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Derby Board hears end‑of‑year strategic plan reports; pre‑K enrollment and professional development metrics cited as gains
Summary
Administrators reported year‑end progress on the district strategic plan, citing increases in professional development effectiveness, pre‑K enrollment and improvements to early‑childhood inclusion measures. Work on chronic absenteeism, mental‑health screeners and special‑education implementation continues.
Superintendent Heather Bohati told the Derby Board of Education on June 9 that district strategy committees presented end‑of‑year summaries showing progress on multiple priorities, including early childhood expansion, professional development and chronic absenteeism.
Dr. Putnam Jackson, director of curriculum, said the district revised its professional development evaluation to include locally developed measures; the share of staff rating January trainings in the top two categories rose from 78.8% (Jan. 2024) to 89.6% (Jan. 2025) for “how valuable was the training,” and similar gains were reported for relevance and job‑specific usefulness. “We feel that one was met,” Dr. Putnam Jackson told the board.
Early‑childhood and inclusion The district reported a rise in pre‑K participation in state head‑count reports: 37.5 students in 2023–24 to 76 reported for 2024–25 after additional kindergarten/pre‑K classrooms were added. Staff also said they resolved state criteria problems on two early‑childhood indicators (6a and 6b) for inclusion of students with special needs and moved them to green status on the state rubric, opening access to some grant opportunities.
Special education and implementation fidelity Director of Special Services Dawn Gresham said the strategy 3 committee set SMART goals to improve fidelity of IEP and 504 implementation beginning August 2025. Recommendations include tracking accommodation usage, enhanced communication between case managers and classroom teachers, and ongoing professional development with a one‑year refresher model. Gresham said some facilities changes (adult changing tables, ADA door locations) were referred to the facilities master‑planning process.
Chronic absenteeism and mental health Dr. Putnam Jackson presented a year‑end chronic‑absenteeism report using the state definition (10% or more of days missed, excused or unexcused). The district cumulative rate declined 3.48 percentage points year‑over‑year; Derby High School fell from 31.2% to 22.67% cumulatively, and several elementary schools reported year‑to‑year improvements. Staff attributed progress to parent outreach, school incentives and targeted action plans; administrators said they will continue a deeper problem analysis to identify root causes (health, safety, mental health, sense of belonging) and implement interventions.
Student and staff mental health Lou Anne Sparks, co‑chair of the mental‑health strategy, said the committee needs more time to select an at‑risk screener that captures internalizing and externalizing behaviors and to finalize districtwide measures. The committee requested and received board approval to move its final report to fall 2025–26 so staff could complete data collection and tool selection.
Why it matters Board members and staff said the strategic plan’s embedded committees have created cross‑departmental work that is beginning to show measurable results in classrooms and student supports. Administrators emphasized that several goals are in early implementation and will require ongoing monitoring.
