Consultants for the Davis County School District presented findings from 35 focus groups and roughly 33 hours of recorded conversations with students, parents and community councils, saying the analysis surfaced a set of high-frequency themes the board may use to shape a revised strategic plan.

The presenters said they used qualitative coding methods and language-model tools to help surface themes and pulled sample comments into a handout for board review. They told the board the analysis produced about 30 major themes; relationships was cited as the most frequent topic across adult and student discussions, followed by district communication and transparency, family partnerships, advanced academic and career pathways and social-emotional learning and supports.

Why it matters: The board is the owner of the district strategic plan and will use both the consultants’ findings and board members’ own priorities to select 6–10 focus areas to draft this winter and share with parents in January.

Key details: Presenters said the raw data yielded nearly 6,000 relevant statements and that the sample mix (30 adult groups vs. 4 student groups) affects counts. They described their workflow: bucket coding by research question, selective coding to surface themes, and cross-database narrative development to draw central narratives for the board. One presenter noted, "Thank goodness for AI, honestly," when describing tools that sped transcription and analysis. The team provided blue pages with 150 sampled comments and a yellow section containing written submissions.

Board discussion and priorities: Board members asked about AI-derived wording and counts; presenters acknowledged they used a language model to suggest wording and said staff can provide exact mention counts on request. Board members then discussed priorities to carry forward: fiscal responsibility, academic excellence (student growth and achievement), whole-child supports including mental health and belonging, teacher recruitment/retention, and improved two-way communication with families through community councils.

Next steps: Presenters will distill the board discussion, prepare a shorter set of candidate focus areas and circulate materials to the board in advance of January community engagement sessions. The board paused for a break and will resume work during the regular meeting at 6 p.m.