Board hears draft strategic priorities and 5‑year goals on academics, engagement and workforce

David Chans, the district official coordinating strategic planning, presented a multi‑month effort to produce a five‑year strategic plan. He told trustees the plan package includes a proposed mission, vision, portrait of a graduate and four strategic priorities for Board consideration: academic excellence; a thriving student body; family and community engagement; and a thriving workforce.

David said teams of administrators, teachers, building leaders, and community partners produced draft priorities, goals and draft metrics; he asked trustees for feedback before staff return in early March with a work session and then a March recommendation for board approval.

Under "academic excellence," Director of Teaching and Learning Angie Lacombe described work on two core academic measures: English/language arts and mathematics. Lacombe said the team focused measurement on ELA and math and included college‑and‑career readiness indicators (ACT composite score, graduation rate, students earning at least one dual‑credit or AP course, and industry credentials). She said teams looked at district trends, state averages and comparable urban districts when setting aspirational five‑year targets, and noted gaps in AP/dual‑credit participation for some student groups.

Katie Selzer, director of People Services, summarized the "Thriving Student Body" priority. The team proposed three critical elements — social‑emotional wellness, personal engagement, and identity/belonging — and recommended measuring social‑emotional wellness with the Panorama student survey (new subscales were added), measuring engagement by co‑curricular participation and attendance (current attendance baseline cited at 67.4% of students attending 90% or more of days; staff proposed as a target meeting or exceeding the state average), and tracking seal‑of‑biliteracy participation as an identity/belonging measure.

Ingrid Parker (family and community engagement lead) said the family and community priority will emphasize a universal, districtwide family‑engagement system and a universal family‑engagement survey so progress can be measured consistently. Parker framed family engagement as active, ongoing collaboration — not only one‑time events — and said teams recommended more consistent messaging to families about opportunities such as AP and dual‑credit courses.

Mike Friess and the workforce team described the "Thriving Workforce" priority as a two‑way street: what the district expects of employees and what the district provides to enable staff to thrive. Proposed metrics include staff attendance patterns, retention across experience cohorts, access to professional learning and career pathways. The HR team also shared initial onboarding survey results from new educators showing a high recommendation rate for the district among new hires.

Board members asked for more detail about timelines and the next phase (actions and budget implications). Trustees said they want a paired implementation roadmap that shows which initiatives will be started when and how the board will monitor early indicators and adjust if the district is not making progress.

Staff requested feedback and said the team will return in March with an updated plan and the action steps the priorities will require.