District staff recommend Wit & Wisdom, reading and handwriting materials for K–5 ELA; board to act in May

School district academic staff on April 28 recommended the adoption of the Wit & Wisdom K–5 English language arts program, paired with supplemental programs for early decoding and handwriting, and asked the school board to consider formal action at its next meeting.

Amy Barch, chief academic officer, told the board the district ran an extensive selection process and a large pilot that included 60 teachers and a steering committee; she said Wit & Wisdom was the only vendor to receive unanimous steering-committee support for piloting. The pilot and vendor-aligned professional development are intended to support a K–8 continuity of curriculum that district leaders say will connect elementary instruction to the middle-school resource the district already adopted.

Barch described the purchase as two parts: an initial heavier first-year cost to acquire core texts and materials followed by lower recurring annual per-student costs. She reported Year 1 per-student costs of "$93.86" for Wit & Wisdom and ongoing years 2–7 per-student costs of "$31.95 per year." She said the recommended handwriting program, Really Great Handwriting, would be an additional program with a stated per-year total of "$72,628" and an estimated per-student ongoing cost of "$38.50." Barch said the district expects an initial total investment figure presented during the meeting; the transcript record shows a numeric string that appears as "1.573767500000.0" and will be detailed in the formal action documents. Board members asked for that line-item detail before taking final action.

Board members pressed staff on continuity and implementation. Dr. Lund asked how the elementary work connects to middle and high school instruction; Barch said the district intentionally began with a middle-school adoption, then studied alignment for K–5 to build a K–8 progression. Miss Flynn asked whether cursive instruction would continue; Barch said the district will shift cursive instruction to second grade and move manuscript instruction earlier to support the verbal/letter-scope sequencing in the reading curriculum. Dr. Glatch praised Wit & Wisdom for pairing content knowledge with instructional strategies that aim to increase access for all students.

Barch said the district used some CLSD and ESSER funds to build coaching capacity: a Wit & Wisdom leadership cohort of about 11 elementary coaches (90+ hours of PD) who would provide district-level training if the board approves adoption. She said the vendor already provided alignment documentation to the district and that independent reviewer EdReports rates segments of Wit & Wisdom as "meets expectations." Barch stressed the district will provide significant professional development and coaching to teachers during rollout.

The recommendation was presented as a discussion item; the board did not vote on adoption at the April 28 meeting. Administrators said the recommendation will return as an action item at the board’s next meeting with detailed line-item costs and contract terms.

Clarifying details: the presentation referenced state standards, EdReports ratings and training requirements tied to the AIM Institute and UFLI. Barch said the pilot included 60 teachers and that the leadership cohort is intended to supply internal trainer capacity for fall onboarding.

The board will consider formal adoption and a purchase motion at its next meeting.