District unveils 2025 Community Engagement Plan draft emphasizing adopt-a-school, volunteerism and workshops
Loading...
Summary
District staff presented a three-pillar community engagement draft focused on adopt-a-school partnerships, volunteerism and family/community workshops. Trustees and staff discussed removing a fourth pillar on post-secondary exposure to avoid overlap with existing career and technical education work.
Director Miller (title presented as 'Director' in the meeting) on July 9 presented a draft of the district's 2025 Community Engagement Plan, proposing three pillars to connect schools with local businesses, volunteers and family-facing workshops.
The plan's stated mission, as Miller described it, is to "unite the Oshkosh community, to create learning experiences, leadership opportunities, and more opportunities for engagement so that our, schools are positioned as the center of a thriving and connected community." Miller said the draft originally had four pillars but was revised to three after feedback to reduce overlap.
Why it matters: The plan would formalize business partnerships, expand volunteer opportunities and host workshops intended to increase family participation and student supports across the district.
Key elements
Adopt-a-school: The first pillar formalizes partnerships with local businesses to sponsor events, provide snacks or staff appreciation support. Miller said success measures would include numbers of active partnerships, student participation and partner survey feedback.
Volunteerism: The second pillar aims to invite community members into volunteer roles such as mentors, guest speakers, office assistants and club advisors; metrics proposed are active volunteer counts and total volunteer hours.
Community forums and workshops: The third pillar focuses on family-facing workshops on topics like social-emotional learning and screen-time monitoring, measured by attendance and post-event surveys.
Why the post-secondary pillar was removed
Miller said the plan initially included a fourth pillar for post-secondary exposure but staff removed it to avoid duplication with the district's career and technical education (CTE) programs. Miller explained that CTE work and post-secondary navigator efforts already measure and track those outcomes, so the engagement plan will instead support, coordinate and not duplicate that work: "we have a mechanism to create goals around that work...it won't be a part of this plan because we have it in other areas of our, overall plans as a system."
Board and community feedback
Trustees asked that the plan emphasize family voices, ensure two-way communication in workshops, and set measurable baseline goals. One trustee suggested returning after a baseline year with targets for improvement; others urged better coordination with the chamber, CTE, and the Oshkosh Education Foundation to avoid duplicative outreach.
Ending
Miller said staff will continue refining concepts and metrics and return to the board with a more developed implementation plan, including coordination with existing CTE and foundation efforts. No formal action was taken.
