Sun Prairie Area School District reports OE‑10 learning environments in compliance with exceptions; outlines next steps

Superintendent Brad Saron presented the Sun Prairie Area School District’s monitoring report for Operational Expectation 10 (Learning Environment) at the Nov. 10 Board of Education meeting, saying the administrative team submits the report to the board “as in compliance with exceptions noted.”

Dr. Stephanie Leonard, assistant superintendent for teaching, learning, and equity, summarized the monitoring outcome: “Seven of the eight expectations are in compliance, and one is in compliance with exceptions noted,” and the superintendent judged the district in compliance based on a preponderance of the evidence gathered from 2024‑25 artifacts.

The presentation broke OE‑10 into eight components. Highlights from administrators’ evidence included instructional framework practice profiles and social‑emotional learning practices supporting welcoming classroom climates (Component 10.1); annual Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) and the Wisconsin DPI bullying prevention assessment used to drive site and district improvements (Component 10.2); and required professional learning tied to SEL and equity work, including Welcoming Schools, Responsive Classroom, Second Step and the district’s introduction to Courageous Conversations about Race training for new hires (Component 10.3).

Administrators described nonviolent crisis intervention training for administrators, deans, student services staff and special education personnel, and day‑one readiness templates and behavior matrices for sites to reduce and address disruptive behaviors (Components 10.3–10.5). The district said restorative practices, SP100 school improvement plans and coaching for principals are being used to identify and address disciplinary disproportionality (Component 10.6).

On safety, presenters said the district has implemented the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) in collaboration with a steering committee that included district leaders, facilities staff and the Sun Prairie Police Department; leadership training was held Aug. 12, 2025, SRP training was incorporated into staff onboarding and schools completed active‑threat drills with after‑action reports in compliance with Act 143 (Component 10.7).

On student data privacy (Component 10.8), district staff said the technology team maintains access controls, weekly reviews and annual privacy training. “Despite all of the levels of dynamic inputs and changes in our system, we only had two violations that included the release of student data beyond directory information reported in the 2024‑25 school year,” a presenter said; both incidents were investigated and corrective mitigation steps are planned.

Looking ahead to 2025‑26, administrators said the district will prioritize reinforcing privacy training and incident‑response procedures, continue work on the CH Bird turnaround plan, and deepen conditions to reduce behaviors on campus based on investigation findings and progress toward turnaround goals.

No formal board vote on the monitoring report is recorded in the meeting transcript; the administrative team submitted the report for the board’s consideration and closed the presentation by thanking staff across 15 campuses and about 1,300 employees for their work.

The district provided multiple artifacts as evidence (instructional fidelity data, handbooks, TFI/DPI bullying assessment results, safety dashboards and after‑action reports) and identified continuous‑improvement steps rather than declaring perfection; administrators repeatedly stressed compliance is judged in the context of available resources and external factors.