Belton ISD trustees review plan to boost campus celebrations, aim to increase recognitions 25%
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Summary
Trustees heard a progress update on Goal 4, a district initiative to increase meaningful staff- and student-focused celebrations. Baseline survey results show nearly 95% of respondents value recognition; the district is tracking celebrations and hopes a 25% increase will boost perceptions of value and support.
Mike Morgan, a member of the Belton ISD Board of Trustees, on Monday briefed trustees on Goal 4’s key progress measure, a districtwide effort to increase celebrations and recognitions for students and staff.
"Goal 4 is around our creating a district wide culture of value, support, growth amongst all students and staff," Morgan said, introducing the initiative and results of the baseline data collected since September.
The district surveyed roughly 700 students and staff; about 95 percent of respondents said it was important, somewhat important or very important to have celebrations and recognitions on their campuses or in their departments. The working group cataloged roughly 100 ideas from 521 responses to an open prompt about creative recognition methods. As of April 10, district tracking shows about 44.2 percent of recorded celebrations for the 2024–25 school year were new events or approaches, indicating campuses are piloting additional recognition efforts.
Trustees shared examples of meaningful recognition during a brief breakout. Trustee Rucker described classroom celebrations for students who show marked academic growth; Trustee Jeff highlighted teacher badging and teacher-led professional learning at elementary campuses. Several trustees and staff noted that most meaningful recognitions tend to be authentic and low- or no-cost: the project’s internal tally found more than 65 percent of recorded celebrations cost nothing to run.
The design team said the effort aims to test whether increasing celebrations by 25 percent will improve staff and student survey responses about feeling valued and supported. The team is compiling a districtwide database of celebrations so campuses can replicate low-cost, high-impact practices. The team also flagged that recognitions vary by campus and that some staff prefer private acknowledgements rather than public ceremonies.
Board members asked whether any recognition system ties explicitly to the district’s graduate competencies. Staff said teaching-and-learning leaders have developed pocket cards that define each competency so observers can affirm specific competency growth during classroom visits, though the practice is not yet systematic across all campuses.
The district team plans two more rounds of data collection leading into end-of-year events and will return with a final KPM report after the school year closes to show whether the 25 percent target was met.
The board treated the briefing as information only and did not take action Monday.
