Oak Creek-Franklin board presents strategic plan emphasizing instruction, student well-being and fiscal stewardship

District administrators on Sept. 22 presented a 15-page strategic plan that they said is built around four priorities: teaching and learning; emotionally healthy schools; financial stewardship and operations; and community engagement and communications.

John Krennick and the teaching-and-learning team told the board the plan centers on four key performance indicators: the state report card from the Department of Public Instruction, STAR 360 screening three times per year, ‘‘ready for success’’ measures aligned to the Wisconsin Portrait of a Graduate, and a new continuous-improvement self-assessment process. Administration said STAR 360 results will be available in October, February and June.

On student well-being, Director of Student Services Monica Church reported a substantial drop in seclusion and restraint incidents, saying the district’s total number of such occurrences decreased year over year by 54.95%. Church described building-level breakdowns and noted that the district must report total incidents and cases to the state. She said schools use attendance letters, truancy meetings and individualized truancy plans before pursuing more punitive actions.

Administrators outlined supports intended to keep students in school, including pre-expulsion and AOD-style meetings, partnerships with mental-health providers, in-school therapy through clinical partners, positive behavior interventions (PBIS) and a new character-education curriculum. ‘‘We bring parents and students in, and we come up with a plan that parents sign off on,’’ Church said when describing the district’s approach to keeping students in class.

On finance, the district reported an unmodified (clean) audit opinion, a fund balance around 28.5% when excluding the self-funded health plan, and a bond rating positioned at Aa2 (double-A2). Finance staff said the district routinely transfers CIP funds into Fund 46 each August and plans to improve monthly financial reporting with more interactive dashboards.

Troy (district staff) described changes to the district health-and-wellness contract and adjustments to its employee health-risk assessment process, and he said the district has nearly filled aide positions after expanding recruitment and onboarding training.

Board members pressed for more detail on how metrics will translate into classroom changes, asked whether indicators capture high-achieving students as well as those needing intervention, and requested clarity about how attendance is counted (administration defined chronic absenteeism as missing 10 or more school days per year).

The board did not take final action on the strategic plan documents at the Sept. 22 meeting. Administrators said they will bring periodic updates and reports tied to the plan’s metrics to the board through the year.