Consultant: Nearly 2,000 stakeholders responded; plan to draft goals in April

Adam Jones, the Skybound Education consultant working with the West Lafayette Community School Corporation, told the school board that nearly 2,000 stakeholders completed an engagement survey and that his team has distilled five themes to guide the district’s draft strategic plan.

Jones said the district’s engagement reached students, staff, parents and community members and that the data give leaders a baseline for drafting specific goals and measures. He said a full-day collaborative drafting session for teachers and community members is scheduled for April 10 and that a public feedback period will run in early to mid‑May before a draft is returned to the board in June.

Jones called the response “a really healthy, robust engagement,” and provided a breakdown he described during the presentation: roughly 95 staff responses, about 240 parent/family responses and 102 community stakeholders among the nearly 2,000 total responses. He said the consultant team also ran focus groups, visited buildings, and held community sessions to supplement the survey data.

The consultant introduced net promoter score (NPS) analysis to summarize sentiment. He reported a staff NPS of 47 (61% promoters, 14% detractors), which he characterized as “quite good” compared with state benchmarks. Jones pointed out the high school’s NPS (33) was lower than other groups and flagged it as an area for follow-up.

From surveys and focus groups Skybound identified five themes: sustaining academic excellence while serving a changing student population; improving differentiated supports for special education and multilingual learners; expanding family engagement and consistent districtwide communication platforms; addressing student mental health and balancing academic workload; and supporting staff to prevent initiative fatigue and burnout.

Board members asked for additional detail on timing and demographics. Jones said the survey had been administered in October and that the team can break results down by subgroup if the district wants that analysis. He said the consultant team will bring proposed language to the April 10 workshop and then compile drafts for public review ahead of the June board meeting.

The district will receive a two‑version deliverable: a 4–6 page plan that lists objectives and measures plus a one‑page public summary intended for front‑desk distribution at schools.

The board discussed next steps, including scheduling a follow‑up work session April 14 to review community feedback and proposing a separate board working meeting after public comment to allow board members time to discuss the plan internally.

Jones said he will provide raw data and analysis to the district via the district’s Google domain; board members asked that those materials be included in the district’s Friday notes in advance of upcoming meetings.