DeSoto board reviews four-year strategic plan and reports early gains in reading and math

Superintendent Dr. Reynolds presented an update on the DeSoto School District’s four-year strategic plan and the district’s current data-driven activities, saying the district is in “phase 1” — data collection and evaluation — and will use school-level view visits and data meetings to shape next steps.

The strategic plan, Reynolds said, contains five goals: academic performance; culture and climate; staff recruitment and retention; family and community engagement; and operations and effective budget/resource allocation. “This is a 4 year plan,” Reynolds said, noting the board and leadership team are early in implementation and are cataloging current practices before recommending new initiatives.

District staff described the way they pair qualitative view visits with quantitative data meetings to create actionable steps at each school. Dr. Bennett, who presented district-level progress-monitoring charts, called out cohort comparisons for grades 3–10 reading and said the district is seeing notable gains in some cohorts: “One of the positive trends that we’re seeing is … these numbers, the starting place, were in a little bit better of a position than the starting place a couple years ago,” Bennett said. Bennett also reported a request on agenda item 13.12 for a special-facilities draw of $7,225,948.06 and said such draws are placed before the board for transparency.

Principals summarized school improvement plans (SIPs) and early benchmarks. The high school principal said the campus aims to move from last year’s B to an A and outlined action steps including frequent classroom visits, gradual-release instruction and targeted supports; the principal also provided a current graduation-rate snapshot: “If we had to walk across the stage at this very moment, this year’s graduating class of 2026, we’re at 73.7%,” the principal reported.

Middle school leaders told the board instructional alignment and teacher morale have improved but raised concerns about behavior and discipline. One principal reported a rise in disciplinary referrals and said the school recorded 277 days of out-of-school suspension (OSS) in the first quarter; staff identified PBIS and parent engagement as strategies to reverse the rise and scheduled a parent night to address failing grades.

Elementary school presenters described targeted small-group interventions for the district’s bottom-quartile students, expanded use of decodable and leveled texts, coaching cycles and MTSS/RTI processes. Several principals and coaches credited focused early-literacy supports and a new BPK program at Nocatee with improving kindergarten-year outcomes: staff reported that kindergarten readiness measures that entered at roughly 17% in one year rose to at-or-above state averages by year-end in some schools.

Board members publicly praised principals and central-office leaders for data-driven work and implementation progress while emphasizing continued attention to attendance and discipline. No new policy was adopted; the presentations were informational and focused on next steps for aligning district supports with school goals.

The presentations and data materials distributed to the board emphasized that the strategic plan is iterative: staff will review evidence from view visits and PM assessments, tighten alignment where needed, and begin implementing targeted strategies later this school year and into the spring.

Ending: Board members asked staff to continue reporting measurable progress by goal area; principals and central-office leaders said they will return with deeper, goal-by-goal implementation details in mid- to late-year updates.