Arlington ISD reports declines in discipline referrals and outlines five‑year strategic plan priorities
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Summary
District staff told trustees discipline referrals and several incident measures are decreasing; the district outlined a five‑year strategic plan framework with KPIs across academic growth, culture, safety and talent, and described interventions for behavior and safety compliance improvements.
Arlington ISD administrators on Jan. 8 reported decreases in several discipline indicators for the 2025–26 school year and outlined a draft five‑year strategic plan focused on academic growth, culture, safety and talent.
Dr. Jarko presented discipline data showing districtwide decreases in referrals and student‑involved incidents compared with the prior year. The district removed technology infractions from the comparison to keep year‑to‑year measures consistent and noted the metric for "fighting" counts the number of students involved (one student counted multiple times if involved in multiple incidents). Dr. Jarko also highlighted targeted supports: a first‑year teacher academy, a 12‑member campus behavior support team, campus behavior action plans and pilot schools for tier‑2 interventions. At Ashworth Elementary, the district cited a 14% reduction in office referrals after implementing behavior‑support strategies.
Dr. Hill presented safety updates, including improved results from an intruder‑detection audit administered by the Texas Education Agency (the example compared 10 findings previously to 2 at a later point), and described required drills and compliance reporting. Trustees asked clarifying questions about drill frequency and data presentation; administrators said some chart slides were illustrative rather than raw data.
Dr. Collins described the strategic‑plan structure that links values and beliefs to district priorities and five‑year KPIs for academic growth, student experience, safety/discipline, marketing/engagement and talent/resources. Trustees asked for measurable KPIs, alignment with a recently completed curriculum audit and attention to subgroup gaps.
The board expressed support for continued investment in behavior supports and asked administration to provide more concrete cost and impact data for proposed initiatives. No formal votes were associated with the safety/discipline and strategic‑plan presentations; trustees provided feedback and requested follow‑up information to refine KPIs and timeline.