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Visalia Unified details five-year strategic plan, sets progress indicators and student outcome targets
Summary
Superintendent Kirk Schrum reported a phased, five‑year implementation plan that pairs action-based progress indicators with district-set priority student outcomes and a twice-yearly board reporting cadence; a district reorganization to align staffing with the plan and sustain work after one-time funds end was also announced.
Superintendent Kirk Schrum told the Visalia Unified School District Board of Education that the district will measure its newly adopted strategic plan through two linked systems: progress‑indicator metrics that track work on specific actions, and five‑year priority student outcomes the board has set as targets.
“If we’re not accountable to student outcomes and doing the work, then we’re basically saying to our students, we’re only paying lip service to the important work that we do,” Superintendent Kirk Schrum said. He said the district’s accountability approach is intended to be developmental rather than punitive.
Why it matters: the board has set five‑year performance goals it expects the district to reach, and the strategic plan lays out actions across three themes—high expectations/high achievement, empowering students/families/community engagement, and organizational efficiency/effectiveness—to get there. Schrum said about 30,000 students depend on the district’s results, and the plan includes public reporting so the board and community can track progress.
Under the plan, each action will move through four phases—research, design, implement and monitor—and district teams must document work at each stage before an action advances. Schrum said some actions already in progress will enter design or implementation sooner, while others will be phased across the five‑year window. The district will report progress indicators to the board twice a year and provide an annual student‑outcome report aligned to the five‑year targets.
Schrum also announced a district‑level reorganization this spring to align staffing and structure with the strategic plan and to sustain functions after one‑time learning recovery and ESSER funds sunset. He said teaching and learning will join student services, and finance and operations will be combined; the executive cabinet will be adjusted and two executive director positions created to lead teaching and learning and student services. Some personnel changes already approved in closed session will take effect July 1, 2025 (see separate vote summary).
The superintendent described ongoing accountability practices that will accompany the plan: cabinet review four times a year, twice‑annual board updates on progress indicators, and an annual presentation on alignment with the board’s five‑year student goals. He said the board will revisit targets earlier than five years if goals are met sooner.
Schrum credited partnerships—including the University of Virginia’s Partnerships for Leaders in Education program—for supporting capacity building across sites. He said site teams attending UVA training brought principals, instructional coaches and teachers so site practice can be strengthened and scaled.
The board asked no follow‑up questions during the presentation and Schrum turned the meeting back to the president for the agenda to continue.
A look ahead: district staff will return with specific progress‑indicator dashboards and proposed timelines, and the board will consider personnel assignments tied to the reorganization in coming months.
