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District outlines special-education gains, targeted-school designation and attendance action plan
Summary
Administrators described takeaways from a state special-education conference, highlighted CSI-driven tools and student ownership efforts, and outlined an action plan to address a targeted-school designation and chronic absenteeism with monitoring, incentives and parent communication.
Administrators reported several special-education and improvement milestones and described the district's approach after being designated a targeted school in one subgroup. Presenters said they shared their Continuous School Improvement (CSI) tools at a statewide special-education conference and received requests for their "rainbow sheet" student-info tool; they emphasized student learning journals, PDSA cycles, and increased student participation in IEP meetings.
On accountability, administrators said the high school was designated for targeted improvement because a small subgroup fell below state benchmarks. The timeline for designation requires leadership-team formation, a full data analysis and an action plan to be submitted in May for implementation in the 2025–26 school year. "At the end of this year, we'll submit our improvement plan by May 1," a presenter said.
Attendance interventions: administrators detailed specific steps to address chronic absenteeism: daily monitoring via South Dakota Stars, letters at 5/10/15/20 days, individualized improvement plans, positive reinforcements (quarterly recognition, backpack tags and incentives), increased involvement by SROs where appropriate, and revisions to attendance coding in Infinite Campus to capture reasons for absences more precisely.
Special-education specifics: presenters listed conference takeaways—work-based learning and executive-functioning strategies—and noted the district had about 55 students exit special education this year, which administrators framed as a positive outcome. They also reiterated the importance of accurate prior written notice in special-education meetings to reduce legal risk.
Next steps: district leaders said they will finalize the action plan for submission to the state Department of Education and continue monitoring attendance daily and reviewing interventions at bimonthly leadership-team meetings.
