Wyoming Valley West presents Future Ready comprehensive plan; board approves routine items, tables one staff assignment

Wyoming Valley West School District officials presented the district's Future Ready comprehensive plan at the March 5 regular board meeting and described action steps to address chronic absenteeism and lagging math and English language arts performance. District staff said the plan will guide goals, action steps and professional development through the next multi-year cycle.

The presentation was led by a district staff presenter who described the state's Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal as the organizing platform for the plan and noted the plan replaces the district's prior strategic plan: "The district comprehensive plan is now, it takes the place of the old district strategic plan. This is the second cycle of it." The presenter said the plan relies on both state'provided Future Ready data (Keystones, PSSAs, graduation and attendance rates) and newly collected local data, and that 2023-24 state data was not yet available when the team completed its needs assessment.

Why it matters: Board members were told the plan identifies attendance and student performance in math and ELA as the district's principal weaknesses, and that the action steps in the plan are intended to raise incremental growth before higher achievement follows. The plan ties to required federal and state reports and to Title I and other improvement efforts.

What the plan proposes: Department chairs described the specific interventions the plan will use.

- Math: Doug Shook, math department chair, described three core data and instruction tools the plan will deploy: the Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDT), Firefly and the adaptive practice system IXL. "IXL is, essentially an online progressive, individualized student, I'm gonna call it a tutor almost to where students have their own individualized plans," Shook said, and the district will continue a multi-year implementation of Reveal Math in grades K-5 (the district is in year one of a six-year rollout).

- ELA: John Sharkas, English department chair, said the district is implementing structured literacy in K-5 and has adopted a phonics component from the Wilson program for K-2 instruction. He noted the district will extend its current HMH reading resources for one year while awaiting the state's approved list of publishers under recent state guidance referenced in the meeting (participants cited HB 801 and Act 135 as the basis for that review): "we decided to put that on pause. So we are going to extend, you know, our current HMH resources, which we have an abundance of, for the next year." Sharkas and others said ELA use of CDT and Firefly is being paired with IXL to provide immediate, individualized remediation.

- Science and data supports: Rob Bonscheski, science department chair, said the district has begun using the CDT and signed up for the Firefly pilot to expand early projections and item-level analysis. He and other presenters emphasized use of the district's data warehouse to perform item analysis and to track pre/post CDT performance.

Attendance and timing: The presentation repeatedly identified attendance as a driving constraint on achievement. The presenter summarized the attendance measure used in the plan: "you can't miss more than 17 days of school, excused or unexcused. And regardless of how we believe that's fair or not, that's the rule that we have to play by." Board members and presenters said the district is pursuing mentor programs, counselor tracking, parent outreach and other strategies to reduce absences.

State data lag and plan timing: Presenters told the board the plan is a multi-step, iterative product that will be submitted through the Future Ready portal and refined after state feedback; they noted limits caused by the state's delayed release of 2023-24 data and said the district used 2021-22 and 2022-23 data for the needs assessment.

Board action and routine business: The board proceeded with routine votes after the presentation. The board approved previous meeting minutes and later approved the general recommended action items (items 1 through 22) and finance items as presented. During the roll call for general items, one board member recorded a "No" vote on item 18; the transcript did not specify which matter item 18 described. The board also considered staff recommended action items; item 12 (a staffing assignment tied to Title I) was the subject of discussion and was tabled by board vote so the board could await further Title I funding guidance. After tabling item 12, the board approved the remaining staff recommended action items presented that evening (items 1 through 18, excluding the tabled item).

Other district notes announced during the meeting: Superintendent Tosh thanked staff for work on the plan and announced the district's new STEM lab is "virtually complete" and scheduled for a ribbon-cutting next Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.; he also announced resignations from the girls' field hockey coaching staff and read their program record. A facilities item discussed during committee reports noted an urgent need for protective fencing at a State Street ballfield; district staff reported a local vendor quote of about $1,850 for fence installation and indicated discretionary funds would be used so the work can proceed quickly.

What was not decided: The comprehensive plan was presented for information and overview; the board did not adopt or finalize the plan at the meeting and no formal vote on the plan itself was recorded. The staff assignment tied to Title I (item 12) was tabled pending clarity on Title I funding and placement for next year.

Questions and next steps: Presenters said the plan is posted on the district website and board members may email the presenters with questions. The district plans follow-up professional development tied to Reveal Math and other rollout activities and said additional Firefly and CDT administration will permit item analysis ahead of Keystone exams.