Rockport-Fulton ISD holds strategic roundtable; staff report MAP gains and set checkpoints

Doctor Austin led a strategic roundtable workshop for the Rockport-Fulton Independent School District on Oct. 14, asking the board and executive team to treat the session as "internal accountability" to review the district's 4-by-12 balanced scorecard and measure early progress.

The superintendent framed the meeting as a collaborative review, telling the group: "No amount of external accountability will be effective in the absence of internal accountability." Staff handed the board a condensed work map and asked members to rate each objective during rotations and return those ratings for an October check; the district will aggregate results and present a system-level summary at the next roundtable.

Staff who own the plan's priorities presented evidence of beginning-of-year (BOY) MAP achievement across grades. A presenter said some grade-level achievement percentiles have improved substantially since the district set baselines last year and recommended resetting targets where the baseline has already been exceeded. For example, the presenter reported that first-grade MAP achievement moved roughly from the low-20s percentile range to about the low-50s percentile range year over year; staff recommended setting higher goals where appropriate and distinguishing between achievement (percentile) and growth measures.

Board members received a live, districtwide inventory of extracurricular activities that staff said will help identify students not yet engaged in clubs and athletics and create opportunities to boost attendance and reduce discipline issues. Staff also described a set of evidence links embedded in the district's plan so the board can see supporting documentation for actions tied to each objective.

On operations, Lindsey reported the district's Emergency Operations Plan is completed and in Sentinel/Google Drive, that initial training and "stop the bleed" drills have been completed and documented, and that a recent high school audit passed; middle-school audits are planned. Kathy, speaking for finance, outlined a timeline for the 2024-25 audit and said materials will be provided to auditors with a plan to present results for board approval in December. She also told the board the district is preparing for necessary budget cuts and that department-level meetings and a finance committee review are scheduled in November.

The superintendent asked the board to treat the plan as organic: the four priorities and 12 objectives remain fixed but yearly actions and long-term targets may be revised and refined. She said staff will collect the ratings and follow up at the next strategic roundtable and that a second and third review this year will measure progress over time.

The roundtable concluded with instructions for the board's homework: stage the 30 elements in the plan, provide objective-level ratings, and return consolidated feedback for staff to incorporate into the next meeting packet. The district will publish summary results to the board ahead of the subsequent roundtable.