continuity rather than a single-year effort and credited district leadership and department teams for ongoing work. Assistant Superintendent Rachel (identified in the meeting as assistant superintendent) walked the board through the plan's pillars and objectives and noted the district's graduation rate rose by three percentage points, from 84.3% to 87.3%.

The plan includes several instructional and data priorities: continued implementation of a universal ELA curriculum tied to Act 20 requirements; longer-term use of a walkthrough/learning-walk tool to support non‑evaluative instructional review; and a data visualization and case‑management tool the administration described as NextPath. Rachel summarized NextPath's role: “Now you can, like, click on it and you get a visual of that ... If you click on that, you see the students. So what our schools are doing now, because they don't have a tool like that, is they're going into the STAR Renaissance system, they're pulling a report, they're then pushing that into a Google Sheet.” She said NextPath shortens multiple manual steps and gives school teams instant visuals to identify students in need of intervention.

The district also announced an instructional-technology purchase and rollout of an AI toolkit called Magic School AI, described by administration as a teacher-facing platform to help generate lesson plans, design assignments and create rubrics. Administrators said the district will pair tool deployment with guidance and rollout language for teachers and staff next school year.

Mental-health and student supports are part of the plan. Administrators said the HOPE program launched this year and that a planned intensive outpatient program at South High School — to be delivered by Rogers Memorial — was delayed by the provider; administrators said the district remains committed to launching the program and is now aiming for an August start. The district also reported delivering nearly 6,300 PATH mental-health therapy sessions this year and serving about 300 students identified as homeless.

Workforce and hiring objectives were emphasized. Jamie, a district staff member leading human resources initiatives, reported improved application counts in regular education openings, a teacher turnover rate of about 7% (below the Wisconsin average cited at roughly 12%), and the district’s growing participation with CESA 6 on a youth apprenticeship program that already placed two high school students in paid roles.

Capital projects and infrastructure are included in the strategic plan. The board heard an update on Farnsworth and Urban middle-school rebuild planning, exterior renderings and two community meetings held June 3. The district has contracted HGA to analyze geothermal feasibility and payback and said ARC is doing solar analysis. Administrators emphasized that geothermal and solar were not in the original referendum budgets but that designated building funds could be used if either system proved cost-effective.

On technology infrastructure the board heard that an E‑rate application for hardware was approved and that an implementation meeting with vendors has started; the district also described work to establish a secondary data center and configure a fiber-optic ring to improve redundancy. The site used for a secondary server location was described as the Wilson Insurance server room, chosen for its fire suppression and distance from other district facilities.

The board voted by voice to adopt the strategic long-range plan; the chair called for “All in favor, say aye,” and the motion carried. Administration said many objectives are carry‑over items and that work will continue next year with quarterly reporting on goals and progress.

Board members and staff requested additional community outreach tied to some initiatives, including communications planning for curriculum and facility work, and indicated they will monitor state funding sources for items tied to Act 20 and special education reimbursements.

The plan approval directs administrators to begin implementation activities during the summer and to return with updates and any procurement or funding actions that require board approval.