Board narrows vision drafts, asks staff to solicit stakeholder feedback; data review highlights reading gains and discipline disparities

Board members reviewed competing drafts of a vision statement and directed staff to circulate a consolidated draft to stakeholders for feedback, while also discussing recent district student‑outcomes data that will inform strategic goals.

At a retreat the board had produced multiple draft vision statements. Maggie (chief academic officer/staff lead) consolidated those drafts into one combined proposal and asked the board for guidance on what to send to community stakeholders for input. Members debated whether to explicitly include the word “equity” in the short vision statement. Several trustees said equity must be visible either in the vision or in the accompanying core values; others said that community input should shape final language. Maggie said the consolidated draft will be shared with staff, families and students and the board will return with feedback before finalizing vision, mission and core values.

The board also reviewed data Maggie summarized from recent assessments. Bright spots included third‑grade reading scores that exceeded expectations and reduced staff and student absences compared with prior years. The district reported a drop in average student days missed (from about 13 to 9.3) and a notable increase in ACT participation results (68% of test takers scoring a composite 19 or higher). At the same time, alert items included declining math proficiency in several grades and falling percentages of students reaching the state’s college-and-career-readiness levels (levels 4 and 5).

Members pressed staff for more granular analysis. Trustee Amy urged caution when reporting reductions in achievement gaps, noting that in some cases gaps narrowed because one subgroup’s scores declined; she asked staff to analyze bottom‑quartile and subgroup movement rather than only percentage‑point comparisons. Trustees also raised student discipline data as a priority: staff presented the count of individual students with discipline actions and the board observed that more than 40% of Black-identified students had a discipline action in the reporting period while the rate for white students was markedly lower. Board members said they want strategies that examine causes and reduce disparities while supporting classroom instruction and student engagement.

Trustees directed staff to use the vision-drafting process and the data review as connected work: staff will gather stakeholder feedback on the vision draft, and translate the board’s priority alert areas (math proficiency, narrowing substantive gaps, and discipline disproportionality) into measurable strategic goals and objectives to be brought back to the board for review.

No final version of the vision statement or strategic goals was adopted at the work session; the board asked staff to return with stakeholder feedback and more detailed data analyses.